Water Sustainability of Lithium Mining

The Atacama Dry lake, in Chile. At the horizon, the Tumisa, Lejía and Miñiques volcanoes. Photo by Francesco Mocellin

PhD students Brendan Moran and Sarah McKnight, with Professor David Boutt and udnergraduate student Alexander Kirshen, published research in the Earth and Space Science Open Archive about using isotope analysis and remote sensing to gain a better picture of how drought and recent rain events impact groundwater in the Salar de Atacama. This assessment provides a better hydrological framework for evaluating the effects of lithium extraction in the region to support renewable energy technologies.