1907] Geology Resources of Trinidad and Barbados 75 



springs at intervals and saturated layers of sandstone. At the 

 eastern portion a number of borings have been made to depths of 

 800 to 1 ,000 feet, in nearly every one oil being found sometimes in 

 large quantity. This field is noA\- being exploited rapidly with 

 every appearance of success. 



Borings along the east coast at several points have also 

 disclosed the fact that oil will be found in economic quantities at 

 widely separated locations, one of these near the beach on the 

 east coast, mereh^ a trial hole, apparently having yielded accord- 

 ing to the Government report at the rate of 60 to 70 barrels per 

 day. More recent borings at Guayaguayare have made returns 

 of oil at the rate of 12 to 10 barrels per hour. None of these wells 

 are gushers, but the oil rises to near the surface and can be easily 

 pumped. 



These borings, made at somewhat widely separated points in 

 the soutliern portion of the island, point conclusivelv to the 

 assumption that oil fields of very great economic value exist in 

 this area, and require only the judicious expenditure of capital to 

 ensure satisfactorv returns. In geological horizon the rocks are 

 similar to those of the celebrated oil-wells of Baku in southern 

 Russia and of Texas and California in the United States. They 

 are of somewhat higher horizon than those of the Florence field in 

 Colorado, which are apparently in Cretaceous rocks, but very 

 similar to- those of Burmah in the East Indies. They differ 

 markedly from those of Canada and of the eastern United States, 

 in which countries the oil is obtained from^ formations ranging 

 downward from the Devonian to the Trenton limestone. 



The Pitch lake of Trinidad, to which reference is often made, 

 is a feature of great scientific interest. It has been visited by 

 several scientists and various opinions have been expressed as to 

 its origin, some contending that the surface especially in its 

 central portion is soft and the asphalt hot, connecting its presence 

 with volcanic phenomena. In point of fact the surface of the 

 lake is hard and smooth, except for the presence of numerous 

 fissures which traverse it, and are filled with water, and for the 

 grow'th of trees which have evidently taken root in drifted areas 

 of sand along such fissure lines in which seeds from the surround- 

 ing forest have lodged and taken root. 



The lake itself is a vast body of asphalt, brownish-black in 

 colour, with an area of nearly 140 acres. It is located near the 

 west coast at Point La Brea at an elevation of about 100 feet 

 above the sea level and at a distance of nearly one mile from the 

 shore. In outline it is roughly circular, is deepest near the centre 

 where a boring of 17 5 feet failed to touch the bottom, and 

 gradually shoals towards the shores, having the character of a 



