The largest asphalt deposit in the world, the Pitch Lake, measuring around 100 acres and 250 feet deep in the centre, is found in southwest Trinidad in the village of La Brea. The liquid asphalt is black and viscous, but the surface is semisolid, and can be walked on.
1. About 20,000 tourists visit the Pitch Lake annually.
2. The asphalt is an emulsion of water, gas, bitumen and mineral matter, the latter consisting largely of fine silica sand and a lesser amount of impalpably fine clay.
3. La Brea is the Spanish word for "pitch".
4. The lake was created thousands of years ago by the process of subduction, when the Caribbean continental plate was forced under another plate.
5. In some parts of the Lake there is a small influx of soft material. This is accompanied by a stronger evolution of gas consisting principally of methane with a considerable proportion of carbon dioxide, and which also contains hydrogen sulphide. This influx gradually hardens and becomes like the main deposit of the asphalt.
6. In appearance the surface of the Lake is a uniform expanse of asphalt which is intersected by areas of water, the extent of which naturally varies according to the season.
7. Visitors occasionally swim in the waters of the pitch lake which some say is therapeutic because of the sulphur content.
8. Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO has submitted request for nomination for inclusion in World Heritage sites List recently in
August, 2011.
1. About 20,000 tourists visit the Pitch Lake annually.
2. The asphalt is an emulsion of water, gas, bitumen and mineral matter, the latter consisting largely of fine silica sand and a lesser amount of impalpably fine clay.
3. La Brea is the Spanish word for "pitch".
4. The lake was created thousands of years ago by the process of subduction, when the Caribbean continental plate was forced under another plate.
5. In some parts of the Lake there is a small influx of soft material. This is accompanied by a stronger evolution of gas consisting principally of methane with a considerable proportion of carbon dioxide, and which also contains hydrogen sulphide. This influx gradually hardens and becomes like the main deposit of the asphalt.
6. In appearance the surface of the Lake is a uniform expanse of asphalt which is intersected by areas of water, the extent of which naturally varies according to the season.
7. Visitors occasionally swim in the waters of the pitch lake which some say is therapeutic because of the sulphur content.
8. Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO has submitted request for nomination for inclusion in World Heritage sites List recently in
August, 2011.
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