Prospects Of The Aral Region (Republic Of Kazakhstan) For The Detection Of Lithium Hydromineral Raw Materials

The article is devoted to the assessment of the Aral region of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the presence of lithium hydromineral raw materials (LHMRM) on the basis of criteria and features established by analyzing literature data on regions with large LHMRM resources. The Aral region is a tectonic depression occupied at various times by the waters of the Aral Sea. For the first time, attention is drawn to the manifestation of a giant thermal anomaly that captures the entire depression, as a reflection of ascending endogenous flows of energy and matter. These flows could bring lithium and other valuable elements into the sedimentation pool, which accumulated in halogen deposits during evaporation. It is shown that the Upper Pliocene and Holocene layers are of interest in relation to LHMRM. In the first, up to a depth of 500 m, promising salt strata with a total capacity of 85 m are noted on LHMRM. The Holocene stage of development of the Aral Sea is characterized by sharp fluctuations in its level and salinity. In regressive epochs, coinciding with hot arid conditions and, most likely, with the activation of heat flow, the level of the Aral Sea fell sharply. The sea was shallow and broke into separate lakes filled with highly mineralized waters. The composition of regressive sediments is mainly sandy-siltstone chemogenic (gypsum, mirabilite, etc.). Chemogenic deposits accumulated in the Small Sea, and saline landscapes existed on the coasts. Calculations of possible concentrations of dissolved forms of lithium in seawater of the order of 15 mg/l as of 1967 (before the beginning of modern shallowing of the Aral Sea) are given. The sea level has dropped by more than 16 m since then. At the same time, millions of tons of salts of various metals, including lithium, accumulated on the exposed bottom of the sea. All these salts, penetrating into the pore and groundwater, could enrich them, forming a brine containing high concentrations of salts of rare metals, including lithium, in the area of the bottom of the former sea.

forecast of minerals, lithium hydromineral raw materials, salts, brine, mineralized waters, arid climate, thermal anomaly, Aral Sea