File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎89r] (192/522)

No. 3.
Report on the Prospects of Obtaining Oii in the
Jab-al-Khanuqah, S.E. of Sharqat.
Map.— 1 inch equal to 1 mile. T.C. 248 (already sent in with Report No. 2
TTQrnrin nnrl Afaklllll).
INTRODUCTION.
The Jah-al-Khanuqah is a range of the same structure and comprising
the same rocks as the Jab-al-Hamrm or Jab-al-Makhul, i 1 ' 0 ™ the latter o
which it is distant 3 to 6 miles N.-B., being “^ Tnite parallel It ^
rock-wave of the same movement which produced the Jab-al-Makhul, and,
like this, consists of a simple regular anticline exposing a core o. Uowei
Bars beds, succeeded by the Red Clay and Sandstone series. The range is
unpierced except by three or four small streams at Qal at-al-Bmt, which
have taken advantage of a pitch in the anticline and perhaps the contmua-
tion of a fault, together with an acute reduction m the width of the range
due to excessive erosion by the Tigris. The range commences west of the
Humr Plain below QaPat-al-Bint in the Humr Hills, and the portion under
report extends as far as Sharqat along the right shore of the Tigris which
has eaten its wav into the N.-E. limb of the anticline nearly as far as the
crest for about six miles S.-E. of Sharqat, and beyond the crest for two or
three miles at QaPat-al-Bint. The N.-E. aspect of these parts of the
range, therefore, consists of precipitous cliffs exhibiting a fine exposure of
the Lower Ears. The direction of the range is nearly N.-W. S.-E.
HOCKS.
Lower Ears.-—The Lower Ears is the same gypseous series described
in the Jab-al-Hamrin and Jab-al-Makhul. Some of the gypsum bands are
very massive and thick, reaching thicknesses of 80 or 90 feet; an
interesting little “ natural bridge ” of this mineral over a stream-course,
some 15 feet deep, was observed in the Humr Hills. The amount of lime
stone present is very small. This stone, quarried from this range or from
the Jab-al-Makhul, has been used in the ancient city of Asshur, where
blocks of it can be seen in what appears to be the remnants of a quay on the
N. side, and a similar bastion-like structure on the west; blocks of gypsum
seem also to have been used in some of the buildings.
Red Clay and Sandstone Series. —The Lower Ears is succeeded by the
Red Clay and Sandstone Series (“ Upper Ears ” of James, Halse and
Brown), which is largely hidden beneath alluvium, especially in the N.-E.
limb of the anticline. The beds are in every way similar to those described,
but the higher Conglomerate stage is not present in the syncline between
the Khanuqah and Makhul Ranges.
Pleistocene .—The Pleistocene Conglomerate is well seen capping the
hills S.-E. of QaPat-al-Bint, and those overlooking the Humr Plain, close
to the river, but is not present on the highest parts of the Humr Hills.
S.-E. of QaPat-al-Bint its pebbles are cemented into a tough rock.
Mesopotamia,n Alluvium. —The Mesopotamian Alluvium, consisting of
the same somewhat sandy silt elsewhere described, at one time swept over
the syncline between the Khanuqah and Makhul from Mushak N.-W’wards,
forming a broad plain, most of which has survived. The more southern
portion has been deeply dissected and the underlying Red Clays and Sand
stones laid bare, but the surface of the plateau or plain is still represented.
The deposits include beds of gravel near the river at Humr and in the
neighbourhood of the Pleistocene Conglomerate.
A large number of the stream-courses in the N. half of the plain, as
well as those immediately around Sharqat, are “ choked ” in the way men
tioned in a previous report, and some of them are being recut by the
rejuvenescence of the streams.
Neiv Alluvium. —The New Alluvium needs no comment. It fringes the
N. aspect of the city of Asshur, so that the river in Assyrian times probably
swept round past the cliffs forming the N. face of the city, where the quay
like structures are to _ be seen, eastwards past the walls lof another city,
Sudairat, on its opposite bank, forming an S-shaped bend. The bastion or
quay on the west may have bordered a creek or dock running N’wards into
the river.

File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎89r] (192/522)

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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎89r] (192/522)

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