Peach Lake is an extraordinary place. It consists entirely of liquid bitumen. For this reason, Peach Lake is also called asph alt lake. Let us consider below in detail what kind of reservoir it is, what is its history and geographical location.
Asph alt lake
Peach Lake is a one-of-a-kind body of water. As mentioned above, it contains liquid bitumen instead of water. That is why in translation from English its name means "bituminous lake". And bitumen itself is a tar-like substance and a mixture of hydrocarbons with their various derivatives. It is a natural resource. Bitumen also includes oil derivatives, and the product itself is divided into asph alts, asph altenes, m alts, etc. Interestingly, because of its properties, it cannot dissolve in water. But how did the bitumen end up in the lake?
The fact is that, as mentioned above, natural asph alt is a mineral that occurs in nature and can exist on its own, without human intervention. And it just so happens that Peach Lake is just one big reservoir of bitumen thatburst forth from the bowels of the earth. Nevertheless, it is considered a lake, despite the fact that it does not contain water at all.
Geography
There is an asph alt lake in Trinidad, in the southwest of the island. This place is also part of the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, located in the Caribbean Sea (northeast of South America). Interestingly, almost the entire population of the republic is concentrated on the island.
Peach Lake covers approximately 40 hectares. But its depth is as much as 80 meters, which is considered very deep even for ordinary lakes. Presumably Peach Lake arose as a result of the collision of tectonic plates and is regularly replenished with substance from the very bowels of the earth. No one has studied the bottom of the lake, as it is virtually impossible, but it is assumed that there is oil at the very bottom, which constantly comes out there from deeper places. The light components evaporate, while the heavy ones remain. Peach Lake is the largest asph alt lake in the world, but nevertheless there are still such places on Earth. For example, in the well-known Dead Sea, in which, due to its salinity, one cannot drown, and where there is practically no life. Here, tar deposits are found in some places deep under water.
History
The first person to discover an asph alt lake was the navigator W alter Raleigh. This happened in 1595. He noticed that the local Indians were bitumen their canoes, and began to use the contents of Peach Lake to tar their ships.
In XIXcentury, bitumen began to be used already for laying roads. To be precise, the extraction of resources began in 1857. Thus, the material is used today. And for the first time, one street was laid with this natural asph alt in the city of Washington. Bitumen was convenient and versatile in its strength and quality: roads made from it did not melt in extreme heat and did not crack in frost. Asph alt has become indispensable of its kind and is still in use today. At one time, they even paved the road from bitumen to the famous London Buckingham Palace.
Legends
An interesting legend has been circulating among the locals for a long time. A long time ago, the Chima Indians lived on the site of the lake on the island of Trinidad. Once they defeated their enemies and decided to celebrate it with a feast. They ate a lot of hummingbirds, which are considered sacred on the island, as the spirits of their ancestors sit in them. After this, the gods were very angry and cursed that place - they caused a break in the earth, after which the resinous liquids flooded the entire village of the Chima tribe. However, this is only a legend and is a pleasant addition for regular tourists of the asph alt lake.
Interesting facts
In addition to its unusualness and the fact that the lake has asph alt instead of water, it is amazing in many other ways:
- Peach Lake is small but deep (80 meters), so according to some reports, it contains 6 million tons of asph alt!
- Expensive bitumen not only outperforms artificial asph alt in many ways, they are also durable, so this resourceused for laying runways for aircraft.
- The lake's reserves are regularly replenished from the bowels of the earth, more than 10 million tons of asph alt have been mined from it.
- According to experts, with the current rate of extraction of this natural resource for laying roads, bitumen should be enough for another 4 centuries!
- Peach Lake asph alt is mainly used for export to more than 50 countries.
- The lake has one amazing fact: it can absorb objects into itself, and then return to the surface after a millennium. So, recently pieces were found from the skeleton of a giant sloth that lived in the Pleistocene era, a mastodon tooth (a proboscis mammal that died out 10 thousand years ago), as well as some items of Indians who lived on the territory of Peach Lake for a very long time. Moreover, in 1928, a 4,000-year-old floating tree was discovered.
- The bitumen in Peach Lake is resilient, here water often accumulates on the surface after rains, which acquires a beautiful oil "rainbow". There are also paths for tourists, and a car can drive on the surface, but if it stops, it will begin to sink. Therefore, tourists are not recommended to go far from the coast, it is better to avoid places of hollows. Below, the photo of Peach Lake (asph alt lake) shows an already experienced local resident.
How to get there?
The lake is not only useful because of its asph alt, but is also the main attraction of Trinidad, which is visited by over 20 thousand tourists a year. It is dangerous to walk here on your own or alone, as the paths are sometimes difficult to notice, and you can get into the basin. For an excursion, you should contact a guide who will take you to different places in Peach Lake. For walking, it is important to choose comfortable waterproof shoes with thick soles. It is also forbidden to smoke and light a fire here, as it is dangerous due to the high content of sulfur and methane in the air. However, the views are extremely mesmerizing in the photo of Peach Lake.
Asph alt Lake is located 50 km south of the capital of the state - the city of Port of Spain, and very close to the city of La Brea. But it is better to get with a tour from a local tour operator. And flying here is real, but, as a rule, with transfers in some American cities.
