McKittrick Tar Pits
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The McKittrick Tar Pits (also McKittrick Oil Seeps and McKittrick Brea Pits) are a series of natural
asphalt lakes Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
situated in the western part of
Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...
in southern California. The pits are the most extensive asphalt lakes in the state. The McKittrick Tar Pits are one of the five natural asphalt lake areas in the world, the others being Tierra de Brea in
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
, Lake Guanoco in
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
and the
La Brea Tar Pits La Brea Tar Pits is an active paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' in Spanish) has seeped up from the gro ...
(Los Angeles) and
Carpinteria Tar Pits The Carpinteria Tar Pits (also Carpinteria Oil Seeps) are a series of natural asphalt lakes situated in the southern part of Santa Barbara County in southern California, USA. The Carpinteria Tar Pits are a natural asphalt lake areas simila ...
(
Carpinteria Carpinteria (; es, Carpintería, meaning "Carpentry") is a small seaside city in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, it had a population of 13,264 at the 2020 census. Carpinteria is a po ...
) both also located in the US state of California.


Geography

The McKittrick Tar Pits are located in the southern part of the
San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...
about west of
Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
and south of the town of McKittrick. Most of the tar pits are located along the southwestern part of the intersection of
California State Route 58 State Route 58 (SR 58) is a major east-west state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs across the Coast Ranges, the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains, which border the southern Sierra Nevada, and the Mojave Deser ...
and 33 and generate from the underlying
McKittrick Oil Field The McKittrick Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in western Kern County, California. The town of McKittrick overlies the northeastern portion of the oil field. Recognized as an oil field in the 19th century, but known by Native Americans fo ...
. The pits stretch over a distance of about .


Geology

The asphalt lakes of the McKittrick area were probably created during the
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...
and share the same geological principle as other asphalt lakes. The creation of an asphalt lake is related to deep faults, often between two
tectonic plates Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...
. In connection with motion along the plates or
subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
, pressure is created against underlying oil
source rock In petroleum geology, source rock is rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which could generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been depos ...
, in this case the
Monterey Formation The Monterey Formation is an extensive Miocene oil-rich geological sedimentary formation in California, with outcrops of the formation in parts of the California Coast Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and on some of California's off-shore islands ...
. The oil moves towards the surface and slowly transforms into
bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
and on its way picks up clay and water, and is cooled into asphalt. Lighter hydrocarbon fractions volatilize on contact with the atmosphere, leaving behind the heavier fractions, which are principally asphaltum.


History

It is unknown when the McKittrick Tar Pits were discovered, as they have been known for a long time by the local Native American ''
Yokut people The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. ''Yokuts ...
'' who mined the asphalt and used it as a sealant for waterproofing, decoration, and even for trade. In the 1860s, San Joaquin Valley settlers mined the tar pits both from open pits and shafts and the first commercial exploitation occurred by the "Buena Vista Petroleum Company". The tar pits have trapped and preserved hundreds of Pleistocene Age animals The first paleontological studies were conducted between 1900 and 1910, in 1928 the first major studies were conducted by a paleontological team from the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
, the excavations were completed in 1949 by teams from the
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is the largest natural and historical museum in the western United States. Its collections include nearly 35 million specimens and artifacts and cover 4.5 billion years of history. This large coll ...
and the
Kern County Museum The Kern County Museum is a history museum located in Bakersfield, California. Its main focus is the history of Kern County. Pioneer Village, located on , contains over 50 original buildings from around the county, related to life in the late 19th ...
. By 1968 more than 43 different mammals and 58 different birds had been identified. On June 29, 1952 the McKittrick Tar Pits were registered a ''
California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
''. California Historical Landmark reads: *''NO. 498 McKITTRICK BREA PIT - Located one-eighth mile west of here is an ancient asphaltum seepage in which hundreds of Pleistocene Age (15,000-50,000 years ago) birds and animals were trapped. The site was first explored in 1928 by the University of California - excavation was completed in 1949 by the Los Angeles and Kern County museums.''


See also

*
California Historical Landmarks in Kern County Properties and districts listed as California Historical Landmarks within Kern County. *Note: ''Click the "Map of all coordinates" link to the right to view a Google map of all properties and districts with latitude and longitude coordinates in t ...
*
California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...


References


External links

* *{{cite web, url=http://geology.about.com/od/petroleum/ig/mckittrickseep/, title=Oil Seep at McKittrick, California, accessdate=2012-03-20, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309110149/http://geology.about.com/od/petroleum/ig/mckittrickseep/, archive-date=2012-03-09, url-status=dead Asphalt lakes Petroleum in California Geology of Kern County, California Lagerstätten Landforms of Kern County, California California Historical Landmarks Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Paleontology in California Pleistocene California Pleistocene paleontological sites of North America