An example of the use of simile in science journalism:
"The world's second-largest supplier of lithium is Chile (39,000 tons a year). Rather than crush rocks, the Chilean mines pump out lithium dissolved in groundwater brine, which is then poured into pools that can evaporate in the hot, dry wastes of the Atacama desert, eventually leaving white, powdery lithium salts. Yet as stunning as these appear – from shades of aquamarine to bright yellow, like a disturbed artist's palette dropped in the otherwise empty expanse of the driest place on Earth – they leave a terrible chemical legacy, including damage to fresh water supplies for local communities and disruption to wildlife habitat."
Kit Chpman (2023) The lithium rush, Chemistry World, 20 (5), https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-lithium-rush/4017304.article
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