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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.
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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.
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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
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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
94:
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
449:
Brock, Fiona, Joanna
Ostapkowicz, Alex C. Wiedenhoeft, and Ian D. Bull. "Radiocarbon Dating Wooden Carvings and Skeletal Remains from Pitch Lake, Trinidad." Radiocarbon 59, no. 05 (October 2017): 1447-461. Accessed September 26, 2018.
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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
616:
Schulze-Makuch, Dirk; Haque, Shirin; de Sousa
Antonio, Marina Resendes; Ali, Denzil; Hosein, Riad; Song, Young C.; Yang, Jinshu; Zaikova, Elena; Beckles, Denise M. (April 2011). "Microbial Life in a Liquid Asphalt Desert".
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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
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412:
387:
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117:, 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,
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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
486:
Daniel Smith Lamb, Historical, Biographical and
Statistical Souvenir (Washington: Beresford: Howard University Medical Department, 1900), 86.
121:. 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.
788:
832:
606:
Woodside, P.R., The
Petroleum Geology of Trinidad and Tobago, 1981, USGS Report 81-660, Washington: US Dept. of the Interior, pp. 10
54:, including a small museum, from where official tour guides can escort people across the lake. The lake is mined for asphalt by
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inhabited the asphalt lake in populations ranging between 10 and 10 cells/gram. The Pitch Lake is one of several natural
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47:. The lake covers about 0.405 square kilometres (100 acres) and is reported to be 76.2 metres (250 feet) deep.
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Bacterial action on the asphalt at low pressures creates petroleum in asphalt. The researchers indicated that
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The Pitch Lake has fascinated explorers and scientists, attracting tourists since its re-discovery by Sir
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discovered in 1914 and the Penal Field in 1941. The first offshore well was drilled in 1954 at
Soldado.
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436:"La Brea, Pitch Lake," UNESCO World Heritage Centre, August 2011, accessed September 28, 2018,
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The Wonderland of Trinidad, by Barber Asphalt Company—a Project Gutenberg eBook
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Largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world, located in Trinidad and Tobago
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in California, and an oil well and a mud volcano in Trinidad and Tobago.
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in the world, estimated to contain 10 million tons. It is located in
462:"A Practical Treatise of Coal, Petroleum, and Other Distilled Oils"
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497:"A Gravity Investigation of the Pitch Lake Of Trinidad And Tobago"
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The regional geology of southern Trinidad consists of a trend of
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413:"Trinidad Express Newspapers: | La Brea, home of the pitch lake"
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90:. Raleigh himself found immediate use for the asphalt to
253:. According to Woodside, "host muds and/or shales become
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North-South Cross Section of the Forest Reserve Field
325:
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170:The origin of The Pitch Lake is related to deep
147:cuts across the southwest portion of the island.
438:https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5645/
280:The first wells were drilled into Pitch Lake
390:. National Museums Liverpool. Archived from
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501:Geological Society of Trinidad & Tobago
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589:Microbial Life Found in Hydrocarbon Lake.
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23:Map showing location of the Pitch Lake
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468:. Bailliere Brothers. pp. 26–28
318:as a sole carbon and energy source.
56:Lake Asphalt of Trinidad and Tobago
13:
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31:is the largest natural deposit of
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833:Landforms of Trinidad and Tobago
704:10.1111/j.1751-7915.2011.00269.x
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528:Microbial (2011). "abstract".
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767:Grossman, Lisa (2010-04-23).
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119:Barber Asphalt Paving Company
415:. 2018-02-16. Archived from
143:of Trinidad. The Los Bajos
106:from a sample of Pitch Lake
45:Siparia Regional Corporation
7:
321:
10:
849:
336:Trinidad and Tobago portal
128:
124:
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769:"Life in the sticky lane"
460:Gesner, Abraham (1861).
450:doi:10.1017/rdc.2017.78.
273:overlying a complicated
191:in the world, including
88:expedition there in 1595
50:Pitch Lake is a popular
748:"Trinidad's Pitch Lake"
692:Microbial Biotechnology
131:Trinidad § Geology
592:the physics arXiv blog
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24:
804:10.23250°N 61.62806°W
649:10.1089/ast.2010.0488
560:10.1089/ast.2010.0488
251:sedimentary volcanoes
229:Republic of Venezuela
165:
154:
138:
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209:Carpinteria Tar Pits
156:Stratigraphic Column
100:Abraham Pineo Gesner
78:Pitch Lake, ca. 1890
809:10.23250; -61.62806
800: /
641:2011AsBio..11..241S
552:2011AsBio..11..241S
201:McKittrick Tar Pits
174:in connection with
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52:tourist attraction
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746:Seaman, Richard.
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388:"The Pitch Lake"
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363:List of tar pits
358:Notable tar pits
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308:La Brea tar pits
275:thrust structure
193:La Brea Tar Pits
70:Pitch Lake, 2016
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259:under compacted
180:Caribbean Plate
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102:first obtained
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781:on 2010-04-27.
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733:External links
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686:First (2011).
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350:Geology portal
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255:over pressured
129:Main article:
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98:In the 1840s,
84:Walter Raleigh
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774:Science News
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619:Astrobiology
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396:. Retrieved
392:the original
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304:
301:Microbiology
279:
233:
225:Lake Guanoco
169:
158:for Trinidad
145:wrench fault
141:geologic map
139:Generalized
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807: /
316:asphaltenes
249:cores, and
213:Carpinteria
197:Los Angeles
115:Amzi Barber
822:Categories
795:61°37′41″W
792:10°13′57″N
757:2020-03-03
688:"abstract"
511:2008-05-27
423:2019-02-19
398:2018-03-19
374:References
271:formations
240:anticlines
221:California
207:) and the
205:McKittrick
178:under the
176:subduction
29:Pitch Lake
657:1531-1074
632:1004.2047
543:1004.2047
292:from the
290:distilled
284:in 1866.
282:oil seeps
219:state of
215:) in the
113:In 1887,
722:21624102
673:22078593
665:21480792
576:22078593
568:21480792
322:See also
312:Archaeal
286:Kerosene
268:Pliocene
247:diapiric
104:kerosene
41:Trinidad
713:3819015
637:Bibcode
548:Bibcode
472:27 June
264:Miocene
227:in the
199:), the
125:Geology
108:bitumen
86:in his
62:History
37:La Brea
33:bitumen
720:
710:
671:
663:
655:
574:
566:
236:ridges
223:, and
172:faults
669:S2CID
627:arXiv
572:S2CID
538:arXiv
294:pitch
244:shale
242:with
92:caulk
718:PMID
661:PMID
653:ISSN
564:PMID
474:2020
288:was
257:and
217:U.S.
27:The
708:PMC
700:doi
645:doi
556:doi
277:."
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
