Because this brine is very dense, it settles beneath pockets of fresh surface water, which lie on top of the lithium-rich fluid below, forming lagoons.

By Maxwell Radwin Global demand for lithium is expected to increase by nearly 500% over the next few decades, ... The protected Tebenquiche Lagoon in Chile. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

Freshwater essential to lithium mining is running low in the world’s “Lithium Triangle,” a mineral-rich region in the Andean Plateau that stretches across parts of Argentina, Bolivia and ...

New research into lithium mining in the “Lithium Triangle” of Chile, Argentina ... These lagoons often become havens for unique and fragile ecosystems and iconic species such as flamingos, ...

Reedy Lagoon and ACME Lithium both staked claims in smaller calderas adjacent to McDermitt. “It would make geologic sense that there would be a similar deposit [in those calderas],” Rhode said.

The prevalence of lithium mining is threatening to disrupt traditional ways of life for indigenous groups living in a region spanning Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

You could be forgiven for thinking there’s no water in the Atacama Desert. In fact, the driest desert on Earth has underground springs that feed the Chaxa, Cejar and Tebenquiche lagoons, as well ...

New research led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst scientists debunks commonly accepted models used to estimate available water for lithium mining — and found the mining to have ...

Microbial ecology in hypersaline coastal lagoons: A model for climate-induced coastal salinisation and eutrophication. Earth-Science Reviews, 2025; 266: 105150 DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105150; ...

New research into lithium mining in the "Lithium Triangle" of Chile, ... which lie on top of the lithium-rich fluid below, forming lagoons.

The Lithium Triangle spans more than 414,000 square kilometers (160,000 square miles) across Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, where an arid climate and water-trapping basins have helped form an ...