bitumen

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“
The oil in those projects is trapped in tarlike bitumen, which is mixed with sand and clay.

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Any of various flammable mixtures of hydrocarbons and other substances, occurring naturally or obtained by distillation from coal or petroleum, that are a component of asphalt and tar and are used for surfacing roads and for waterproofing.

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Examples (50)

  • The lake gave pitch and bitumen, and mounds of gray, tainted salt. —  Gardner Dozois - The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection (2006)
  • The oil in those projects is trapped in tarlike bitumen, which is mixed with sand and clay. —  Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News
  • The oil needs extra refining because it is found in bitumen, a sandy substance that requires steam treatment. —  The most recent articles from V3.co.uk
  • To mine or steam out bitumen, the tar sands industry burns enough natural gas every day to heat four million homes. —  EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed
  • It is an earth containing bitumen, a substance which, with pit-coal, lignite or brown coal, jet, petroleum or rock oil, naphtha, &c.;, is looked upon as a product of the decomposition of organic matter, beneath the surface of the earth, in situations where the conditions of contact with water, and almost total exclusion of atmospheric air, are fulfilled. —  Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English bithumen, a mineral pitch from the Near East, from Latin bitūmen, perhaps of Celtic origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also bittumen, betumen (also bitume, betume, betune: see bitume) = F. bitume = Provencal betum = Spanish betun = Portuguese betume = Italian bitume, from Latin bitumen.
 

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/bɪˈtjumɛn/
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