Pitch Lake
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The Pitch Lake is the largest natural deposit of
asphalt 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 ...
in the world, estimated to contain 10 million tons. It is located in La Brea in southwest
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
, within the
Siparia Regional Corporation Siparia is a region of Trinidad and Tobago in the southwestern portion of the island. The Region of Siparia is a Regional Corporation, which handles local government functions. The Siparia Regional Corporation is headquartered in Siparia. Other ...
. The lake covers about 100 acres (0.405 square kilometres) and is reported to be 250 feet (76.2 metres) deep. Pitch Lake is a popular
tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...
, including a small museum, from where official tour guides can escort people across the lake. The lake is mined for asphalt by Lake Asphalt of Trinidad and Tobago.


History

The Pitch Lake has fascinated explorers and scientists, attracting tourists since its re-discovery by Sir
Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...
in his expedition there in 1595. Raleigh himself found immediate use for the asphalt to
caulk Caulk or, less frequently, caulking is a material used to seal joints or seams against leakage in various structures and piping. The oldest form of caulk consisted of fibrous materials driven into the wedge-shaped seams between boards on w ...
his ship. He referred to the pitch as "most excellent... It melteth not with the sun as the pitch of Norway". Raleigh was informed of the lake’s location by the native Amerindians, who had their own story about the origin of the lake. The story goes that the indigenous people were celebrating a victory over a rival tribe when they got carried away in their celebration. They proceeded to cook and eat the sacred hummingbird which they believed possessed the souls of their ancestors. According to legend, their winged God punished them by opening the earth and conjuring the pitch lake to swallow the entire village, and the lake became a permanent stain and a reminder of their sins. The local villages believe this legend due to the many Amerindian artifacts and a cranium that have been discovered, preserved, in the pitch. In the 1840s,
Abraham Pineo Gesner Abraham Pineo Gesner, ONB (; May 2, 1797 – April 29, 1864) was a Canadian physician and geologist who invented kerosene. Gesner was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia (now called Chipmans Corner) and lived much of his life in Saint John, New Bru ...
first obtained
kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
from a sample of Pitch Lake
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 ...
. In 1887, Amzi Barber, an American businessman known as "The Asphalt King", secured a 42-year monopoly concession from the British Government for the Pitch Lake for his company, Barber Asphalt Paving Company. It was from this source that many of the first asphalt roads of New York City, Washington D.C., and other Eastern U.S. cities were paved. Since its re-discovery, there have been numerous research investigations into the use and chemical composition of this material. There have been countless theories, postulations, and conclusions as to the size, source, and origin of the asphalt.


Geology

The origin of The Pitch Lake is related to deep faults in connection with
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 ...
under the
Caribbean Plate The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America. Roughly 3.2 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) in area, the Caribbean Plate borders ...
related to Barbados Arc. The lake has not been studied extensively, but it is believed that the lake is at the intersection of two faults, which allows oil from a deep deposit to be forced up. The lighter elements in the oil evaporate under the hot tropical sun, leaving behind the heavier asphalt. Bacterial action on the asphalt at low pressures creates petroleum in asphalt. The researchers indicated that
extremophile An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme temper ...
s inhabited the asphalt lake in populations ranging between 106 to 107 cells/gram. The Pitch Lake is one of several natural asphalt lakes in the world, including 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 Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
),
McKittrick Tar Pits The McKittrick Tar Pits (also McKittrick Oil Seeps and McKittrick Brea Pits) are a series of natural asphalt lakes situated in the western part of Kern County in southern California. The pits are the most extensive asphalt lakes in the state ...
( McKittrick) 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 ...
) in the
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
state of
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and Lake Guanoco in the
Republic of Venezuela The Republic of Venezuela was a democratic republic first established in 1958, and replaced in 1999 by the History of Venezuela (1999-present), Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Venezuela saw ten years of military dictatorship from 1948 to ...
. The regional geology of southern Trinidad consists of a trend of
ridges A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
,
anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...
s with
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
diapiric cores, and sedimentary volcanoes. According to Woodside, "host muds and/or shales become over pressured and under compacted in relation to the surrounding sediments...mud or shale diapirs or mud volcanoes result because of the unstable semi-fluid nature of the methane-charged, undercompacted shales/muds." The mud volcanoes are aligned along east-northeast parallel trends. Woodside goes on to say, "The Asphalt Lake at Brighton represents a different kind of sedimentary volcanism in which gas and oil are acting on asphalt mixed with clay. This asphalt lake cuts across
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
/
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58formations overlying a complicated
thrust structure Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that syst ...
."Woodside, P.R., The Petroleum Geology of Trinidad and Tobago, 1981, USGS Report 81-660, Washington: US Dept. of the Interior, pp. 10 The first wells were drilled into Pitch Lake
oil seep A petroleum seep is a place where natural liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons escape to the earth's atmosphere and surface, normally under low pressure or flow. Seeps generally occur above either terrestrial or offshore petroleum accumulation stru ...
s in 1866.
Kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
was
distilled Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...
from the pitch in the lake from 1860 to 1865. The Guayaguayare No. 3 well was drilled in 1903, but the first commercial well was drilled at the west end of the lake in 1903. Oil was then discovered in Point Fortin-Perrylands area, and in 1911, the Tabaquite Field was discovered. The Forest Reserve Field was discovered in 1914 and the Penal Field in 1941. The first offshore well was drilled in 1954 at Soldado.


Microbiology

Evidence of an active microbiological ecosystem in Pitch Lake has been reported. The microbial diversity was found to be unique when compared to microbial communities analyzed at other hydrocarbon-rich environments, including
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 ...
in California, and an oil well and a mud volcano in Trinidad and Tobago.
Archaea Archaea ( ; singular archaeon ) is a domain of single-celled organisms. These microorganisms lack cell nuclei and are therefore prokaryotes. Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (in the Archaebac ...
l and bacterial communities co-exist, with novel species having been discovered from Pitch Lake samples. Researchers have also observed novel fungal life forms which can grow on the available
asphaltene Asphaltenes are molecular substances that are found in crude oil, along with resins, aromatic hydrocarbons, and saturates (i.e. saturated hydrocarbons such as alkanes). The word "asphaltene" was coined by Boussingault in 1837 when he noticed tha ...
s as a sole carbon and energy source.


See also

* Notable tar pits * List of tar pits *
Asphalt volcano An asphalt volcano is a rare type of submarine volcano ( seamount) first discovered in 2003. Several examples have been found: first, along the coasts of the United States and Mexico, and then in other regions of the world; a few are still ac ...


References


External links


The Wonderland of Trinidad, by Barber Asphalt Company—a Project Gutenberg eBook
* * {{Coord, 10, 13, 57, N, 61, 37, 41, W, region:TT_type:landmark, display=title Asphalt lakes Landforms of Trinidad and Tobago