Pitch Lake

It occurs naturally too, in places such as California’s La Brea Tar Pits and in the famed Pitch Lake in Trinidad.

Tarry asphalt from Pitch Lake was used by Sir Walter Raleigh to waterproof the hulls of his ships.

An analysis of Pitch Lake, a tar pit in La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago, reveals just how little water is needed to support organisms that can inhabit — and consume — oil.

Droplets found in Pitch Lake tar were just a few microlitres in volume, or roughly one-twentieth the size of a drop of water.

We sailed by Cedros Point; by the curious row of rocks that are known as the Serpent's Teeth; by the village of Brea, off which several vessels were lying at anchor, loading with the bitumen that is dug out of the famous Pitch Lake about a mile in shore.