<p>Actually magnesium has lower temperature of melting compared
to aluminium (by about 10 degrees Celsius), which means that in the lower layers of the earth where aluminium particles aren't melting magnesium particles would keep dripping down. Aluminium also has higher electronegativity, which means that aluminium forms stronger bonds. Finally, the granular convection (the Brazil nut effect) may add to this, forcing bigger lumps with aluminium to roll over up to the surface following every earthquake.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-22T17:55:14.893Z
2023-12-23T03:49:09.993Z
2023-12-23T03:49:09.993Z
Jimmy Bionic
<p>On the earth as a whole, there is much more magnesium than aluminium.</p>
<p>Your question is why, specifically in the crust, there is more aluminium than magnesium.</p>
<p>The reason is that Mg is a <em>compatible</em> element whereas Al is an <em>incompatible</em> element. There were several questions here that addressed some aspects of this topic, for example:</p>
<p><a href="https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/2950/725">What are the high field strength and large ion lithophile (HFS or HFSE &amp; LIL or LILE) elements?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/6893/725">What was the likely composition of Earth&#39;s early crust (how did crustal composition evolve)?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/7760/725">Why silicon is abundant in earth surface?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/174/725">Why do felsic materials have lower melting points than mafic?</a></p>
<hr />
<h1>Why is there more Al than Mg in the crust?</h1>
<p>In earth's (upper) mantle, most Mg is inside the mineral olivine, with some in other minerals such as clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene. In contrast, most Al is in the minerals plagioclase, spinel, and garnet. There could be a tiny amount of Al in the pyroxenes as well.</p>
<p>When you melt the solid mantle rock that is composed of all of the minerals I listed above, some minerals melt at lower temperatures than the others. So the magma composition that is formed more closely resembles those minerals that melted.</p>
<p>As you can guess, the Mg-rich minerals are <em>refractory</em> (that is, they are harder to melt). The Al-rich minerals are usually very easy to melt. So whenever you have magma that comes from the mantle into the crust, it will have more Al than Mg. Over the billions of years of Earth's crustal evolution, quite a lot of Al (along with Na, K, Fe, Ca, and Si) accumulated in the crust, relative to the amount that was in the parental mantle.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-02T13:18:50.440Z
Also the source of the old terms "[SiAl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sial)" and "[SiMa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(geology))".
Spencer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-01T11:20:29.430Z
2020-06-02T00:26:38.230Z
2020-06-18T08:25:19.090Z
Gimelist
<p>Magnesium represents 0.07 % of the composition of the Sun's photosphere while aluminum represents 0.006 %. Therefore, there is much more magnesium than aluminum in the Sun's photosphere.</p>

<p>But the same does not happen in the Earth's crust, where magnesium represents 2.9 % of its composition and aluminum represents 8.1 %.</p>

<p>Is there a particular reason why this is so?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-01T03:23:20.930Z
Magnesium is [more plentiful than aluminum in the mantle](https://brainly.ph/question/810369), which is 84% of the Earth's volume .
Keith McClary
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-01T03:41:30.257Z
That is to be expected, but I was referring to why aluminum is more abundant in the crust.
URIZEN
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-01T15:06:14.827Z
Don't forget [uranium](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/2294/why-is-there-uranium-in-earths-crust). There's a lot more gold than there is uranium in the solar system, by a factor of about 20, but there's a whole lot more uranium in the Earth's crust than there is gold, by a factor of about 600. There's more uranium than gold in the Earth's crust for the same reason that there's more aluminum than magnesium in the Earth's crust.
David Hammen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-03T15:41:28.743Z
If you ask about the crust specifically, that should be in our title as well..
Jan Doggen
<planetary-science><crust><planetary-formation>
Why does the Earth's crust have more aluminum than magnesium while the Sun has more magnesium than aluminum?
URIZEN
# Why does the Earth's crust have more aluminum than magnesium while the Sun has more magnesium than aluminum?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-06-01)

Magnesium represents 0.07 % of the composition of the Sun's photosphere while aluminum represents 0.006 %. Therefore, there is much more magnesium than aluminum in the Sun's photosphere.

But the same does not happen in the Earth's crust, where magnesium represents 2.9 % of its composition and aluminum represents 8.1 %.

Is there a particular reason why this is so?

**Tags:** planetary-science, crust, planetary-formation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Magnesium is [more plentiful than aluminum in the mantle](https://brainly.ph/question/810369), which is 84% of the Earth's volume .  
> **username_0**: That is to be expected, but I was referring to why aluminum is more abundant in the crust.  
> **username_2**: Don't forget [uranium](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/2294/why-is-there-uranium-in-earths-crust). There's a lot more gold than there is uranium in the solar system, by a factor of about 20, but there's a whole lot more uranium in the Earth's crust than there is gold, by a factor of about 600. There's more uranium than gold in the Earth's crust for the same reason that there's more aluminum than magnesium in the Earth's crust.  
> **username_3**: If you ask about the crust specifically, that should be in our title as well..  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2020-06-01. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

On the earth as a whole, there is much more magnesium than aluminium.

Your question is why, specifically in the crust, there is more aluminium than magnesium.

The reason is that Mg is a *compatible* element whereas Al is an *incompatible* element. There were several questions here that addressed some aspects of this topic, for example:

[What are the high field strength and large ion lithophile (HFS or HFSE & LIL or LILE) elements?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/2950/725)

[What was the likely composition of Earth's early crust (how did crustal composition evolve)?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/6893/725)

[Why silicon is abundant in earth surface?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/7760/725)

[Why do felsic materials have lower melting points than mafic?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/174/725)

---

# Why is there more Al than Mg in the crust?

In earth's (upper) mantle, most Mg is inside the mineral olivine, with some in other minerals such as clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene. In contrast, most Al is in the minerals plagioclase, spinel, and garnet. There could be a tiny amount of Al in the pyroxenes as well.

When you melt the solid mantle rock that is composed of all of the minerals I listed above, some minerals melt at lower temperatures than the others. So the magma composition that is formed more closely resembles those minerals that melted.

As you can guess, the Mg-rich minerals are *refractory* (that is, they are harder to melt). The Al-rich minerals are usually very easy to melt. So whenever you have magma that comes from the mantle into the crust, it will have more Al than Mg. Over the billions of years of Earth's crustal evolution, quite a lot of Al (along with Na, K, Fe, Ca, and Si) accumulated in the crust, relative to the amount that was in the parental mantle.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: Also the source of the old terms "[SiAl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sial)" and "[SiMa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(geology))".  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2023-12-22. Score: 0

Actually magnesium has lower temperature of melting compared
to aluminium (by about 10 degrees Celsius), which means that in the lower layers of the earth where aluminium particles aren't melting magnesium particles would keep dripping down. Aluminium also has higher electronegativity, which means that aluminium forms stronger bonds. Finally, the granular convection (the Brazil nut effect) may add to this, forcing bigger lumps with aluminium to roll over up to the surface following every earthquake.


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