Lake asphalt - Natural asphalt workshop

There is a special lake on Trinidad island in the Caribbean Sea. There is not much water in the lake, but a lot of asphalt accumulates. Therefore, it is called a sugar market. Besides tens of millions of tons of asphalt, the bottom of this lake also contains unimaginable things from prehistoric times.

Asphalt - a compound extracted from oil is so familiar to everyone. However, there is a natural bitumen in the world. They can be absorbed from the ground, forming large asphalt pools. They can be absorbed into the sand as in the Athabasca strawberry sand area, Canada. In particular, in some cases, asphalt also appears in volcanic undersea.

The surface of the lake was as dark as a black paint pot. Strangely, asphalt is like taking away so much. Since 1870, people have been exploiting asphalt here for hundreds of years, taking away tens of thousands of tons of asphalt every year, but the lake surface is still not lowered. The bottom of the lake has a very soft asphalt spot from which to extrude, it is called the "lake mother".

Trinidad Lake Lake contains a lot of asphalt.

The surface of the lake is only 0.44km ² , but 90m deep. It is noteworthy that, during the mining process, fossils of prehistoric birds and animals were often found, and ancient Indian relics and weapons. Therefore, the asphalt lake is also known as the Natural History Museum.

Pitch at the Lake is quite thick and viscous so people can walk easily on the lake surface. However, if you stand still in one spot on the lake, you will be subsided.

You can walk freely on the asphalt but should not stand back.

Looking over, the asphalt on the lake surface seemed to stand still. But if you look closely, you will see the asphalt is still moving regularly. The trees, the animals when falling into the lake will sink gradually and after a while will re-surface the lake.

Pitch at Lake Pitch has a history of thousands of years, because oil from the underground sprayed up.

Lake Pitch has been around for thousands of years. The movement of the Caribbean continent collided with other blocks, forming fracture lines that caused crude to spray onto the surface. The light elements in oil will evaporate, leaving asphalt a mixture of oil, clay and water.

The asphalt lake was discovered in 1595 and has been exploited since 1867. So far, about 10 million tons of asphalt has been exploited and about 6 million tons remain. Each year about 20,000 visitors to Lake Lake visit.

Lake Pitch is the largest asphalt lake in the world.

Next to Pitch Lake, there are many other asphalt lakes in the US, Venezuela and Iraq . Many biologists think that beneath the asphalt lakes is a thousand-year-old historical period. Animals from prehistoric times such as tiger tigers, ancient wolves, bison, horses, turtles, mammoths . have encountered accidents and died in this asphalt lake. They can suffocate or starve, their fossils will last forever under the asphalt.

There are many fossils under the asphalt.

The scientists said that 90% of fossils in asphalt lakes are of predators. At Lake Pitch there are 4,000 snow wolf fossils found. The tiger tooth has 2,000 individuals and North American wolves are third. Even some prehistoric carnivorous birds are trapped here.

Pitching operation at Pitch Lake.

It can be said that inside the asphalt lake is an invaluable treasure.Thousands of fossils of animals trapped under the lake are found.