What is the most abundant element in the lithosphere?
Oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust (lithosphere) by both mass and volume. Silicon is the second most abundant element by mass. Potassium is the second most abundant by volume. For your information, the lithosphere is the solid portion of the Earth. It is a dense shell of material that surrounds the entire planet. Even though most of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, underneath that water is a solid layer of rock. With the exception of ice, basically any solid non-organic material you see on the Earth is from the lithosphere. This includes soil, rocks, sand, etc.
