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Key Facts about Salton Sea

 Dec 31, 2023   Admin

The U.S. Department of Energy recently discovered the world’s largest Lithium reserve beneath California’s Salton Sea.

About Salton Sea:

  • It is a shallow, saline lake located in the lower Colorado Desert, southern California,
  • It is a geological depression tucked between mountain ranges and lying below sea level.
  • Formation:

  • The area that is now the lake was formerly a salt-covered sink or depression (a remnant of prehistoric Lake Cahuilla) about 280 feet (85 metres) below sea level until 1905–06, when diversion controls on the Colorado Riverbroke a few miles below the California-Mexico border and floodwaters rushed northward, filling the depression. 
  • Subsequent deepening of the sink was stopped in 1907, when a line of protective levees was built.
  • It is currently 228 feet below sea level.
  • It covers an area of 970 square km and includes 130 miles of shoreline.
  • It has an average depth of 29.9 feet and, at its deepest, 51 feet. 
  • Its salinity(some 45 parts per thousand) far exceeds that of seawater.
  • The Salton Sea is an important stopping point for migratory waterfowl and serves as a critical habitat for birds moving south to Mexico and Central America.
  • Key Facts about Lithium:

  • It is a soft, silvery-white metal that heads group 1, the alkali metals group, of the periodic table of the elements.
  • Features:

  • It has the lowest density of all metals.
  • It is the lightest of the solid elements
  • It reacts vigorously with water.
  • It has a body-centered cubic crystal structure.
  • Occurrence:  

  • Lithium does not occur as a metal in nature but is found combined in small amounts in igneous rocks.
  • Lithium is found in brine deposits and as salts in mineral springs.
  • Its concentration in seawater is 0.1 parts per million (ppm).
  • Uses:

  • Lithium is important in rechargeable batteriesfor mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, and electric vehicles. 
  • It is also used in some non-rechargeable batteries for things like heart pacemakers, toys, and clocks.
  • Lithium metal is made into alloys with aluminium and magnesiumimproving their strength and making them lighter. 
  • December, 2023 (310)




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