tar pit

Scientific  

1. An accumulation of natural tar or asphalt at the Earth's surface, especially one that traps animals and preserves their hard parts. Tar pits form when petroleum in subterranean petroleum-bearing rocks oozes up to the surface. As it rises, the petroleum loses its volatile components, forming a thick tar or asphalt deposit.

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Example Sentences

He will be battling a Frankenstein-like rival mammoth built by scientists from a jumble of various mammoth bones also plucked from the tar pits.

From The Wall Street Journal

“This is a global location. People around the world come to see the tar pits.”

From Los Angeles Times

Economic growth is the only way out of the tar pit.

From The Wall Street Journal

And finally, Lord Fredrick’s father, Edward Ashton, said to have drowned in a tar pit but whose body had never been found.

From Literature

“But I suppose even the stickiest pudding is better than a tar pit. Good night.”

From Literature