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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [14r] (32/522)
The record is made up of 1 volume (244 folios). It was created in 1 Dec 1917-26 Jun 1922. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
8
Lower Eocene.
A dark marl series with sandstone and occasional limestone beds. The thickness is very much
less than that of the Eocene Shale series found at Sulaimaniyah, being, here, not more than 1,000
feet. In places this thickness seems to be even more reduced, as at Botas where it was estimated at
about 300 feet.
We have the impression that the Eocene was laid down in troughs in the already folded,
though not necessarily exposed, Cretaceous strata, but we have not yet sufficient evidence to state
that there is a general thinning of these beds over the anticlinorum to be described below.
Upper Eocene.
Two distinct types of Upper Eocene are found in the area mapped. In Jabal Maglub and the
Oarah Chaugh Dagh beds of the same type as described from Sulaimaniyah are found (See—Geolo
gical Report No. 8), but in Jabal Maglub*the Nummulitic limestone is either absent or not exposed
and at the Qarah Chaugh Dagh we did not lind the Nummulites mentioned by Porro and Kissling,
though this horizon may be exposed in some section of the northern hill that we did not examine.
In these hills below the white limestone we found a yellowish thinly bedded tissile limestone, from
which we obtained two corals in iron pyrites, but no Nummulites.
The Upper Eocene of the Kurdish hills to the east and north-east of Arbil is of an entirely
different type, consisting of interbedded limestones, shales and a few sandstones. Usually there are
three well marked limestone horizons. A particularly thick bed occurs at the top of the series
(from 300-400 feet thick), and has below it about 100 feet of a very distinctive brilliant red marl,
followed by limestone, marls and sandstone. It was seen that in the Setin Dagh district the red
marl was separated from the limestone above it by a conglomerate 10-15 feet thick. This section
closely resembles the section described by Loftus from Mangenah in Persia. (See reference above).
Some of the limestone beds were crowded with crushed fossil remains, but Cardium and Ostrea
were the only recognisable forms collected.
Lower Ears.
Complete sections of this formation have been examined at Qarah Chaugh Dagh and Koi
Sanjak. The thinning from the Tigrish valley toward the east and north-east is well marked. The
vertical sections attached give the succession of the beds from Qaiyarah to Koi Sanjak.
In the Qarah Chaugh Dagh, where a good section is visible, the Lower Ears is of the same
type as Qaiyarah. Near the base (unexposed at Qaiyarah) there are two thick beds of extremely
cellular limestone, the lower one closely resembling the laminated lime stone of Fathah, which is
there oil soaked.
At Quwair the Lower Ears is of the same type, but only about 250 feet is exposed.
A Koi Sanjak, to the east of Arbil, the formation has thinned out to not more than 300-400 feet
and the beds of Gypsum disappear altogether north-east of the line of the Selin Dagh. The lime
stones in these beds gradually assume an Eocene facies as one travels to the north-east and a few
thin beds of limestone and marl which occur in the Babachichck valley and at Shaqlawa have been
referred to Eocene in the absence of gypsum, fossils or any break between the series.
No unconformity has been met with anywhere, but at Koi Sanjak there is a thin band of. lime
stone breccia at what is taken to be the base of the Lower Ears.
Upper Ears is present in one valley deep in the hills and has here no gypsiferous deposits,
below it. We therefore believe that the line of the Sefin Dagh was a boundary of the “ gypsum
sea”.
Upper Ears.
The beds in this area are of the Tigris valley type.
Bakhtiari Beds.
Of normal type. The conglomeratic phase is well developed over a large part of the area.
We found pebbles ,of Nummulitic Limestone in the conglomerates near Altun Kupri.
Recent Deposits
River gravels occur in the valleys of the Greater and Lesser Zab rivers. In the Arbil Plain
there is a considerable thickness of " wash ” from the Bakhtiari Beds, which has obscured all out
crops.
(4) INDICATIONS OF OIL, SULPHUR, ETC.
Seepages of oz7.—The only seepage of oil which occurs in this district is on the bank of the
Greater Zab river on the plunging end of the Quwair dome. A small amount of fluid oil seeps up
into pools through a recent gravel, which covers thinly the solid rock below. Fragments of oil
soaked limestone were found near the seepages ; this limestone is not cellular.
(a) Sulphur .—Large sulphur springs occur in the Lower Ears at small village about 1 mile
south-east of Makhmur in the Qarah Chaugh Dagh.
[b) A warm spiing smelling of sulphuretted Hydrogen gas occurs near Babachichck about
the crest of a small dome in the Lower Eocene.
About this item
- Content
This volume contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, telegrams and maps and geological drawings, regarding the geological examination of regions in Mesopotamia and the prospect of petroleum [oil] in these areas.
Included in the volume are the following reports:
- ‘MESOPOTAMIA GEOLOGICAL REPORTS No. 7-11’ (‘No. 7’ is crossed out and replaced with ‘No. 8’), 1920 (ff 9-22)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No. 7 NOTES ON THE UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES OF NORTHEN MESOPOTAMIA’, 1920 (ff 25-31)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No. 6 NOTES ON ZAKHO AND DOHUK [Duhok]’, 1920 (ff 41-44)
- ‘MESOPOTAMIA GEOLOGICAL REPORT 1919’, 1920 (ff 57-109)
- ‘REPORT OF THE BITUMINOUS DEPOSIT NEAR KIFRI’, 1919 (f 114)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 5. THE KIFRI DISTRICT’ (ff 115-116)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 4. RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ON THE COUNTRY ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE RIVER TIGRIS BETWEEN BAIJI AND MOSUL’, 1919 (ff 122-129)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 3. RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ON THE EUPHRATES VALLEY BETWEEN HILLAH AND HIT’, 1919 (ff 131-143)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 2. PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE JABAL HAMRIN’, 1919 (f 143)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 1 ON THE DISTRICT OF QAIYARAH [Al Qayyarah]’, 1919 (ff 146-151)
- ‘APPENDIX. Translation of a Captured Document. Report of a Tour to the Coal Area and Petroleum Springs in the Zone of the Sixth L. of C. Inspectorate’, 1919 (ff 156-158)
- ‘No 13. Notes on the Jabal Gilabat [Qilabat] between Chinchal-al-Kabir and Qarah Tappah’, 1919 (f 164)
- ‘No 14. Notes on the Jabal Hamrin between Qarah Tappah and Table Mountain’, 1919 (ff 164v-167)
- ‘No. 10. Notes on the Geology of the Country between Tazah Khurmatu and Tauq [Tukhama Khulu]’, 1919 (ff 182-185)
- ‘REPORTS ON THE PROSPECTS OF PETROLEUM IN THE BAGHDAD WILAYAT [Vilayet]’, 1918 (ff 187-201)
- ‘Report No 9. Oil in the Kirkuk Anticline’, 1919 (ff 204-205)
- ‘No 3. Report on the Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Khanuqah, S.E. of Sharqat [Ash Sharqat]’, 1918 (f 207)
- ‘No 4. Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Qaiyarah and its continuation, the Jab-al-Najmah’, 1919 (ff 208-209)
- ‘No 5. Possibilities of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Mishrak [Al Mishraq] and Country West of Hammam Ali [Hammam al Ali]’, 1919 (ff 210-211)
- ‘No 6. The Country between Mosul and Quwair [Al Kuwayr] on the Greater Zab, and its Prospects as Oil-producing Territory’, 1919 (ff 211v-212)
- ‘Report No 7. Sulphur near the Confluence of the Greater Zab with the Tigris’, 1919 (f 213)
- ‘No 8. Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Quwair Dome’, 1919 (ff 213-214)
- ‘Appendix to Report No. 4, on the Jab-al-Qaiyarah Oil-field’, 1919 (f 214v)
- ‘Report on the prospects of obtaining Oil in the Jabal-Hamrin and Jabal- Makhul between Tikrit and Sharqat’, 1918 (ff 217-218)
- ‘Odd Notes on the Country between Tikrit and the Jabal-Hamrin and Jabal Makhul’, 1918 (ff 219-220)
- ‘PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE PROSPECTS OF PETROLEUM IN THE BAGHDAD WILAYAT’, 1918 (ff 233-236).
Also included in the volume are the following maps and geological drawings:
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No 8’, 1920 (f 20)
- ‘To ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No 8 ON THE SULAIMANIYAH DISTRICT’, 1920 (f 21)
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No: 7a. THE WATER RESOURCES OF THE MANDALI-BADRAH DISTRICT’, 1920 (f 30)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (MESOPOTAMIA) No 7 NOTES ON THE UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES OF NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA’, 1920 (f 31)
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT No 6’, 1920 (f 44)
- ‘TRANSVERSE SECTION. JABAL HAMRIN’ (f 88)
- ‘Diagrammatic Section across Jabal Hamrine [Hamrin] in the Table mountain area, shewing [showing] relationship of Pos Tertray [Post-Tertiary] Gravel to the Tertainis [Tertiaries]’ (f 168)
- ‘Red Clay & Sandstone Series Transverse section across Jabal Gilbat’ (f 169)
- ‘QĀRAH TAPPAH’, 1918 (f 170)
- ‘CHINCHĀL-TALISHĀN’, 1918 (f 172)
- ‘SHAHRABĀN’, 1917 (f 174)
- ‘MANSURĪYAH AL JABAL’, 1918 (f 176)
- ‘1 Diagrammatic Section N[orth]. of the Tuz Khurmatu’ (f 183)
- ‘2 Diagrammatic Section oposite [ sic ] Sulaiman Beg, just N[orth]. of the stream’ (f 183)
- ‘3 Diagrammatic Section oposite [ sic ] Sulaiman Beg just S[outh]. of the Stream’ (f 183v)
- ‘Transverse Section across Jabal Nasaz near Gil’ (f 185)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL MAP OF NAFT KHANA DISTRICT OF MESOPOTAMIA’ (f 198)
- ‘THE PETROLEUM DEPOSITS OF HIT’ (f 199)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE IN N.E. MESOPOTAMIA’ (f 200)
- ‘SECTION FROM SHAHRABAN TO CHAH SURKH [Chiya Surkh]’ (f 201)
- Transverse Section Maps of Jabal Hamrin and Jabal Makhul (f 220).
The volume comprises internal correspondence between British officials of different departments. The principal correspondents are: the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Under-Secretary of State, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Baghdad; officers of the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau; and officers from the Petroleum Department.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (244 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 246; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
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- Title
- File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’
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- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:19v, 22r:29v, 32r:43v, 45r:87v, 89r:167v, 177r:182v, 184r:184v, 186r:197v, 202r:219v, 221r:245v, back-i
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