'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎61] (70/568)

MINEKALS
61
indications (in the form of bituminous springs and lakes) occur in
the Hit—Kamadiyeh region. Here, besides the bitumen springs at
: Hit, which are worked for the production of pitch, there are bitumen
lakes at Abu Jir (or Abu Qir: 30 miles WSW. of Kamadiyeh),
at Jebhah (7 miles NW. of Abu Jir), and at Ain el-Awasil
(15 miles NW. of Abu Jir). Of these three lakes Abu Jir
is much the largest, covering an area of 200 acres. There is
also a petroliferous locality at Nafatah on the left bank of the
Euphrates, 70 miles W. of Baghdad. The crude oils in the Hit—
Ramadiyeh region are asphaltic. The geological conditions are
reported to be sufficiently favourable to make the field well worth
testing.
There are bitumen wells at Tel Mughaiyir S. of Nasirlyeh and
again near Koweit. 1
Mineral Waters
Over wide areas in this country there is a good deal of sulphur
in the water-supply, as in the gypsum country that lies on the
southern side of the hills from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to Kirkuk, and
again on the Tigris between Mosul and the Jebel Hamrln, in the
neighbourhood of the Jebel Sinjar, and at Ras el-Ain, and in parts
of centra] Kurdistan. Some of the sulphurous springs are thermal.
Ferruginous waters are found in central Kurdistan ; a large group of
thermal ferruginous and cold or thermal sulphurous springs occurs
a few miles SW. of Sairt. Gaseous waters (carbonate and bicar
bonate of soda) exist at Bitlis and in the valley of the Zab between
Julamerk and Bash Qal'ah.
Some of the thermal and gaseous springs are frequented for their
curative qualities by the inhabitants of neighbouring districts, e.g. the
warm sulphurous springs at Hammam Ali S. of Mosul, those S. of
Sairt, a carbonated ferruginous spring near Bash Qal'ah, and the
carbonated springs of Bitlis.
1 The theory has been put forward by Hofer that the oil-supply of Meso
potamia is distributed along four lines :
(a) The line Mosul—Persian Gulf. Starting at Hammam 'Ali on the Tigris S. of
Mosul, this line would pass through Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatli to Qasr-i-Shlrin,
and on through the Pusht-i-Kuh and the northern borders of Arabistan to the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
(b)The line Kaiyara—Kufri.
(c) The line El-Hadhr—Fethah gorge—Mandali.
{d} The Euphrates line from Deir to Hit, and on along the edge of the desert
bordering the Euphrates valley through Tel Mughaiyir to Koweit.
The evidence available seems hardly sufficient either to prove or to disprove
this theory.