Scientists discover $540,000,000,000 worth of 'white gold' sitting beneath giant lake

A study revealed a lake in California conceals an 'eye popping' amount of an extremely valuable element.

You clearly shouldn't judge a lake by its surface because beneath the Salton Sea in southern California there was a monumental surprise in store for scientists.

The largest lake in the state just so happens to be sat on a lithium reserve - which scientists already knew.

However, what they weren't aware of was just how much of the chemical element was underneath.

In a bid to find out, the Department of Energy (DOE) funded a study which set about researching the Salton Sea to try and analyze just how much lithium was underneath the vast body of water.

California Governor Gavin Newsom previously described the Salton Sea as the 'Saudi Arabia of lithium mining' - and well, the study's findings certainly prove why.

The study revealed estimates were far too low (Getty Stock Images/ Simonkr)

It was previously estimated there lies about four million tons of lithium underneath the lake, however, last year it was revealed there could actually be a staggering 18 million tons of lithium - also referred to as 'white gold' due to its value and appearance.

For context, this would be enough to power more than 382 million batteries for electric vehicles.

In light of the new discovery, it makes the California-based reservoir the largest in the world.

As of last year, one metric ton of lithium was worth around $29,000 so, with that figure in mind, Salton Sea could be sat atop of $540 billion worth of goods.

One of the study's 22 authors, Michael McKibben, a geochemistry professor at the University of California, Riverside, said of the findings: "This is one of the largest lithium brine deposits in the world.

"This could make the United States completely self-sufficient in lithium and stop importing it through China."

And others in the industry have hailed the finding as undeniably 'huge' too.

It's estimated 18 million tons of lithium lie beneath (Getty Stock Images/ Ed Freeman)

Sammy Roth, climate columnist for the Los Angeles Times, said on KJZZ radio's The Show: "It's been known for a long time that there's a whole bunch of lithium in this super heated underground pool, sort of deep beneath the the southern end of the Salton Sea."

Roth continued: "There have been companies for decades, actually that have been trying to get lithium out of there, and especially in the last decade as electric vehicles and energy storage on the the power grid become such a big need.

"But this this new report out of the federal government it's really a sort of eye popping number. They found that there's potentially enough lithium down there to supply batteries for 382 million electric vehicles, which is more, more vehicles than there are on the road in the United States today.

"So, if we could get all that lithium, that'd be huge."