SALTON SEA

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Context

• Under California's Salton Sea, the U.S. Department of Energy has recently found the greatest lithium resource in the world.

About Salton Sea

• It is a saltwater lake that is shallow and situated in southern California's lower Colorado Desert.
• It is a geological depression that is below sea level and nestled between mountain ranges.
• Formation: Until 1905–06, when diversion controls on the Colorado River broke a few miles below the California–Mexico border, the area that is now the lake was a salt-covered sink or depression (a remnant of prehistoric Lake Cahuilla) about 280 feet (85 metres) below sea level.
• Floodwaters rushed northward, filling the depression.
• A series of protective levees was constructed in 1907, which prevented the sink from becoming deeper in the future.
• As of right now, it is 228 feet below sea level.
• It has 130 miles of shoreline spread across an area of 970 square km.

Key information about lithium:

• It is a soft, silvery-white metal that is the head of group 1 (the alkali metals group) of the periodic table of elements.
• Its characteristics include having the lowest density of all metals, being the lightest of all solid elements, reacting violently with water, and having a body-centered cubic crystal structure.
• Occurrence: Although lithium is not found in nature as a metal, it is found in small amounts in igneous rocks, 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 batteries for cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, and electric vehicles.