Tar pit

Tar pit

A tar pit, or more accurately known as an asphalt pit, is a geological occurrence where subterranean bitumen leaks to the surface, creating a large puddle, pit, or lake of asphalt.

Known tar pits

There are only a few known asphalt lakes worldwide:
*Pitch Lake at La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago
*La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles
*McKittrick, California near Bakersfield
*Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County, California
*Lake Bermudez in Venezuela

There are other fossil-bearing asphalt deposits in Texas, Peru, Trinidad, Iran, Russia and Poland.

For other rich deposits, fossilized where they occurred, see Lagerstätten.

Paleontological significance

Animals are sometimes unable to escape from the asphalt if they fall in and this makes these pits excellent locations to excavate bones of prehistoric animals. La Brea Tar Pits have a museum built around the fossilized remains of mammals and birds found in such a tar pit.


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  • tar pit — tar′ pit n. gel a seepage of natural tar or asphalt, esp. an accumulation that has animal bones preserved within it • Etymology: 1830–40 …   From formal English to slang

  • tar pit — noun a natural accumulation of bitumens at the surface of the earth; often acts as a trap for animals whose bones are thus preserved • Hypernyms: ↑pit, ↑cavity * * * noun : an area in which natural bitumens collect and are exposed at the earth s… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Tar Pit (comics) — Superherobox| caption=Tar Pit comic color=background:#8080ff character name=Tarpit real name=Joseph Joey V. Monteleone publisher=DC Comics debut= The Flash vol. 2 #174 (July 2001) creators=Geoff Johns Scott Kolins alliance… …   Wikipedia

  • Tar pit (disambiguation) — A tar pit is a geological occurrence where subterranean bitumen leaks to the surface, creating a large puddle, pit, or lake of asphalt.Tarpit may also refer to:* Tar Pit (comics), a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics * Tarpit (networking),… …   Wikipedia

  • tar pit — noun a hollow in which natural tar accumulates by seepage …   English new terms dictionary

  • tar pit — noun Date: 1839 an area in which natural bitumens collect and are exposed at the earth s surface and which tends to trap animals and preserve their hard parts (as bones or teeth) …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Tar — is a viscous black liquid derived from the destructive distillation of organic matter. Most tar is produced from coal as a byproduct of coke production, but it can also be produced from petroleum, peat or wood.Types of tarGeneralThe word tar is… …   Wikipedia

  • Tar baby — was a doll made of tar and turpentine, used to entrap Br er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br er Rabbit fought the Tar Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, tar baby refers to any sticky… …   Wikipedia

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  • tar sand — Geol. bituminous sand or sandstone from which asphalt can be obtained. [1895 1900] * * * or bituminous sand Deposit of loose sand or partially consolidated sandstone that is saturated with highly viscous bitumen. Oil recovered from tar sands,… …   Universalium

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