The abundance of scandium in volcanic rocks, a preliminary estimate

Using Rittman's classification to determine the clan, we suggest the following abundance figures: basalts (99), 38 p.p.m. Sc; andesites (72), 34 p.p.m. Sc; dacites (68), 21 p.p.m. Sc; rhyodacites (32), 14 p.p.m. Sc; quartz latites (14), 11 p.p.m; rhyolites (24), 5 p.p.m. The scandium was determined spectrographically on samples for which there were complete rock analyses. In addition we suggest that extrusive equivalents of peridotites should contain about 9 p.p.m. Sc; extrusive equivalents of perknites should contain about 30 p.p.m. Sc. We see no reason why these figures should not apply to the intrusive equivalents. We tentatively suggest a figure of 30 p.p.m. for Sc for the crust, using Poldervaart's suggested ratio of rock types.