ABSTRACT
Tar sands are sands and other rock materials saturated with crude bitumen, water, and gas. Tar sand deposits are found commonly at or near the earth's surface and normally entrapped in large sedimentary basins. Oil sands and bituminous sands are of the same nature, and these terms normally are treated as alternative names to tar sands. Canada has the largest confirmed tar sand reserves in the world. The Athabasca deposits alone extend over 100 miles, and an equivalent of 600 billion barrels of oil is estimated to be present. Tar sands are defined as sedimentary rocks that contain bitumen or other heavy petroleum that cannot be recovered by conventional petroleum recovery methods. The economic feasibility of producing a synthetic crude from a particular tar sand deposit is an exponential function of the size of the accumulation. The tar sand bitumen slowly dissolves the natural rubber in mining equipment, such as conveyor belts and tires, in the summer.
