Electric cars require roughly 1,000 times more lithium than a standard laptop. It is therefore understandable that Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, a unique environment shown here under deep-blue skies, is widely regarded as the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium’, because it contains over 40% of the planet’s lithium chloride (LiCl) reserves, or more than 5.4 million tons. The Salar is part of the Altiplano platea ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: The strangest volcano on Earth
Natural Geographic describes Ol Donyo Lengai (pronounced ol doyn-yo len-guy), a mountain in northern Tanzania, as the ‘strangest volcano on Earth’. It is the planet’s only volcano known to produce lava made of natrocarbonatite, chemically similar to laundry soap, which hardens and decays almost immediately upon exposure to the atmosphere. It is very rare for natrocarbonatite, a type of igneous roc ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Turquoise paradise
Jacques Cousteau once said, “I have seen other places like Sipadan, 45 years ago, but now no more. Now we have found an untouched piece of art.” Indeed, the ‘wall of life’ shown in this picture suggests an untouched world, where schools of fish abound in a pure turquoise ocean. The waters around Pulau Sipadan (Sipadan Island) are globally recognised as some of the most diverse on the planet, playi ...[Read More]
GeoTalk: Dr Pedro Jiménez Guerrero
GeoTalk, featuring short interviews with geoscientists about their research, continues this month with a Q&A with Dr Pedro Jiménez Guerrero (University of Murcia) focusing on air pollution and climate change. If you’d like to suggest a scientist for an interview, please contact Bárbara Ferreira. First, could you introduce yourself and let us know a bit about your research topic(s)? I wa ...[Read More]