Pitch Lake

Coordinates: 10°13′57″N 61°37′41″W / 10.23250°N 61.62806°W / 10.23250; -61.62806
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Map showing location of the Pitch Lake

The Pitch Lake is the largest natural deposit of

Siparia Regional Corporation. The lake covers about 100 acres (0.405 square kilometres) and is reported to be 250 feet (76.2 metres) deep.[1]

Pitch Lake is a popular tourist attraction, 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

Pitch Lake, 2016
Pitch Lake, ca. 1890

The Pitch Lake has fascinated explorers and scientists, attracting tourists since its re-discovery by Sir

expedition there in 1595. Raleigh himself found immediate use for the asphalt to caulk his ship. He referred to the pitch as "most excellent... It melteth not with the sun as the pitch of Norway".[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]

In the 1840s, Abraham Pineo Gesner first obtained kerosene from a sample of Pitch Lake bitumen.[5]

In 1887,

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.[6]

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.[citation needed]

Geology

Main article: Trinidad § Geology
wrench fault
cuts across the southwest portion of the island.
Stratigraphic Column
for Trinidad
North-South Cross Section of the Forest Reserve Field

The origin of The Pitch Lake is related to deep

Lake Guanoco in the Republic of Venezuela
.

The regional geology of southern Trinidad consists of a trend of

thrust structure."[10]

The first wells were drilled into Pitch Lake

distilled 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.[10]
: 1 

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 in California, and an oil well and a mud volcano in Trinidad and Tobago.[11] Archaeal and bacterial communities co-exist, with novel species having been discovered from Pitch Lake samples.[8] Researchers have also observed novel fungal life forms which can grow on the available asphaltenes as a sole carbon and energy source.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Pitch Lake". National Museums Liverpool. Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  2. ^ "Trinidad Express Newspapers: | La Brea, home of the pitch lake". 2018-02-16. Archived from the original on 2018-02-16. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  3. ^ "La Brea, Pitch Lake," UNESCO World Heritage Centre, August 2011, accessed September 28, 2018, https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5645/.
  4. ^ 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. doi:10.1017/rdc.2017.78.
  5. ^ Gesner, Abraham (1861). "A Practical Treatise of Coal, Petroleum, and Other Distilled Oils". Internet Archive. Bailliere Brothers. pp. 26–28. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  6. ^ Daniel Smith Lamb, Historical, Biographical and Statistical Souvenir (Washington: Beresford: Howard University Medical Department, 1900), 86.
  7. ^ "A Gravity Investigation of the Pitch Lake Of Trinidad And Tobago". Geological Society of Trinidad & Tobago. Archived from the original on 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  8. ^
    S2CID 22078593
    .
  9. ^ Microbial Life Found in Hydrocarbon Lake. the physics arXiv blog 15 April 2010.
  10. ^ a b Woodside, P.R., The Petroleum Geology of Trinidad and Tobago, 1981, USGS Report 81-660, Washington: US Dept. of the Interior, pp. 10
  11. S2CID 22078593
    .
  12. PMID 21624102
    .

External links

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10°13′57″N 61°37′41″W / 10.23250°N 61.62806°W / 10.23250; -61.62806

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