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The lake was created thousands of years ago by the process of sub\\, when the Carib bean continental plate was forced under another plate. This opened fault lines that allowed oil from deep underground deposits to rise to the surface, where it collected in a volcanic crater. The air caused lighter elements of the oil to evaporate, leaving behind the heavy asphalt, a mix of oil, clay a nd water.
In 1595, Sir Walter Raleigh arrived in Trinidad in search of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold. He attacked Port of Spain with cannons, and sacked St. Joseph. While sailing across the Gulf of Paria, he reputedly smelled the tar, and put into shore at Terra de Brea. The Caribs led Raleigh to the pitch lake, and he realized that the substance was ideal for caulking his ships. He took several barrels home with him, and has since been credited with “discovering” the lake.
Mining of the lake started in 1867, and an estimated 10 million tons of asphalt has been extracted since. Lake Asphalt of Trinidad & Tobagois a stateowned enterprise which mines, processes and exports asphalt around the globe, where it is used for paving roads, runways and race tracks. The company is vital to the local economy, as the major source of employment. The lake is estimated to contain reserves of around 6 million tons, which would last 400 years at the current rate of extraction.
Items found in the Pitch Lake include Amerindian artifacts, fossilized remains from a prehistoric giant sloth, and a mastodon tooth. In 1928, a massive tree, estimated to be around 4,000 years old, suddenly emerged from the center of the lake, then sank back down, although a section was rescued for posterity. Some scientists think the Pitch Lake is similar to hydrocarbon lakes on Titan, Saturn’s moon, which could help to answer the question of whether they could support life.
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