La Brea Pitch Lake Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for
UNESCO Property names are listed in the language in which they
have been submitted by the State Party. The Pitch Lake is found
in southwest Trinidad in the village of La Brea. The lake
measures approximately one hundred (100) acres (41 hectares),
and is estimated to be two hundred and fifty (250) feet (76
metres) deep in the centre. It holds about ten million
(10,000,000) tons of pitch. It is situated about twelve hundred
(1200) yards from the sea, in a depression immediately south of
a 140 feet high hill, from the summit of which the ground slopes
gently northwards to the sea. 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. 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 whic