PebHmong Discussion Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: theking on August 30, 2021, 10:53:26 PM
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Lithium fuels hopes for revival on California's largest lake
Near Southern California’s dying Salton Sea, a canopy next to a geothermal power plant covers large containers of salty water left behind after super-hot liquid is drilled from deep underground to run steam turbines. The containers connect to tubes that spit out what looks like dishwater, but it’s lithium, a critical component of rechargeable batteries and the newest hope for economic revival in the depressed region. Demand for electric vehicles has shifted investments into high gear to extract lithium from geothermal brine, salty water that has been overlooked and pumped back underground since the region’s first geothermal plant opened in 1982. The mineral-rich byproduct may now be more valuable than the steam used to generate electricity. California’s largest but rapidly shrinking lake is at the forefront of efforts to make the U.S. a major global player in the production of lithium. Despite large deposits of the ultralight metal in the U.S., Nevada has the country’s only lithium plant, and U.S. production lags far behind Australia, Chile, Argentina and China.
I took these photos when I was there and it shows that the water can be pretty harsh for some fish ???:
(https://i.imgur.com/WBYfzw1.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/RHjdfjc.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/DxxS3Yu.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/9reR9Kz.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/bw2Nbyq.jpg)
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That means plenty of food for the sea birds like Pelicans and seagulls:
(https://i.imgur.com/4dNClTu.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/vSxf4w6.jpg)
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Due to the chemical make up of the lake, plenty of limestone and calcium carbonate build up along the shore:
(https://i.imgur.com/fuzJYnz.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/zJI4d17.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Roe7kER.jpg)