Pitch Lake

The Pitch Lake is the largest natural deposit of bitumen in the world, estimated to contain 10 million tons.

The Pitch Lake has fascinated explorers and scientists, attracting tourists since its re-discovery by Sir Walter Raleigh in his expedition there in 1595.

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.

[7] The lighter elements in the oil evaporate under the hot tropical sun, leaving behind the heavier asphalt.

The regional geology of southern Trinidad consists of a trend of ridges, anticlines with shale diapiric cores, and sedimentary volcanoes.

[8] Researchers have also observed novel fungal life forms which can grow on the available asphaltenes as a sole carbon and energy source.

[12] The microbiological activity 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.