tar pits
Sticky fossil traps
Tar pits are natural deposits where crude oil seeps to the surface and leaves behind thick, sticky asphalt that can trap animals and preserve their remains.
The La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles are the most famous example, having yielded thousands of Ice Age fossils including mammoths and saber-toothed cats.
Figuratively, a tar pit describes any situation that's easy to get into but difficult to escape: That project became a tar pit—we kept sinking more resources into it.
Spanish for "the tar"
- excavationAct of unearthing
- fossilsPreserved ancient organism traces
- bonesRigid internal support structure
- skeletonsInternal bony structures
mammoth · mastodon · saber-toothed cat · dire wolf · ground sloth · Pleistocene · Ice Age · megafauna
Petroleum-based paving material
- bitumenViscous hydrocarbon mixture
- petroleumNatural underground hydrocarbon liquid
- crude oilUnrefined fossil fuel
- seepageSlow fluid escape
hydrocarbons · viscous · sediment · oil sands · natural asphalt · subsurface · outcrop · ooze
La Brea
Spanish for "the tar"
- excavationAct of unearthing
- fossilsPreserved ancient organism traces
- bonesRigid internal support structure
skeletons · mammoth · mastodon · saber-toothed cat · dire wolf · ground sloth · Pleistocene · Ice Age · megafauna · extinct
asphalt
Petroleum-based paving material
- bitumenViscous hydrocarbon mixture
- petroleumNatural underground hydrocarbon liquid
- crude oilUnrefined fossil fuel
seepage · hydrocarbons · viscous · sediment · oil sands · natural asphalt · subsurface · outcrop · ooze · bubbling
sticky
Apt to adhere
black · oozing · bubbling · tacky · gummy · glutinous · sludge · mucky · dark · shiny
stuck
Unable to move
struggle · quicksand · snare · inescapable · prey · predator · death trap · preserved · engulfed · suction
- prehistoric habitats
- Ice Ageice age, mammoths, saber-tooth cat, mammoth, woolly mammoth
- prehistorystone tools, Neolithic, Stone Age, caveman, cavemen
- fossil sourcesamber, shale, limestone, sandstone, coal beds
- Prehistoric Americamammoth, mastodon, dire wolf, megafauna, Paleo-Indians
- fossil sitesdig site, excavation, quarry, dig, dig sites
tar pitsquicksand
Yielding, engulfing sediment
open plains · clear waters · solid ground · bedrock · dry land
tar pitslava flows
Moving volcanic rock
glacial ice · permafrost · quicksand · sinkholes · mudslides
tar pitsmountain peaks
Highest elevations of ranges
geysers · hot springs · salt flats · rock formations · canyons
pitch, tar, pits, pitfall, tarry, tarpaulin, tarring, tars, tar pit