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Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Lithium

Publication ,  Journal Article
Schlesinger, WH; Klein, EM; Wang, Z; Vengosh, A
Published in: Global Biogeochemical Cycles
August 2021

The total human mobilization of Li from the Earth's crust, >1,000 × 10 g/year, is much larger than Li mobilized by the natural processes of chemical and mechanical weathering (94 and 132 × 10 g/year, respectively), representing a ∼500% perturbation of the global cycle of Li by human activities. The anthropogenic perturbation of the global Li cycle shows enhanced releases to freshwaters from oil‐produced water (46 × 10 g/year), leaching of coal ash (7–20 × 10 g/year), and extraction of groundwaters (29 × 10 g/year). The sum of these anthropogenic sources more than doubles the natural transport of dissolved Li to the sea in rivers (69 × 10 g/year). Currently, releases from the excretion of therapeutic drugs and disposal of lithium‐ion batteries are a small component of the transport of Li in rivers, although the latter may increase markedly as lithium‐ion batteries dominant global energy storage. Human emissions of Li particles to the atmosphere—55 × 10 g/year from coal combustion—comprise about 38% of the emission of Li to the atmosphere from various sources. The inputs to the atmosphere are more than the estimated deposition of Li from the atmosphere, which is poorly constrained by available data.

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Published In

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

DOI

EISSN

1944-9224

ISSN

0886-6236

Publication Date

August 2021

Volume

35

Issue

8

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Related Subject Headings

  • Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
  • 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation
  • 3704 Geoinformatics
  • 3703 Geochemistry
  • 0405 Oceanography
  • 0402 Geochemistry
  • 0401 Atmospheric Sciences
 

Citation

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Schlesinger, W. H., Klein, E. M., Wang, Z., & Vengosh, A. (2021). Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Lithium. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 35(8). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gb006999
Schlesinger, William H., Emily M. Klein, Zhen Wang, and Avner Vengosh. “Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Lithium.” Global Biogeochemical Cycles 35, no. 8 (August 2021). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gb006999.
Schlesinger WH, Klein EM, Wang Z, Vengosh A. Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Lithium. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 2021 Aug;35(8).
Schlesinger, William H., et al. “Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Lithium.” Global Biogeochemical Cycles, vol. 35, no. 8, American Geophysical Union (AGU), Aug. 2021. Crossref, doi:10.1029/2021gb006999.
Schlesinger WH, Klein EM, Wang Z, Vengosh A. Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Lithium. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. American Geophysical Union (AGU); 2021 Aug;35(8).
Journal cover image

Published In

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

DOI

EISSN

1944-9224

ISSN

0886-6236

Publication Date

August 2021

Volume

35

Issue

8

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Related Subject Headings

  • Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
  • 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation
  • 3704 Geoinformatics
  • 3703 Geochemistry
  • 0405 Oceanography
  • 0402 Geochemistry
  • 0401 Atmospheric Sciences