tar pit

American  

[tahr pit] / ˈtɑr ˌpɪt /

noun

tar pits plural

1. an accumulation of natural tar or asphalt that has seeped upward to the earth's surface, especially one that has acted as a natural trap into which animals have fallen, sunk, and had their bones preserved.

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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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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• tar pits
  plural

Example Sentences

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

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

In 2018, he and colleagues started on an ambitious plan to radiocarbon date bones from a tar pit first excavated in the 1920s.

From Science Magazine • Aug. 16, 2023

But thanks to the federal and local governments, an administrative tar pit made it extremely difficult for the private investors to build their energy plants.

From Slate • Jan. 27, 2021

It came during a mission in which I was tasked with recovering a machine that a paleontologist had been using to collect samples from a tar pit.

From New York Times • Mar. 3, 2020

A mixture of sand and fine brown adobe clays and gray caliche, it had the texture, viscosity, and crippling powers of a tar pit.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols