Asphaltite (also known as uintahite, asphaltum, gilsonite or oil sands) is a naturally occurring soluble solid

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...

, a form of

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

(or bitumen) with a relatively high melting temperature. Its large-scale production occurs in the

Uintah Basin The Uinta Basin (also known as the Uintah Basin) is a Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division. It is als ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States. Although the substance has been historically mined in the Uintah Basin, resources are being discovered and mined more recently in other countries such as Colombia and Iran. Asphaltite is mined in underground shafts and resembles shiny black

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

. Discovered in the 1860s, it was first marketed as a

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be c ...

, electrical insulator, and waterproofing compound approximately 25 years later by Samuel H. Gilson.

History

Asphaltite was discovered in the 1860s. By 1888 Samuel H. Gilson had started a company to mine the substance, but soon discovered the

vein Veins () are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and feta ...

was on the

Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation (, ) is located in northeastern Utah, United States. It is the homeland of the Ute Indian Tribe (Ute dialect: Núuchi-u), and is the largest of three Indian reservations inhabited by members of the Ute Trib ...

. Under great political pressure

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

removed some from the reservation on May 24, 1888 to allow mining to proceed legally. Asphaltite mining became the first large commercial enterprise in the Uintah Basin, causing most of its early population growth. Mining asphaltite during World War II was manual, using a six-pound pick, then shoveling the ore into 200 pound sacks, which were sewn by hand. Gilsonite-brand uintahite's earliest applications included paints for buggies and emulsions for beer-vat lining. It was used by

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

as a principal component of the japan black lacquer used on most of the

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first mass-affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. Th ...

cars.

Composition

Asphaltite is categorized as a soluble material in oil solutions such as

carbon disulphide Carbon disulfide (also spelled as carbon disulphide) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula and structure . It is also considered as the anhydride of thiocarbonic acid. It is a colorless, flammable, neurotoxic liquid that is used as ...

or TCE (trichloroethylene). A major component of asphaltite is carbon; it also contains several other elements including nitrogen and sulfur and some volatile compounds.

Reserves and uses

Asphaltite reserves are distributed globally, especially within basins. It has also been found on the dwarf planet Ceres and is predicted to exist on the Martian moon Phobos. Asphaltite is used in more than 160 products, primarily in dark-colored printing inks and paints, oil well

drilling mud In geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid, also known as drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Used while drilling oil well, oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, drilling fluids are a ...

s and

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

s, asphalt modifiers,

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

sand additives, and a wide variety of chemical products. The trademark "Gilsonite", registered in 1921, belongs to the American Gilsonite Company which filed for bankruptcy in October 2016 and, after accepting re-organization, emerged in January 2017. Asphaltite is a common modifier for bitumen in asphalt. Blending asphaltite with bitumen increases the strength and resistance of pavements. This application is practised in countries such as China, India and Iran. Known as ''asfaltit'' in Turkish, it is burnt in

Şırnak Silopi power station Şırnak Silopi power station () is a 405 MW operational power station in Silopi, in Şırnak Province in the south-east of Turkey. It is fuelled with asphaltite from Silopi asphaltite mine. Operation The plant was built in the early 21st ce ...

, a coal fired power station in Turkey.

References

{{Reflist, 25em

External links

Uintahite on Mindat
Organic minerals Asphalt