1. bitumen - Noun
2. bitumen - Verb
Mineral pitch; a black, tarry substance, burning with a bright flame; Jew's pitch. It occurs as an abundant natural product in many places, as on the shores of the Dead and Caspian Seas. It is used in cements, in the construction of pavements, etc. See Asphalt.
By extension, any one of the natural hydrocarbons, including the hard, solid, brittle varieties called asphalt, the semisolid maltha and mineral tars, the oily petroleums, and even the light, volatile naphthas.
Source: Webster's dictionaryA study in the 1990s on a localised population of devils in a national park in Tasmania recorded a halving of the population after a hitherto gravel access road was upgraded, surfaced with bitumen and widened. Source: Internet
An example of this is the popular Merey blend (Orinoco bitumen and Mesa crude oil). Source: Internet
Bituminous rock is a form of sandstone impregnated with bitumen. Source: Internet
Although historically it was used without refining to pave roads, nearly all of the bitumen is now used as raw material for oil refineries in Canada and the United States. Source: Internet
By 2015 Canadian production and exports of non-upgraded bitumen exceeded that of synthetic crude oil at over convert per day, of which about 65% was exported to the United States. Source: Internet
Coincidentally, they lay almost directly under a roughly painted 'R' on the bitumen. Source: Internet