69-653: Caversham Lakes is a set of lakes created through gravel extraction between the suburb of Caversham in Reading, Berkshire and the hamlet of Sonning Eye in Oxfordshire , just north of the River Thames and also refers to the sports buildings and facilities alongside those lakes. The lakes are formed from former gravel pits in the floodplain of the River Thames. The company Lafarge and formerly Redland plc have undertaken
138-539: A company previously formed by Claridge. Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company – formed in 1838 for the purpose of introducing to Britain "Asphalte in its natural state from the mine at Pyrimont Seysell in France", – "laid one of the first asphalt pavements in Whitehall". Trials were made of the pavement in 1838 on the footway in Whitehall, the stable at Knightsbridge Barracks, "and subsequently on
207-426: A few tens of kilometers of their source outcrops. Gravel is deposited as gravel blankets or bars in stream channels; in alluvial fans ; in near-shore marine settings, where the gravel is supplied by streams or erosion along the coast; and in the deltas of swift-flowing streams. The upper Mississippi embayment contains extensive chert gravels thought to have their origin less than 100 miles (160 km) from
276-644: A high hydraulic conductivity , sometimes reaching above 1 cm/s. Most gravel is derived from disintegration of bedrock as it weathers . Quartz is the most common mineral found in gravel, as it is hard, chemically inert, and lacks cleavage planes along which the rock easily splits. Most gravel particles consist of multiple mineral grains, since few rocks have mineral grains coarser than about 8 millimeters (0.31 in) in size. Exceptions include quartz veins , pegmatites , deep intrusions , and high-grade metamorphic rock . The rock fragments are rapidly rounded as they are transported by rivers , often within
345-632: A minor component, making up less than 1% of all sedimentary rock. Alluvial fans likely contain the largest accumulations of gravel in the geologic record. These include conglomerates of the Triassic basins of eastern North America and the New Red Sandstone of south Devon . [REDACTED] Media related to Gravel at Wikimedia Commons Bitumen Bitumen ( UK : / ˈ b ɪ tʃ ʊ m ɪ n / BIH -chuum-in , US : / b ɪ ˈ tj uː m ɪ n , b aɪ -/ bih- TEW -min, by- )
414-508: A mixture of pitch and bitumen, was used in the Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik , Croatia ) for tarring of ships. An 1838 edition of Mechanics Magazine cites an early use of asphalt in France. A pamphlet dated 1621, by "a certain Monsieur d'Eyrinys, states that he had discovered the existence (of asphaltum) in large quantities in the vicinity of Neufchatel", and that he proposed to use it in
483-651: A moldable putty that hardened into handles. Earlier, less-careful excavations at Le Moustier prevent conclusive identification of the archaeological culture and age, but the European Mousterian style of these tools suggests they are associated with Neanderthals during the late Middle Paleolithic into the early Upper Paleolithic between 60,000 and 35,000 years before present. It is the earliest evidence of multicomponent adhesive in Europe. The use of natural bitumen for waterproofing and as an adhesive dates at least to
552-480: A similar material. Neither of the terms "asphalt" or "bitumen" should be confused with tar or coal tars . Tar is the thick liquid product of the dry distillation and pyrolysis of organic hydrocarbons primarily sourced from vegetation masses, whether fossilized as with coal, or freshly harvested. The majority of bitumen, on the other hand, was formed naturally when vast quantities of organic animal materials were deposited by water and buried hundreds of metres deep at
621-522: A temperature of 50 to 150 °C (120 to 300 °F). Due to pressure from the rising of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta, 80 to 55 million years ago, the oil was driven northeast hundreds of kilometres and trapped into underground sand deposits left behind by ancient river beds and ocean beaches, thus forming the oil sands. Bitumen use goes back to the Middle Paleolithic , where it
690-424: A variety of ways – "principally in the construction of air-proof granaries, and in protecting, by means of the arches, the water-courses in the city of Paris from the intrusion of dirt and filth", which at that time made the water unusable. "He expatiates also on the excellence of this material for forming level and durable terraces" in palaces, "the notion of forming such terraces in the streets not one likely to cross
759-875: Is a loose aggregation of rock fragments . Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentary and erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone . Gravel is classified by particle size range and includes size classes from granule - to boulder -sized fragments. In the Udden-Wentworth scale gravel is categorized into granular gravel (2–4 mm or 0.079–0.157 in) and pebble gravel (4–64 mm or 0.2–2.5 in). ISO 14688 grades gravels as fine, medium, and coarse, with ranges 2–6.3 mm (0.079–0.248 in) for fine and 20–63 mm (0.79–2.48 in) for coarse. One cubic metre of gravel typically weighs about 1,800 kg (4,000 lb), or one cubic yard weighs about 3,000 lb (1,400 kg). Gravel
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#1732859143148828-432: Is a visually similar black, thermoplastic material produced by the destructive distillation of coal . During the early and mid-20th century, when town gas was produced, coal tar was a readily available byproduct and extensively used as the binder for road aggregates. The addition of coal tar to macadam roads led to the word " tarmac ", which is now used in common parlance to refer to road-making materials. However, since
897-450: Is also commonly used as a shortened form of " asphalt concrete " (therefore equivalent to the British "asphalt" or "tarmac"). In Canadian English , the word "bitumen" is used to refer to the vast Canadian deposits of extremely heavy crude oil , while "asphalt" is used for the oil refinery product. Diluted bitumen (diluted with naphtha to make it flow in pipelines) is known as " dilbit " in
966-405: Is an immensely viscous constituent of petroleum . Depending on its exact composition it can be a sticky, black liquid or an apparently solid mass that behaves as a liquid over very large time scales. In American English , the material is commonly referred to as asphalt . Whether found in natural deposits or refined from petroleum, the substance is classed as a pitch . Prior to the 20th century,
1035-414: Is an important commercial product, with a number of applications. Almost half of all gravel production is used as aggregate for concrete . Much of the rest is used for road construction, either in the road base or as the road surface (with or without asphalt or other binders.) Naturally occurring porous gravel deposits have a high hydraulic conductivity , making them important aquifers . Colloquially,
1104-508: Is derived from the late Middle English , in turn from French asphalte , based on Late Latin asphalton , asphaltum , which is the latinisation of the Greek ἄσφαλτος ( ásphaltos , ásphalton ), a word meaning "asphalt/bitumen/ pitch ", which perhaps derives from ἀ- , "not, without", i.e. the alpha privative , and σφάλλειν ( sphallein ), "to cause to fall, baffle, (in passive) err, (in passive) be balked of". The first use of asphalt by
1173-764: Is related to the English word mummy . The Egyptians' primary source of bitumen was the Dead Sea , which the Romans knew as Palus Asphaltites (Asphalt Lake). In approximately 40 AD, Dioscorides described the Dead Sea material as Judaicum bitumen , and noted other places in the region where it could be found. The Sidon bitumen is thought to refer to material found at Hasbeya in Lebanon. Pliny also refers to bitumen being found in Epirus . Bitumen
1242-534: Is sometimes distinguished from rubble, which is loose rock particles in the same size range but angular in shape. The Udden-Wentworth scale , widely used by geologists in the US, defines granular gravel as particles with a size from 2 to 4 mm (0.079 to 0.157 in) and pebble gravel as particles with a size from 4 to 64 mm (0.16 to 2.52 in). This corresponds to all particles with sizes between coarse sand and cobbles . The U.S. Department of Agriculture and
1311-461: Is sometimes sold combined with other materials, often without being labeled as anything other than simply "bitumen". Of particular note is the use of re-refined engine oil bottoms – "REOB" or "REOBs" – the residue of recycled automotive engine oil collected from the bottoms of re-refining vacuum distillation towers, in the manufacture of asphalt. REOB contains various elements and compounds found in recycled engine oil: additives to
1380-429: Is typical of some petroleum. The substance is soluble in carbon disulfide . It is commonly modelled as a colloid , with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase and maltenes as the continuous phase. "It is almost impossible to separate and identify all the different molecules of bitumen, because the number of molecules with different chemical structure is extremely large". Asphalt may be confused with coal tar , which
1449-414: Is used to bind aggregate particles like gravel and forms a substance referred to as asphalt concrete , which is colloquially termed asphalt . Its other main uses lie in bituminous waterproofing products, such as roofing felt and roof sealant. In material sciences and engineering , the terms asphalt and bitumen are often used interchangeably and refer both to natural and manufactured forms of
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#17328591431481518-405: Is widely and plentifully distributed, mostly as river deposits, river flood plains, and glacial deposits, so that environmental considerations and quality dictate whether alternatives, such as crushed stone , are more economical. Crushed stone is already displacing natural gravel in the eastern United States, and recycled gravel is also becoming increasingly important. The word gravel comes from
1587-702: The Old French gravele or gravelle . Different varieties of gravel are distinguished by their composition, origin, and use cases. Types of gravel include: In locales where gravelly soil is predominant, plant life is generally more sparse. This is due to the inferior ability of gravels to retain moisture, as well as the corresponding paucity of mineral nutrients, since finer soils that contain such minerals are present in smaller amounts. Sediments containing over 30% gravel that become lithified into solid rock are termed conglomerate . Conglomerates are widely distributed in sedimentary rock of all ages, but usually as
1656-460: The Sanskrit , where we find the words "jatu", meaning "pitch", and "jatu-krit", meaning "pitch creating", "pitch producing" (referring to coniferous or resinous trees). The Latin equivalent is claimed by some to be originally "gwitu-men" (pertaining to pitch), and by others, "pixtumens" (exuding or bubbling pitch), which was subsequently shortened to "bitumen", thence passing via French into English. From
1725-817: The Soil Science Society of America define gravel as particles from 2 to 80 mm (0.079 to 3.150 in) in size, while the German scale (Atterburg) defines gravel as particles from 2 to 200 mm (0.079 to 7.874 in) in size. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers defines gravel as particles under 3 in (76 mm) in size that are retained by a number 4 mesh, which has a mesh spacing of 4.76 mm (0.187 in). ISO 14688 for soil engineering grades gravels as fine, medium, and coarse with ranges 2 mm to 6.3 mm to 20 mm to 63 mm. The bulk density of gravel varies from 1,460 to 1,920 kg/m (2,460 to 3,240 lb/cu yd). Natural gravel has
1794-534: The Uinta Basin in Utah, US. The Tar Sand Triangle deposit, for example, is roughly 6% bitumen. Bitumen may occur in hydrothermal veins . An example of this is within the Uinta Basin of Utah , in the US, where there is a swarm of laterally and vertically extensive veins composed of a solid hydrocarbon termed Gilsonite . These veins formed by the polymerization and solidification of hydrocarbons that were mobilized from
1863-815: The diagenetic point, where the disorganized fatty hydrocarbon molecules joined in long chains in the absence of oxygen. Bitumen occurs as a solid or highly viscous liquid. It may even be mixed in with coal deposits. Bitumen, and coal using the Bergius process , can be refined into petrols such as gasoline, and bitumen may be distilled into tar, not the other way around. The components of bitumen include four main classes of compounds: Bitumen typically contains, elementally 80% by weight of carbon; 10% hydrogen; up to 6% sulfur; and molecularly, between 5 and 25% by weight of asphaltenes dispersed in 90% to 65% maltenes. Most natural bitumens also contain organosulfur compounds , Nickel and vanadium are found at <10 parts per million, as
1932-572: The fractional distillation of crude oil boiling at 525 °C (977 °F) is sometimes referred to as "refined bitumen". The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the world's reserves of natural bitumen in the Athabasca oil sands , which cover 142,000 square kilometres (55,000 sq mi), an area larger than England . The Latin word traces to the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷet- "pitch". The expression "bitumen" originated in
2001-522: The 1970s, when natural gas succeeded town gas, bitumen has completely overtaken the use of coal tar in these applications. Other examples of this confusion include La Brea Tar Pits and the Canadian tar sands , both of which actually contain natural bitumen rather than tar. "Pitch" is another term sometimes informally used at times to refer to asphalt, as in Pitch Lake . For economic and other reasons, bitumen
2070-577: The 19th century. One of the earliest surviving examples of its use can be seen at Highgate Cemetery where it was used in 1839 to seal the roof of the terrace catacombs. On the London stockmarket, there were various claims as to the exclusivity of bitumen quality from France, Germany and England. And numerous patents were granted in France, with similar numbers of patent applications being denied in England due to their similarity to each other. In England, "Claridge's
2139-861: The Bastenne company, were in production", with asphalt being laid as paving at Brighton, Herne Bay, Canterbury, Kensington, the Strand, and a large floor area in Bunhill-row, while meantime Claridge's Whitehall paving "continue(d) in good order". The Bonnington Chemical Works manufactured asphalt using coal tar and by 1839 had installed it in Bonnington . In 1838, there was a flurry of entrepreneurial activity involving bitumen, which had uses beyond paving. For example, bitumen could also be used for flooring, damp proofing in buildings, and for waterproofing of various types of pools and baths, both of which were also proliferating in
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2208-403: The Canadian petroleum industry, while bitumen " upgraded " to synthetic crude oil is known as "syncrude", and syncrude blended with bitumen is called "synbit". "Bitumen" is still the preferred geological term for naturally occurring deposits of the solid or semi-solid form of petroleum. "Bituminous rock" is a form of sandstone impregnated with bitumen. The oil sands of Alberta, Canada are
2277-708: The Parc ( Ain ) and the Puy-de-la-Poix ( Puy-de-Dôme )", although it could also be made artificially. One of the earliest uses in France was the laying of about 24,000 square yards of Seyssel asphalt at the Place de la Concorde in 1835. Among the earlier uses of bitumen in the United Kingdom was for etching. William Salmon's Polygraphice (1673) provides a recipe for varnish used in etching, consisting of three ounces of virgin wax, two ounces of mastic , and one ounce of asphaltum. By
2346-490: The U.S., with a total value of about $ 12.6 billion. Some 960 million tons of construction sand and gravel were produced. This greatly exceeds production of industrial sand and gravel (68 million tons), which is mostly sand rather than gravel. It is estimated that almost half of construction sand and gravel is used as aggregate for concrete . Other important uses include in road construction, as road base or in blacktop ; as construction fill; and in myriad minor uses. Gravel
2415-447: The ancients was as a cement to secure or join various objects, and it thus seems likely that the name itself was expressive of this application. Specifically, Herodotus mentioned that bitumen was brought to Babylon to build its gigantic fortification wall. From the Greek, the word passed into late Latin, and thence into French ( asphalte ) and English ("asphaltum" and "asphalt"). In French,
2484-451: The brain of a Parisian of that generation". But the substance was generally neglected in France until the revolution of 1830 . In the 1830s there was a surge of interest, and asphalt became widely used "for pavements, flat roofs, and the lining of cisterns, and in England, some use of it had been made of it for similar purposes". Its rise in Europe was "a sudden phenomenon", after natural deposits were found "in France at Osbann ( Bas-Rhin ),
2553-600: The deeper oil shales of the Green River Formation during burial and diagenesis . Bitumen is similar to the organic matter in carbonaceous meteorites . However, detailed studies have shown these materials to be distinct. The vast Alberta bitumen resources are considered to have started out as living material from marine plants and animals, mainly algae , that died millions of years ago when an ancient ocean covered Alberta. They were covered by mud, buried deeply over time, and gently cooked into oil by geothermal heat at
2622-794: The fifth millennium BC, with a crop storage basket discovered in Mehrgarh , of the Indus Valley civilization , lined with it. By the 3rd millennium BC refined rock asphalt was in use in the region, and was used to waterproof the Great Bath in Mohenjo-daro. In the ancient Near East , the Sumerians used natural bitumen deposits for mortar between bricks and stones, to cement parts of carvings, such as eyes, into place, for ship caulking , and for waterproofing. The Greek historian Herodotus said hot bitumen
2691-490: The fifth edition in 1685, he had included more asphaltum recipes from other sources. The first British patent for the use of asphalt was "Cassell's patent asphalte or bitumen" in 1834. Then on 25 November 1837, Richard Tappin Claridge patented the use of Seyssel asphalt (patent #7849), for use in asphalte pavement, having seen it employed in France and Belgium when visiting with Frederick Walter Simms , who worked with him on
2760-596: The gravel extraction though the Sonning Works . Caversham Lakes Trust Ltd has been set up to administer the lakes. A wide range of activities from open water swimming, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, canoeing & aqua park was available from Caversham Lakes, until it ceased operations in March 2024, following a decision by South Oxfordshire & Reading Councils. In 2006, the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake
2829-523: The horse-drawn era, US streets were mostly unpaved and covered with dirt or gravel. Especially where mud or trenching often made streets difficult to pass, pavements were sometimes made of diverse materials including wooden planks, cobble stones or other stone blocks, or bricks. Unpaved roads produced uneven wear and hazards for pedestrians. In the late 19th century with the rise of the popular bicycle , bicycle clubs were important in pushing for more general pavement of streets. Advocacy for pavement increased in
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2898-510: The introduction of asphalt to Britain. Dr T. Lamb Phipson writes that his father, Samuel Ryland Phipson, a friend of Claridge, was also "instrumental in introducing the asphalte pavement (in 1836)". Claridge obtained a patent in Scotland on 27 March 1838, and obtained a patent in Ireland on 23 April 1838. In 1851, extensions for the 1837 patent and for both 1838 patents were sought by the trustees of
2967-742: The oil deposits to be about 110 million years old. Two smaller but still very large formations occur in the Peace River oil sands and the Cold Lake oil sands , to the west and southeast of the Athabasca oil sands, respectively. Of the Alberta deposits, only parts of the Athabasca oil sands are shallow enough to be suitable for surface mining. The other 80% has to be produced by oil wells using enhanced oil recovery techniques like steam-assisted gravity drainage . Much smaller heavy oil or bitumen deposits also occur in
3036-424: The original oil and materials accumulating from its circulation in the engine (typically iron and copper). Some research has indicated a correlation between this adulteration of bitumen and poorer-performing pavement. The majority of bitumen used commercially is obtained from petroleum. Nonetheless, large amounts of bitumen occur in concentrated form in nature. Naturally occurring deposits of bitumen are formed from
3105-483: The periphery of the embayment. It has been suggested that wind-formed ( aeolian ) gravel "megaripples" in Argentina have counterparts on the planet Mars . Gravel is a major basic raw material in construction . Sand is not usually distinguished from gravel in official statistics, but crushed stone is treated as a separate category. In 2020, sand and gravel together made up 23% of all industrial mineral production in
3174-423: The relevant annual government licences. It is also available on a paid basis at a few of the lakes which are accordingly replenished with a wide variety of fish. 51°28′01″N 0°56′10″W / 51.467°N 0.936°W / 51.467; -0.936 This Oxfordshire location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gravel Gravel ( / ˈ ɡ r æ v əl / )
3243-505: The remains of ancient, microscopic algae ( diatoms ) and other once-living things. These natural deposits of bitumen have been formed during the Carboniferous period, when giant swamp forests dominated many parts of the Earth. They were deposited in the mud on the bottom of the ocean or lake where the organisms lived. Under the heat (above 50 °C) and pressure of burial deep in the earth,
3312-758: The remains were transformed into materials such as bitumen, kerogen , or petroleum. Natural deposits of bitumen include lakes such as the Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago and Lake Bermudez in Venezuela . Natural seeps occur in the La Brea Tar Pits and the McKittrick Tar Pits in California , as well as in the Dead Sea . Bitumen also occurs in unconsolidated sandstones known as "oil sands" in Alberta , Canada, and
3381-465: The river Thames. The main venue in mid-Berkshire and south Oxfordshire for sailing is at Reading Sailing Club . Isis Waterski Club is a committee-run members club which offers wakeboarding, wakesurfing and waterskiing. Princess Margaret and her husband Lord Snowdon waterskied here during the 1960s. Fishing is available at no charge on the public stretches of the Thames adjoining, having obtained
3450-710: The same root is derived the Anglo Saxon word "cwidu" (Mastix), the German word "Kitt" (cement or mastic) and the old Norse word "kvada". The word "ašphalt" is claimed to have been derived from the Accadian term "asphaltu" or "sphallo", meaning "to split". It was later adopted by the Homeric Greeks in the form of the adjective ἄσφαλἤς, ἐς signifying "firm", "stable", "secure", and the corresponding verb ἄσφαλίξω, ίσω meaning "to make firm or stable", "to secure". The word "asphalt"
3519-459: The similar "tar sands" in Utah , US. The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the world's reserves, in three huge deposits covering 142,000 square kilometres (55,000 sq mi), an area larger than England or New York state . These bituminous sands contain 166 billion barrels (26.4 × 10 ^ m ) of commercially established oil reserves, giving Canada the third largest oil reserves in
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#17328591431483588-428: The space at the bottom of the steps leading from Waterloo Place to St. James Park". "The formation in 1838 of Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company (with a distinguished list of aristocratic patrons, and Marc and Isambard Brunel as, respectively, a trustee and consulting engineer), gave an enormous impetus to the development of a British asphalt industry". "By the end of 1838, at least two other companies, Robinson's and
3657-726: The stone artefacts, suggesting that bitumen was an important and frequently-used component of tool making for people in that region at that time. Geochemical analyses of the asphaltic residues places its source to localized natural bitumen outcroppings in the Bichri Massif, about 40 km northeast of the Umm el Tlel archeological site. A re-examination of artifacts uncovered in 1908 at Le Moustier rock shelters in France has identified Mousterian stone tools that were attached to grips made of ochre and bitumen. The grips were formulated with 55% ground goethite ochre and 45% cooked liquid bitumen to create
3726-493: The substance, although there is regional variation as to which term is most common. Worldwide, geologists tend to favor the term bitumen for the naturally occurring material. For the manufactured material, which is a refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils, bitumen is the prevalent term in much of the world; however, in American English , asphalt is more commonly used. To help avoid confusion,
3795-486: The surface above underlying petroleum deposits. All three groups used the substance as an adhesive. It is found on many different artifacts of tools and ceremonial items. For example, it was used on rattles to adhere gourds or turtle shells to rattle handles. It was also used in decorations. Small round shell beads were often set in asphaltum to provide decorations. It was used as a sealant on baskets to make them watertight for carrying water, possibly poisoning those who drank
3864-417: The term asphalte is used for naturally occurring asphalt-soaked limestone deposits, and for specialised manufactured products with fewer voids or greater bitumen content than the "asphaltic concrete" used to pave roads. Bitumen mixed with clay was usually called "asphaltum", but the term is less commonly used today. In American English , "asphalt" is equivalent to the British "bitumen". However, "asphalt"
3933-487: The term asphaltum was in general use. The word derives from the Ancient Greek word ἄσφαλτος ( ásphaltos ), which referred to natural bitumen or pitch. The largest natural deposit of bitumen in the world is the Pitch Lake of southwest Trinidad , which is estimated to contain 10 million tons. About 70% of annual bitumen production is destined for road construction , its primary use. In this application, bitumen
4002-536: The term gravel is often used to describe a mixture of different size pieces of stone mixed with sand and possibly some clay. The American construction industry distinguishes between gravel (a natural material) and crushed stone (produced artificially by mechanical crushing of rock.) The technical definition of gravel varies by region and by area of application. Many geologists define gravel simply as loose rounded rock particles over 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter, without specifying an upper size limit. Gravel
4071-416: The terms "liquid asphalt", "asphalt binder", or "asphalt cement" are used in the U.S. to distinguish it from asphalt concrete. Colloquially, various forms of bitumen are sometimes referred to as " tar ", as in the name of the La Brea Tar Pits . Naturally occurring bitumen is sometimes specified by the term crude bitumen . Its viscosity is similar to that of cold molasses while the material obtained from
4140-590: The water. Asphalt was used also to seal the planks on ocean-going canoes. Asphalt was first used to pave streets in the 1870s. At first naturally occurring "bituminous rock" was used, such as at Ritchie Mines in Macfarlan in Ritchie County, West Virginia from 1852 to 1873. In 1876, asphalt-based paving was used to pave Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, in time for the celebration of the national centennial. In
4209-644: The world. Although historically it was used without refining to pave roads, nearly all of the output is now used as raw material for oil refineries in Canada and the United States. The world's largest deposit of natural bitumen, known as the Athabasca oil sands , is located in the McMurray Formation of Northern Alberta. This formation is from the early Cretaceous , and is composed of numerous lenses of oil-bearing sand with up to 20% oil. Isotopic studies show
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#17328591431484278-864: Was a valuable strategic resource. It was the object of the first known battle for a hydrocarbon deposit – between the Seleucids and the Nabateans in 312 BC. In the ancient Far East, natural bitumen was slowly boiled to get rid of the higher fractions , leaving a thermoplastic material of higher molecular weight that, when layered on objects, became hard upon cooling. This was used to cover objects that needed waterproofing, such as scabbards and other items. Statuettes of household deities were also cast with this type of material in Japan, and probably also in China. In North America , archaeological recovery has indicated that bitumen
4347-605: Was added to the lakes in the park. The GB Rowing team use this lake as a main base at which to train. Team GB also carry out land-based training at Bisham Abbey and occasionally close to Nottingham at Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre . Sonning Regatta has been held every two years since 2000 – usually on the Thames adjoining, alternatively, in bad weather, on the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake. The Thames and Kennet Marina in motorboating also uses an engineered lake (a marina dock) with access to
4416-543: Was more widely used. However, the First World War ruined the Clarmac Company, which entered into liquidation in 1915. The failure of Clarmac Roads Ltd had a flow-on effect to Claridge's Company, which was itself compulsorily wound up, ceasing operations in 1917, having invested a substantial amount of funds into the new venture, both at the outset and in a subsequent attempt to save the Clarmac Company. Bitumen
4485-552: Was shaped into tool handles or used as an adhesive for attaching stone tools to hafts . The earliest evidence of bitumen use was discovered when archeologists identified bitumen material on Levallois flint artefacts that date to about 71,000 years BP at the Umm el Tlel open-air site, located on the northern slope of the Qdeir Plateau in el Kowm Basin in Central Syria. Microscopic analyses found bituminous residue on two-thirds of
4554-487: Was sometimes used to adhere stone projectile points to wooden shafts. In Canada, aboriginal people used bitumen seeping out of the banks of the Athabasca and other rivers to waterproof birch bark canoes , and also heated it in smudge pots to ward off mosquitoes in the summer. Bitumen was also used to waterproof plank canoes used by indigenous peoples in pre-colonial southern California. In 1553, Pierre Belon described in his work Observations that pissasphalto ,
4623-401: Was the type most used in the 1840s and 50s". In 1914, Claridge's Company entered into a joint venture to produce tar-bound macadam , with materials manufactured through a subsidiary company called Clarmac Roads Ltd. Two products resulted, namely Clarmac , and Clarphalte , with the former being manufactured by Clarmac Roads and the latter by Claridge's Patent Asphalte Co., although Clarmac
4692-543: Was thought in 19th century Britain to contain chemicals with medicinal properties. Extracts from bitumen were used to treat catarrh and some forms of asthma and as a remedy against worms, especially the tapeworm . The first use of bitumen in the New World was by aboriginal peoples. On the west coast, as early as the 13th century, the Tongva , Luiseño and Chumash peoples collected the naturally occurring bitumen that seeped to
4761-407: Was used as mortar in the walls of Babylon . The 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long Euphrates Tunnel beneath the river Euphrates at Babylon in the time of Queen Semiramis ( c. 800 BC ) was reportedly constructed of burnt bricks covered with bitumen as a waterproofing agent. Bitumen was used by ancient Egyptians to embalm mummies. The Persian word for asphalt is moom , which
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