La Brea Tar Pits preserve Ice Age fossils in the middle of Los Angeles, where natural asphalt seeps trapped plants and animals over thousands of years. Active excavations and bubbling pools make the site’s geology visible within an urban park.
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The dark pools look like tar, but the substance rising here is naturally seeping asphalt. Over tens of thousands of years, animals and plants became trapped in sticky deposits, and the asphalt preserved their remains. The site’s museum explains that fossils from this landscape include saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, mammoths and many smaller organisms.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The material seeping at the site is asphalt, not tar.
- Fossils here span roughly 11,000 to 50,000 years ago.
- Pit 91 has been excavated since 1915.
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