Lithium: The big picture

Crawford, Alec; Seefeldt, Jennapher Lunde; Kent, Richard W.; Helbert, Maryse; Guzmán, Gonzalo Pimentel; González, Alejandro; Chen, Zheng; Abbott, A.B.

doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2021.02.021

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…This region is often referred to as the "Lithium Triangle" as it holds the majority of the world's reserves of the battery component metal in the form of Li-bearing brines under its salt flats or "salares" [19]. The exploitation of this resource has rapidly expanded in the push to decarbonize the global economy, highlighting concerns over the sustainability of intensive groundwater extraction [20][21][22], equitable water management, and the tradeoffs of water allocation and water management decisions [23,24]. This landscape is composed of many adjoining endorheic basins with hyper-arid (<50 mm of precipitation/year) to arid conditions on their basin floors where groundwater recharge occurs primarily at the highest elevations near watershed divides [25][26][27][28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary and relic waters strongly decoupled in arid alpine environments

Moran,

Boutt,

Munk

et al. 2024

PLOS Water

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Deciphering the dominant controls on the connections between groundwater, surface water, and climate is critical to understanding water cycles in arid environments. Yet, persistent uncertainties in the fundamental hydrology of these systems remain. The growing demand for critical minerals such as lithium and associated water demands in the arid environments in which they often occur has amplified the urgency to address these uncertainties. We present an integrated hydrological analysis of the Dry Andes region utilizing a uniquely comprehensive set of tracer data (3H, 18O/2H) for these environments, paired directly with physical hydrological observations. We find two strongly decoupled hydrological systems that interact only under specific hydrogeological conditions where preferential conduits exist. The primary conditions creating these conduits are laterally extensive fine-grained evaporite and/or lacustrine units and perennial flowing streams connected with regional groundwater discharge sites. The efficient capture and transport of modern or “contemporary” water (weeks to years old) within these conduits is the primary control of the interplay between modern hydroclimate variations and groundwater aquifers in these environments. Modern waters account for a small portion of basin budgets but are critical to sustaining surface waters due to the existence of these conduits. As a result, surface waters near basin floors are disproportionally sensitive to short-term climate and anthropogenic perturbations. The framework we present describes a new understanding of the dominant controls on natural water cycles intrinsic to these arid high-elevation systems that will improve our ability to manage critical water resources.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary and relic waters strongly decoupled in arid alpine environments

Moran,

Boutt,

Munk

et al. 2024

PLOS Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This region is often referred to as the "Lithium Triangle" as it holds a majority of the world's reserves of the battery component metal in the form of li-bearing brines under its salt flats or "Salars" (Munk et al, 2016). The exploitation of this resource has rapidly expanded in the push to decarbonize the global economy, highlighting concerns over the sustainability of intensive groundwater extraction (Gajardo & Redón, 2019;Gutiérrez et al, 2018;Sonter et al, 2020), equitable water management, and the tradeoffs of water allocation and water management decisions (Crawford et al, 2021;Diaz Paz, et al 2023). This landscape is composed of many adjoining endorheic basins with hyper-arid to arid conditions (<50 mm/year) on their basin floors where groundwater recharge occurs primarily at the highest elevations near watershed divides (Houston, 2002(Houston, , 2007(Houston, , 2009Boutt et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme Partitioning of Relic and Contemporary Waters in Arid Environments

Moran

Boutt²,

Munk³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Deciphering the dominant controls on groundwater-surface water-climate connections is critical to understanding water cycles in arid environments, yet persistent uncertainties remain. The growing demand for critical minerals such as lithium and associated water demands has amplified the urgency to address these unknowns. We present an integrated hydrological analysis of the Dry Andes utilizing a uniquely large and comprehensive set of tracer data (3H, 18O/2H) and physical observations. We find two strongly decoupled hydrological systems which interact only under specific hydrogeological conditions where preferential conduits have developed. These conduits which efficiently transport contemporary water (wks to yrs old) in the system control the interplay between modern hydroclimate variations and groundwater aquifers. Contemporary waters account for a small portion of basin budgets but are critical to sustaining surface waters, as a result, these systems are sensitive to short-term climate and anthropogenic perturbations. This framework describes a new understanding of dominant controls on natural water cycles intrinsic to these arid mountain systems.

show abstract

“…This region is often referred to as the "Lithium Triangle" as it holds a majority of the world's reserves of the battery component metal in the form of Li-bearing brines under its salt flats or "Salares" (Munk et al, 2016). The exploitation of this resource has rapidly expanded in the push to decarbonize the global economy, highlighting concerns over the sustainability of intensive groundwater extraction (Gajardo & Redón, 2019;Gutiérrez et al, 2018;Sonter et al, 2020), equitable water management, and the tradeoffs of water allocation and water management decisions (Crawford et al, 2021;Diaz Paz, et al 2023). This landscape is composed of many adjoining endorheic basins with hyper-arid to arid conditions (<50 mm of precipitation/year) on their basin floors where groundwater recharge occurs primarily at the highest elevations near watershed divides (Houston, 2002(Houston, , 2007(Houston, , 2009Boutt et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary and Relic Waters Strongly Decoupled in Arid Alpine Environments

Moran,

Boutt,

Munk

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Deciphering the dominant controls on interconnections between groundwater, surface water, and climate is critical to understanding water cycles in arid environments, yet persistent uncertainties in the fundamental hydrology of these systems remain. The growing demand for critical minerals such as lithium and associated water demands in these arid environments has amplified the urgency to address these uncertainties. We present an integrated hydrological analysis of the Dry Andes region utilizing a uniquely comprehensive set of tracer data (3H, 18O/2H) for this type of environment, paired directly with physical hydrological observations. We find two strongly decoupled hydrological systems that interact only under specific hydrogeological conditions where preferential conduits have developed. The primary conditions in these conduits form are when laterally extensive fine-grained evaporite and/or lacustrine units or perennial flowing streams exist in connection with groundwater discharge sites. These conduits which efficiently capture and transport modern or “contemporary” water (weeks to years old) within the system control the interplay between modern hydroclimate variations and groundwater aquifers. Modern waters account for a small portion of basin budgets but are critical to sustaining surface waters due to the existence of these conduits. As a result, surface waters near basin floors are disproportionally sensitive to short-term climate and anthropogenic perturbations. This framework describes a new understanding of the dominant controls on natural water cycles intrinsic to these arid high-elevation systems which improves our ability to manage critical water resources.

show abstract

Lithium: The big picture

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Contemporary and relic waters strongly decoupled in arid alpine environments

Contemporary and relic waters strongly decoupled in arid alpine environments

Extreme Partitioning of Relic and Contemporary Waters in Arid Environments

Contemporary and Relic Waters Strongly Decoupled in Arid Alpine Environments

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