File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎72r] (158/522)

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(b) There is a small seepage on the river bank about | mile to the E.-S.-E. of the town.
The seepage is very small and very little bitumen was rising when examined, otherwise
it resembles the two just described. It is accompanied by a small spring of sulphur
water.
(c) Ain Laid. In the plain about 1 l/3 miles S.-S.-E. of the town. It is a pit in limestone
about 8 10 yards in diameter, full of very clear water, which has deposited sulphur on
the walls, over which grows a reddish vegetable slime. The well is surrounded by
salt deposits. Very little bitumen is brought up by this spring.
Ain Lateif. About two miles nearly south of Hit is another pit in limestone, full of clear
water and depositing sulphur.. Large quantities of lumps and strings of bitumen are
brought up and form thick layers round the edge of the hole. Fragments of con
cretionary limestone are scattered over the surface of the ground in the immediate
neighbourhood of this spring.
Ain Mar] Is about 5^ miles N.-W. of Hit. It is an asphalt lake 200 yards in diameter
approx., whose edges are sufficiently consolidated to bear the weight of a man. In
the centre gas and lumps of bitumen still rise with a strong sulphurous smell. The
ground round this lake is covered with a salt deposit. The seepage appears to be
in the base of the Lower Ears. The asphalt bands were not seen here.
d) Am ai 7un/—Is on the left bank of the river, 3^ miles, a little west of north of the town
of Hit. The seepage is situated in the base of the Lower Ears, and is a pit about
3-4 yards in diameter full of salty water smelling of sulphur. The whole surface when
examined was covered with similar lumps ot bitumen as are brought up elsewhere.
Ain Mannirah .—Lies beyond Jabal Mamurah, about 3h miles W.-S.-W. of Hit.. We did
not visit this seepage, but from enquiries we understand it to resemble Ain Lateif.
1 he Kubaisah wells, though situated some 12-13 miles from Hit and not bringing up
bitumen, ate most conveniently described in this place. They consist of a series of
deep holes in the Euphrates Limestone, at least 150 feet below the base of the Lower
Fars. n
We examined Ain an Nakhl, which was full of an intensely blue, very clear water depositing
sulphur. 1 he water had only a very slight taste of salt, but salt had been deposited round the
well. We saw uo traces of bitumen in the water.
When troops were billeted at Kubaisah, it w’as found that horses could drink the water, brrt
that it was unlit for human use. The water is used extensively in cultivation. Many other springs
ot the same nature exrst m the neighbourhood and the stream beds leading from them are heaviTv
•coated with salt. '
(b) Naphata.
There _rs a small seepage at Am atr Nafat about h mile from the left bank of the river. The
seepage is situated in a pit about 12 feet deep dug in the alluvium and paved with rock. No water
wvas visrble in the pit when examrned and the oil appears to seep ofrt in small quantities from the
alluvrum. It rs caught in tins and carried to a small hole in the ground, where it is carefully
summed as water separates off from it. In this manner approximately 2 gallons are obtained daily.
\ iscious, 1 he oil is stored and used for camel mange.
Groskopf reporting on the area in 1919 says : “ there collects on
nearly colourless petroleum, which is considered the best of all Mesopotamia
-The present oil is a rather fluid, brown oil of specific gravity approx. 950 Very little wis
is present. No cause for the present seepage has been found, and no oil-bearing beds are known
m the uppei pait of the Lower Ears, the position of this seepage is shown on the map.
(c) Aboujir; Aswasil, Jabhah.
0 T nS . to PO*' 1 ’ 03 ,! reasons we did not visit these seepages. We are informed that af Abouiir
\uy extensive lakes of asphalt occur, which appear to be of the nature of the Hit seepages Other
fha°t ofTrinidrd." " ^ C ° Vered by the ^ deposits to be only sfehtl? less ton
Jabhah and Aswasil, to the N.-W. of Aboujir, have seepages of the Hit type.
1 he position of these seepages is shown on the general geological map.
the surface a very
(a) Hit-Fallujah.
(5) GEOLOGICAL. STRUCTURE
(1) Hit.
... ti. ssass. ssa^sassss sti rrrtz.r**#
found the sumo dip at Kubaisah 12-13 ,|, e most m id so lb a , b ", ,
Still further to the west. The observed dip of the N.-E. limb is very low not more ffian 1 * rW IS
■and is rather obscured by minor waves. The whole fold pitches gently to the S.-E. ‘ * 2 M ^
At Hit, the oil-bearing Lower Ears beds, which cover a large area to the crmfh o i +
have been eroded down to the underlying almost flat Eunffi-m^t r ; ? 1 , ir 0uth ailcl vvest ’
been left as flat-topped outliers of the main outcrop. On to slope™ of thefto^U’ fVn'^ 6
well as in the main outcrop to the south and on the other side of the n‘v^ j e lbolat ?d hills, as
bands of asphalt, possibly all that is left of the or^na, ofl-te,H°g h or i 'ons'. ^ tW0
laj,. "'-.A 'to' . - Ui v-
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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎72r] (158/522)

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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎72r] (158/522)

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