Tar Pit Information
A tar pit, or more accurately known as an asphalt pit or asphalt lake, is a geological occurrence where subterranean bitumen leaks to the surface, creating a large area of natural asphalt.[1][2] This happens because after the material reaches the surface its lighter components vaporize, leaving only the thick asphalt. [3]
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Known tar pits
La Brea Tar Pits, CaliforniaThere are only a few known asphalt lakes worldwide:
- Tierra de Brea at La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago
- Lake Bermudez at Libertador, Estado Sucre, Venezuela
- La Brea Tar Pits Los Angeles, California, US
- McKittrick Tar Pits at McKittrick near Bakersfield, California, US
- Carpinteria Tar Pits at Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County, California, US
- Tar pits in Hit, Iraq
There are other fossil-bearing asphalt deposits in Oklahoma, Texas, Peru, Trinidad, Iran, Russia and Poland.
For other rich deposits, fossilized where they occurred, see Lagerstätten. Tar pits are the resting places of many fossils.
Paleontological significance
Animals are usually unable to escape from the asphalt when they fall in, making these pits excellent locations to excavate bones of prehistoric animals. The La Brea Tar Pits Museum is built around the tar pit and houses the fossilized remains of mammals and birds found within. The tar pits can trap animals because the asphalt that seeps up from underground forms a bitumen pit thick enough to relentlessly grab even mammoths until they die of starvation, exhaustion of trying to escape or from the heat that would come from the sun. Over one million fossils have been found in tar pits around the globe. [4]
Living organisms
Living bacteria has been found in the La Brea Tar Pits. These organisms have been shown to be new strains of previously discovered bacteria. They have been able to survive and thrive in an environment with no water and little to no oxygen. Scientists started looking for the bacteria when they noticed bubbles of methane coming out of the tar pits.[5]
See also
References
- ^ [1], Geological Society of Trinidad and Tobago (GSTT), principle for an asphalt lake, accessdate=2010-08-28
- ^ [2], The Suburban Emergency Management Project (SEMP), Asphalt Lakes, accessdate=2010-08-28
- ^ Perkins, Sid. "South America's sticky tar pits". http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2008/10/south-americas-sticky-tar-pits-2/. Retrieved 5/5/2012.
- ^ Perkins, Sid. "South America's sticky tar pits". http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2008/10/south-americas-sticky-tar-pits-2/. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ "Bubble, bubble, oil and...bacteria!". http://www.sciencebuzz.org/buzz_tags/tar_pits. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
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