Tar Pits of the World

After trekking through the jungle for an hour we came across this 'wild' tar pit. It's a great place to study how wildlife today act around this natural phenomenon.

Tar Pits of the World

Asphaltic deposits or "tar pits" present a unique opportunity to study past ecosystems because they preserve many different kinds of fossils (and lots of them!).
Tar pits are especially important for scientists in areas where fossils don't normally preserve well, such as the Neotropics.

Zoom in and click on the map icons to learn about fossiliferous tar pits around the world!

Welcome to the B.R.E.A.S. Project where we are Bridging Research & Education at Asphaltic Sites.

Our mission is to foster integrative research collaborations and build capacity at asphaltic fossil localities around the world. We want to provide collections support and technical expertise to local institutions involved in excavating, preparing, and curating fossils from these asphaltic localities. We will share expertise and initiate staff and student exchanges between these institutions and La Brea Tar Pits. We seek to advance research collaborations and engage local communities by developing education and outreach programs to support local STEM education and to conserve and communicate the importance of these localities. You can follow us on Twitter @BREASproject, on Instagram @B.R.E.A.S and on Facebook BREAS Initiative as well as with #tarpitsoftheworld

Current Projects

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Trinidad and Tobago

Peru

Ecuador

References

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Miller, L. H. 1931. Pleistocene birds from the Carpinteria asphalt of California. University of California Publications, Bulletin of the Department of Geological Sciences, 20 (10). In G. D. Louderback, R. W. Chaney, & H. Williams (Eds.), University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, 1931-1932, (pp. 361-374). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Miller, L. H. 1932. Two Pleistocene avifaunas from the Carpinteria asphalt. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 43, 291.
Shaw, C. A., & Quinn, J. P. 2015. The Addition of Smilodon fatalis (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) to the Biota of the Late Pleistocene Carpinteria Asphalt Deposits in California, with Ontogenetic and Ecologic Implications for the Species. La Brea and beyond: The paleontology of asphalt-preserved biotas, ed. JM Harris. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series, (42), 91-96

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Hoffstetter, R. 1952. Les Mammiferes Pleistocenes de la Republique de l’Equateur. Memoires de la Societe Geologique de France, n.s., 66:1–391.
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DeMay, I. S. 1941. Quaternary bird life of the McKittrick asphalt, California. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication, 530, 35-60.
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Beebe, B.F. 1976. Comparative skeletal analysis of the genus Dusicyon (South American Canidae) with special consideration of the Late Pleistocene Dusicyon sechurae from tar-seep deposits of Talara, Peru and Salinas, Ecuador. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Toronto: Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, 459 pp.
Campbell, K.E., Jr. 1979. The non-passerine Pleistocene avifauna of the Talara tar seeps, northwestern Peru. Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Contributions 118:1–203.
Churcher, C.S. 1966. The insect fauna from the Talara tar-seeps, Peru. Canadian Journal of Zoology 44: 985–993.
Churcher, C.S. 1965. Camelid material of the genus Palaeolama Gervais from the Talara tar-seeps, Peru, with a description of a new subgenus, Astylolama. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 145:161–205.
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Onary-Alves, S. Y., Hsiou, A. S. & Rincon, A. D. 2016. The northernmost South American fossil record of Boa constrictor (Boidae, Boinae) from the Plio–Pleistocene of El Breal de Orocual (Venezuela). Alcheringa 41:1–8
Onary-Alves, S. Y., Rincón A.D., & Hsiou A.S. 2018. Fossil snakes (Squamata, Serpentes) from the tar pits of Venezuela: taxonomic, palaeoenvironmental, and palaeobiogeographical implications for the North of South America during the Cenozoic/Quaternary boundary. PeerJ 6:e5402
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SolorzanoA., Rincon A.D., and McDonald H.G. 2015 A New Mammal Assemblage from the Late Pleistocene El Breal de Orocual, Northeast of Venezuela. La Brea and beyond: The paleontology of asphalt-preserved biotas, ed. JM Harris. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series, (42), 125-150