Lake Zabuye
Encyclopedia
Lake Zabuye is a landlocked salt lake located at an elevation of 4400 metres (14,435.7 ft) in the Xigazê Prefecture
of Tibet Autonomous Region
, 1050 km (652.4 mi) from Lhasa
. The lake gives its name to the mineral zabuyelite
(lithium carbonate
, Li2CO3), which was discovered here in 1987 and has been mined since 2004–2005. In 2008, the salt mine at the lake was regarded as the major source of lithium
in China.
.
. It is one of 251 salt lakes in Tibet. It is divided into the northern (98 km²) and the southern (149 km²) sub-basins, which are linked by a narrow channel. The southern part is semi-dry and appears white in satellite images. The northern part is fed from two inlets on east and on the west, by the snow melt of the Rianglinag Mountains (6364 metres (20,879.3 ft)). The catchment area is 6,680 km², and the lake is surrounded by mountains with a height of 4,600–5,200 m above sea level. The lake is fed by rain, underground water and melting ice. Paleo-lake shore deposits in the area include sand banks, spits and barriers, and interbarrier lakes and lake shore deltas that form a cliff along the lake, in different tectonogeomorphological positions in the lake basin. This accumulation of sediments illustrates the dynamic nature of the lake system and its paleoclimatic characteristics.
Apart from lithium carbonate, the lake has high content of borax
and also contains mirabilite
and other alkali metal
salts with a total content of 360–410 g/L. The approximate elemental concentrations in the brine in g/L are as follows: Na (160), K (60), Li (1.5), Rb (0.25), Cs (0.1), SO4 (20), CO3 (90), Cl (120), Br (3), I (0.02), B (3). The water density is about 1.4 g/cm3 and pH
about 10. The lithium content, 1.53 g/L, nearly corresponds to the solubility limit of lithium carbonate in water and is second highest in the world.
The climate is very dry, with an annual precipitation of 199 mm (7.8 in) and evaporation of 2342 mm that has resulted in a gradual shrinking of the lake. The shrinking is revealed by terrace deposits above the present lake level. Up to 14 layers can be distinguished, but only the bottom seven have been evaluated with radiocarbon dating
; their age increases from about 5,000 to 24,000 years from bottom to top. The layers from 10 to 14 rise above 4,600 meters and suggest that long ago, the lake was open and had a much larger area.
Tibet Autonomous Region is investing CNY
1.084 billion to enhance production of lithium from Lake Zabuye. Under this project, the lake is expected to produce 20,000 tonnes of lithium salt, 5,000 tonnes of lithium chloride
, 500 tonnes of lithium metal, 200 tonnes of high-purity lithium, 30 tonnes of lithium products and 490 tonnes of other lithium compounds per year. The anticipated annual revenue from this expansion is estimated to be CNY 639 million.
s and other electronic devices. The biggest user of lithium batteries is projected to be electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles. According to market survey reports, China is now the largest producer and consumer of lithium-ion batteries, with the average annual production of 19 billion units. Because much of China's lithium originates from Tibet, it has been speculated that "China’s interest in Tibet might be more than political, with the hold over the region likely to do more with economics, taking into consideration the region’s wealth of natural resources, particularly in terms of prospective lithium reserves".
Xigazê Prefecture
Xigazê is a prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region in China.The administrative center of the prefecture is the city of Shigatse ....
of Tibet Autonomous Region
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....
, 1050 km (652.4 mi) from Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
. The lake gives its name to the mineral zabuyelite
Zabuyelite
Zabuyelite is the natural mineral form of lithium carbonate, with a formula Li2CO3. It was discovered in 1987 at Lake Zabuye, Tibet, after which it is named. It forms colorless vitreous monoclinic crystals....
(lithium carbonate
Lithium carbonate
Lithium carbonate is a chemical compound of lithium, carbon, and oxygen with the formula Li2CO3. This colorless salt is widely used in the processing of metal oxides and has received attention for its use in psychiatry. It is found in nature as the rare mineral zabuyelite.-Properties:Like almost...
, Li2CO3), which was discovered here in 1987 and has been mined since 2004–2005. In 2008, the salt mine at the lake was regarded as the major source of lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
in China.
Etymology
The name of Lake Zabuye is also spelt as Zabayu, Zhabuye, Chabyêr or Chabyer, sometimes with an addition of "caka", which means "salt lake" in TibetanTibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
.
Geography and geology
The lake is located in the Gangdisi Mountains (also known as the Lunggar Mountains) deep in the Tibetan PlateauTibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...
. It is one of 251 salt lakes in Tibet. It is divided into the northern (98 km²) and the southern (149 km²) sub-basins, which are linked by a narrow channel. The southern part is semi-dry and appears white in satellite images. The northern part is fed from two inlets on east and on the west, by the snow melt of the Rianglinag Mountains (6364 metres (20,879.3 ft)). The catchment area is 6,680 km², and the lake is surrounded by mountains with a height of 4,600–5,200 m above sea level. The lake is fed by rain, underground water and melting ice. Paleo-lake shore deposits in the area include sand banks, spits and barriers, and interbarrier lakes and lake shore deltas that form a cliff along the lake, in different tectonogeomorphological positions in the lake basin. This accumulation of sediments illustrates the dynamic nature of the lake system and its paleoclimatic characteristics.
Apart from lithium carbonate, the lake has high content of borax
Borax
Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. It is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.Borax has a wide variety of uses...
and also contains mirabilite
Mirabilite
Mirabilite, also known as Glauber's salt, is a hydrous sodium sulfate mineral with the chemical formula Na2SO4·10H2O. It is a vitreous, colorless to white monoclinic mineral which forms as an evaporite from sodium sulfate bearing brines. It is found around saline springs and along saline playa lakes...
and other alkali metal
Alkali metal
The alkali metals are a series of chemical elements in the periodic table. In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, the alkali metals comprise the group 1 elements, along with hydrogen. The alkali metals are lithium , sodium , potassium , rubidium , caesium , and francium...
salts with a total content of 360–410 g/L. The approximate elemental concentrations in the brine in g/L are as follows: Na (160), K (60), Li (1.5), Rb (0.25), Cs (0.1), SO4 (20), CO3 (90), Cl (120), Br (3), I (0.02), B (3). The water density is about 1.4 g/cm3 and pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
about 10. The lithium content, 1.53 g/L, nearly corresponds to the solubility limit of lithium carbonate in water and is second highest in the world.
The climate is very dry, with an annual precipitation of 199 mm (7.8 in) and evaporation of 2342 mm that has resulted in a gradual shrinking of the lake. The shrinking is revealed by terrace deposits above the present lake level. Up to 14 layers can be distinguished, but only the bottom seven have been evaluated with radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
; their age increases from about 5,000 to 24,000 years from bottom to top. The layers from 10 to 14 rise above 4,600 meters and suggest that long ago, the lake was open and had a much larger area.
Lithium production
The production of zabuyelite from the salt lake water began in 2004–2005, after exploration work for the mineral was initiated in 1982. In 1984, lithium was found in micro-fine sediments of the lake and considered amenable to refining in large quantities. Production started from a brine grading 0.12% Li. The company involved with the extraction, Zabuye (Shenzhen) Lithium Trading Co., Ltd., was established in 1999, employs 11–50 people and has the sales volumes of the order $10 million. It has a plant at the lake which had the total capacity of 5,000 tonnes and produced 1,556.5 tonnes of lithium carbonate in 2008. Its capacity was projected to increase to 20,000 tonnes in the near future. The company claims a reserve of 1.53 million tonnes Li (8.3 million tonnes of carbonate) but this estimate is considered as overly optimistic.Tibet Autonomous Region is investing CNY
Renminbi
The Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China . Renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of the PRC...
1.084 billion to enhance production of lithium from Lake Zabuye. Under this project, the lake is expected to produce 20,000 tonnes of lithium salt, 5,000 tonnes of lithium chloride
Lithium chloride
Lithium chloride is a chemical compound with the formula LiCl. The salt is a typical ionic compound, although the small size of the Li+ ion gives rise to properties not seen for other alkali metal chlorides, such as extraordinary solubility in polar solvents and its hygroscopic...
, 500 tonnes of lithium metal, 200 tonnes of high-purity lithium, 30 tonnes of lithium products and 490 tonnes of other lithium compounds per year. The anticipated annual revenue from this expansion is estimated to be CNY 639 million.
Uses of lithium
Lithium is a main component of lithium batteries, which are extensively used in cell phones, laptop computers, iPodIPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
s and other electronic devices. The biggest user of lithium batteries is projected to be electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles. According to market survey reports, China is now the largest producer and consumer of lithium-ion batteries, with the average annual production of 19 billion units. Because much of China's lithium originates from Tibet, it has been speculated that "China’s interest in Tibet might be more than political, with the hold over the region likely to do more with economics, taking into consideration the region’s wealth of natural resources, particularly in terms of prospective lithium reserves".