Carpinteria Tar Pits

[1][2] Most of the tar pits are located along a short stretch directly on the beach and generate from the underlying Carpinteria Offshore Oil Field.

[3][5] The oil moves towards the surface and slowly transforms into bitumen; on the way through the lithosphere, it picks up clay and water and is cooled into asphalt.

The Carpinteria Tar Pits were known to the Chumash people, who mined the asphalt and used it as a sealant for waterproofing their tomols (plank-built boats) and other purposes.

In 1933, the area was designated a state beach and in 1941 it was formally opened to the public and all commercial activity stopped..[2] The tar pits have trapped and preserved hundreds of Pleistocene Age Mammals and birds.

Some findings are on display at the Carpinteria Valley Museum of History, but no paleontological studies have been conducted because the tar pits were used as a local rubbish dump.