Recharge processes limit the resource elements of Qarhan Salt Lake in western China and analogues in the evaporite basins

The Qarhan Salt Lake (QSL) in western China is K-Sr-Li-B-Br-Rb multi-resource coexisting Quaternary brine deposits. Significant research efforts have been directed to the origin of K-Li resources and evolutionary history of the QSL. However, the study on the different sources, recharge processes, and differential distribution patterns for these resource elements in brine deposits is still inadequate. Therefore, we measured Li-B concentrations and H-O-Sr-B isotopic compositions of different waters (river, spring, and brine) from the QSL, combined with the reported K-Sr contents and multiple isotopes of waters, to discuss the recharge, source of K-Sr-Li-B and their spatial distributions, by analogy with other evaporite basins in the world. The results show that: (1) the K-Li-B-Sr elemental concentrations of brines and their spatial distribution in the QSL are diverse; (2) high K and Sr values are distributed in Dabuxun and Qarhan sections, respectively, which are controlled by Ca-Cl springs in the northern QSL; on the contrary, Li and B values are enriched in the Bieletan section and are charged by thermal springs in the Kunlun Mountains; (3) the formation and evolution of Ca-Cl and thermal springs constrain fundamentally on the recharge processes of K-Sr and Li-B elements in the terminal salt lakes of the Qaidam Basin (QB); (4) some analogues of recharge processes limit the resource elements of the QSL and other salt lakes (Da Qaidam, Lop Nur, Zhabuye, Atacama, and Guayatayoc) in the world provides a reference for the resource exploration in deep formation waters in the evaporite basins.