Below the screen where you’re reading this, there’s probably part of the distillate of a salt flat.
Millions of years ago, volcanoes deposited minerals in vast extensions of South America and then water seeped through the rocks to form huge lakes.
Then came cycles of evaporation and deposition, which generated vast plains of salt in which it is one of the most sought after minerals in the world: lithium.
With the rapid increase in the use of batteries, for electronic devices and electric cars, the demand for lithium and other basic materials in the industry is accelerating.
Lithium is changing the fate, and more specifically the landscapes, of those countries that have it in abundance.
In Bolivia and Chile, the high tonnage of lithium embedded in the salt plains has given rise to massive fields.
From the air, evaporation pools for mineral extraction flood the landscape with striking colors.
In this series of photography we explored these places, the amazing features have inspired various artists, writers and architects.
Our visual journey begins in the salt flats of South America, which contain hundreds of millions of tons of lithium.
In the Great Salt Flats of Argentina, the natives see the natural swimming pools like “eyes” that they have a spiritual meaning.
But politicians and businesses also see the enormous economic value of salt mines, even if they have not yet been fully exploited.
The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is home to what is perhaps the largest individual deposit in the world.
The brine is pumped to the surface and evaporated to concentrate the minerals.
It is then filtered and chemically treated to extract lithium.
Meanwhile, places like the Atacama Desert have helped Chile become one of the world’s leading producers.
Its mines rival those of Bolivia as one of the largest lithium deposits in the world.
It can take more than a year to maximize lithium concentration using this evaporation method.
The industry has grown considerably in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
In Germany, lithium is extracted from zinnwaldite, a silicate mineral.
A small repository by world standards, but large for Europe.
In Turkey, Eti Mini Works extracts lithium from boron production waste.
Turkey’s production is unlikely to be a major source of lithium, but it represents one of several efforts to find alternative reserves.
Demand for lithium is likely to continue as the need for batteries, such as these for cars in a factory in China, also grows.
As the world adopts more electric cars and other battery-powered technologies, what new landscapes could this create?
This article was originally published in English on BBC Future. You can read the original here
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