'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎67v] (139/862)

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GEOLOGY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
to 30 feet deep in the alluvium, to join the Diyala immediately above
its passage through the Jabal Hamrin. The going here can be very
heavy after rain.
North of the Kifri hills the countryside is sparsely populated and
little cultivated. These hills are bare, with gypsum, red sandstone,
and brown and red clays predominating. Limestone appears in the
Jabal Kharach. The southern slopes are steep with 300-foot cliffs in
places.
The Kifri plain south of Kifri is about 10 miles wide but narrows
north-westwards to 7 miles and is there commanded by the Kifri
hills, the crest of which is 600 feet above it. It is treeless but well
cultivated, though most of the stream-beds are dry except in winter
and after rain. The Kifri Su is liable to sudden rises in level. Soil in
the lower reaches of the streams is usually heavy, and many streams
have deepened their beds. Wheat and barley are grown, there are a
few date-palms and fruit-trees near Kifri, and good grazing every
where. Occasional drought drives the shepherd tribesmen to the
Diyala. The plain affords an easy route for the railway to Kirkuk.
The Jabal Manzil (or Jabal Gilabat) is a low rise scarcely 200 feet
above the Kifri plain to the north and rather more than 350 feet above
the Qara Tepe plain to the south; it is mainly overlain with con
glomerates and clay, but there are sandstone outcrops. There is
a sulphur spring at Abu Aleik and there are some indications of oil.
The Chinchal valley to the south is mostly monotonous steppe, peopled
sparsely by nomads. Farther south-east the Qara Tepe plain is
covered by a fertile sandy loam. Millet is grown, there are vineyards
on the slopes near Qara Tepe, and mulberry trees, orange-groves,
and a few date-palms, cultivation here receiving some water from a
distributary from the Diyala.
The Basin of the Adhaim. Three principal streams, the Aq Su, the
Tauq Chai, and the Qadha Chai, combine to form the Shatt al
Adhaim. They collect the whole drainage of the large area between
the tributaries of the Kifri Su on the south-east, the Bazian ranges
on the north-east, the watershed of the Little Zab on the north-west,
and the Jabal Hamrin on the south-west. Much of the eastern half of
the area is an undulating plateau of upper Fars rocks over 2,000 feet
above sea-level, with short parallel folds rising a thousand feet or more
above the general level, especially marked between the Aq Su and
Tauq Chai. The western third is covered by the alluvium of the
broad plains of Kirkuk.
The Aq Su (or Av-i-Spi) rises in the Qara Dagh, its chief head-