Video: Natural phenomenon: Peach Lake asphalt in Trinidad
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Lake Peach Lake, located in the southwest of Trinidad, is famous for being one of the natural "deposits" of asphalt … This is one of the largest bituminous pits in the world, with an area of about 40 hectares and a depth of about 80 m. A characteristic feature of Peach Lake is that objects that somehow fall on the surface of the lake gradually sink to the bottom, and those that have lain for several centuries among the molten asphalt can float to the surface from time to time.
The unique lake was formed due to the fact that a tectonic fault occurred in the Caribbean region thousands of years ago, and oil from deep deposits rose to the surface. In fact, natural asphalt is nothing more than a mixture of clay, water and oil.
Lake Peach Lake was discovered by Walter Raleigh in 1595, and the locals showed the Englishman a lake of "black gold", which they called Tierra de Brea. Initially, a resourceful European used bitumen to grind the wooden hulls of ships. On his second expedition to Trinidad, Walter Raleigh decided to transport natural asphalt for the construction of Westminster Bridge, which was timed to coincide with the opening of the Houses of Parliament. True, during the transportation, part of the natural material simply melted, pretty dirtying the horses.
The industrial development of the resources of the mountain lake began in 1867. For all the time, about 10 million tons of asphalt were mined, the raw materials were used to build high-quality road surfaces not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but also on other islands of the Caribbean. In addition, the asphalt mined at Peach Lake paved the streets of more than fifty countries, including the United States of America, England, India, Singapore, Egypt and Japan. According to experts, the lake contains about 6 million tons of asphalt, at the current rate of extraction it should be enough for about 400 years.
Peach Lake is gradually becoming a popular tourist destination - about 20 thousand travelers visit it annually. Some even strive to swim in the lake, considering its water healing, since it has a high sulfur content. Note that on the site Kulturologiya.ru we have already written about other amazing lakes. For example, about the pink lake Lac Rose, the flooded lake Kaindy, as well as about the lake of hot lava in the crater of the Nyiragongo volcano in the Congo.
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