Saw a dried-up lake near a mine and it scared me straight about our rock habits

I was hiking last year and found a spot that used to be a full lake, now just cracked dirt. People there told me it went dry after a big lithium mine started pulling water nearby. That water kept the local rocks and soil from falling apart. Without it, the ground moves and ancient rock faces are wearing away fast. We have to see how taking minerals can wreck these natural places. Let's ask for mining laws that save water and land. If we ignore this, we lose more than just rocks.

3 comments

3 Comments

betty3152mo agoMost Upvoted

Are those ancient rocks really crumbling already?

jenniferc712mo ago

They seem pretty solid from what I've seen. Might just be the angle in that photo.

wright.nina1mo ago

That part about the ground moving and rocks wearing away fast, it's like when a crack in your wall gets worse. You ignore the small problem until the whole structure's at risk. We do that with everything, from our phones needing new minerals to letting pipes leak because fixing it feels like too much work right now.