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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [71r] (156/522)
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.
Geological Report (Mesopotamia) No. 3.
RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ON THE EUPHRATES VALLEY
BETWEEN HILLAH AND HIT.
INTRODUCTION.
The area under consideration is the country on each side of the River Euphrates from Hit in
the north to Hillah in the south, a distance of about 120 miles measured from town to town.
Through the courtesy of General Headquarters we were given facilities for obtaining transport
and supplies. Our work was also greatly assisted by the kindness of military and political officers
with whom we stayed during our examination ; Lt. Robertson at Hit, Maj. Yetts, P.O. at Ramadi,
Maj. Jefferies, I.O. at Fallujah, Maj. Sellier at Musaiyib.
(1) MAPS.
The best maps obtainable were the army maps, scale l ' = l mile (maps nos. T.C. 191, T.C. 142
(B), T.C. 101 (C), T.C. 100 (B), T.C. 103 (C), T.C. 102 (B), T.C. 193, T.C. 99 (B), ), and l"=4 miles
(maps Nos. T.C. 146 (A), T.C. 225, T.C. 144 (A) ).
These maps were found to be suitable for a preliminary investigation.
(2) PREVIOUS WORK IN THE DISTRICT.
Geological examination by Porro and Kissling; we found their work to be of very little value,
and their report on Hit appears to be largely founded on the work of a surveyor and information
obtained from Arabs.
Geological examination by Paul Grosskopf ; he concerned himself more with the possibilities of
commercial exploitation of the immediately available supplies than with the prospects of oil to be
obtained by drilling.
Halse, of the Anglo-Persian Oil Coy., also reported on the area for the army during the war.
(3) GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
Three formations occur in the area, beginning with the oldest they are :—
Euphrates Limestone.
Halse has correlated this limestone with the Asmari limestone of Persia, but we do not feel
justified in accepting this correlation till typical Asmari has been examined by us. We are therefore
retaining the older name.
A white, massive, fine-grained limestone, weathering rather yellowish and containing fossils in
places. Grosskopf has detected the presence of magnesium salts.
This limestone is overlain by 6 ft. (approx.) of a white-bedded limestone of rather similar
4 appearance, which may possibly be the lowest bed of the series above.
Lower Fars.
Halse places the whole of the series of beds, above the Euphrates Limestone and below the
recent beds, in the Koweit series, and considers them to be younger than the Bakhtiaris, therefore
late Pliocene or Pleistocene.
Though we have not yet seen the typical Koweit beds in any area, we disagree with this view,
and are of opinion that they are not one, but two, conformable series, for reasons which follow :
(1) The beds can be divided into an upper red serids with gypsum developed only as thin
veins, and a lower series in which massive gypsum deposits and yellowish marls predo
minate.
(2) At Hit, where the base of these beds is exposed above the Euphrates Limestone, they
contain two bands of asphalt at their base which we consider represent the original oil
horizons; small quantities of bitumen in pockets at the extreme base suggests that these
beds originally contained oil.
Wherever oil has been found throughout Mesopotamia and Persia, the base of the Lower
Fars has always been the oil-bearing horizon.
(3) Though these beds differ in several respects from the Upper and Lower Fars as developed
at El Qaiyarah (high content of clear, recrystallised, secondary gypsum scattered through
out the marls, false-bedding in places, etc.), nevertheless they are directly comparable
with them and the difference is not greater than might be expected in two districts so
widely separated.
(4) If these beds aie to be referred to the Koweit series, there must have been a long period
of no deposition in the Euphrates valley, during which time the Lower and Upper Fars
and the Bakhtiaris were being laid down elsewhere. In this case we should expect to
find a marked unconformity between the Euphrates Limestone and the beds above.
There is no marked unconformity.
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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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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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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