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Lake Pit. The iconic Lake Pit, located in front of the museum, is actually a pit left over from asphalt mining operations in the late 1800s. Rain and groundwater has collected above the bubbling asphalt, creating a small lake. The lake’s bubbles, sheet, and distinctive odor come from a deep underground oil field.
5801 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. 213.763.3499. 24151 Newhall Ave., Newhall, CA 91321. 661.254.4584.
As of the last count of the La Brea collection at the National History Museum of Los Angeles County, more than 3.5 million specimens have been found in the tar pits. Think everything from dire wolves to saber-tooth cats to beetles.
- Jessika Toothman
- How old are the La Brea Tar Pits?Serious scientific excavations didn't commence at the La Brea Tar Pits until the beginning of the 20th century. However, the history of the tar pit...
- How did the La Brea Tar Pits form?The Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley says "[t]ar pits form when crude oil seeps to the surface through fissures in...
- How old are the fossils in the La Brea Tar Pits?The fossils found in the La Brea Tar Pits are between 11,000 and 50,000 years old.
- What animals have been found in the La Brea Tar Pits?The animal fossils that have been found in the La Brea Tar Pits include saber-toothed cats, dire wolves and mammoths, among others.
Oct 28, 2022 · La Brea Tar Pits curator Regan Dunn places her hand on the K-Pg boundary of the geological formation known as Zumaia’s flysch in Zumaia, Spain.
- Corinne Purtill
- Staff Writer
- corinne.purtill@latimes.com
Oct 20, 2012 · Just visit the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California! “Brea” is the Spanish word for tar. The tar pits are areas where tar has seeped up from under the ground for over 40,000 years. They were once called “the Salt Creek oil fields” and sat a few miles outside of Los Angeles.
Nov 1, 2022 · Located on Museum Row in the heart of LA, this geological wonder gives scientists and daily visitors a peek into 50,000 years of change in Los Angeles. “We’re able to learn from this how the whole system was shifting with the climate and what happened, potentially, when humans came in,” says Bettison-Varga.
