15 Nov 2024        14:46:05 pm

Geography

Salton Sea

Tags : Salton Sea

Topic: Lakes

Why in the news?

• California\'s largest lake Salton Sea holds $540 billion in lithium, enough for 382 million EV batteries. It could make the US the \'Saudi Arabia of Lithium\'.

Source: Business Today

About Salton Sea:

• It is a shallow, saline lake located in the lower Colorado Desert, southern California, USA.
• 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 m.) below sea level until 1905–06, when diversion controls on the Colorado River broke 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 critical habitat for birds moving south to Mexico and Central America.

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:
  • It does not occur as a metal in nature but is found combined in small amounts in igneous rocks.
  • It is found in brine deposits and as salts in mineral springs.
  • Its concentration in seawater is 0.1 parts per million (ppm).
• Uses:
  • It is used in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, and electric vehicles. 
  • It is also used in some non-rechargeable batteries for heart pacemakers, toys, and clocks.
• Lithium metal is made into alloys with aluminium and magnesium, improving their strength and making them lighter.

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