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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎102v] (219/522)

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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. .

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8
; '
Qadir and the vicinity of Farhad Beg I was been^rdfcLted on tte'map.
the < great > fault, but across the supped crestal
portion of the Pars outcrop, especially along the N.E. f'’ k ‘'’V™ 6 S E to'N'w r 7^°"
with the overlying clay. The following is a list of observed seepages fiom S.E. to N.W but there
may be others :—
({) 2| miles S.S.E. of Kani Qadir. Sulphuretted Hydrogen.
(it) Immediately opposite Kani Qadir. Sulphuretted Hydrogen.
(Hi) Nuqtab Saitapah—two valleys. Many small seepages of oil, on which pits have been dug
The oil is less tarry than usual and there is less sulphuretted hydiogen accompanying
it, the aromatic odour of the oil predominating. Only 14 of these pits are at present
being worked and these yield an average of 20 tins (80 gallons) a day ; it is carried up
to Gil (Bahrain Beg) on donkeys where it is refined. The pits and seepages sketch
across the Ears outcrop for a width of about 50 yards.
(tv) Gil (Bahram Beg). One or two unimportant seepages. There are four small stills here
three of which are in working order ; they consist simply of retoit and condensing
spiral.
(v) A short distance N.W. of Gil. Sulphuretted Hydrogen and a little bituminous earth.
(vi) Nuqtab Sadiq. Two or three moderate seepages, but very little sulphuretted hydrogen.
(vii) Between Nuqtab Sadiq and Farhad Beg four separate oil localities aie seen .
(a) Three small pools of oil.
(b) A pool of water with a little oil on the surface ; just below is a sulphuretted
hydrogen pool.
(c) Three or four pools of oil.
(d) Two pools of oil, one large with a considerable quantity of gas bubbling up.
(viii) Farhad Beg. A seepage or two of oil. Another small refining-still is used here.
(ix) Half-a-mile N.W. of Farhad Beg. A spring of water with a little oil and a considerable
quantity of gas.
The refined burning oil from this area, whether due to more careful refining or to greater
intrinsic purity of the crude material, is much superior to that of Tuz Khurmatu or Knkuk.
(ii) Prospects of Boring.—The great compression of the fold and the presence, within a few
yards of the supposed crest, of such a large dislocation as the reversed fault described offer no
inducement to exploitation by boring. Deep boring is, I think, out of the question ; it is veiy
improbable oil “ pools ” would ever be encountered sufficiently large to pay. Nor is the area much
more promising for shallow boring unless some particularly inexpensive form of plant can be devised
That the oil occurs N.E. of the fault rather points to the conclusion that it has been to some extent
prevented from escaping by the protective remains of some sort of anticlinal structure ; the gassiness
of some of the seepages may be mostly due to sulphuretted hydrogen. It seems quite probable that
the plane of the fault is parallel for some way down with the axial plane of the anticline, but the
latter is, in any case, too tight to hold oil in any quantity. Hand-dug wells might perhaps pay m
places, but these or shallow borings are a pure gamble. Any tests should, of course, be located N. E.
of the limestone core, preferably perhaps where this is seen to form high giound.
30th March 1919.
E. H. PASCOE, Supdt.,
Geol. Sur., India
•s
S.G.P.Bd 73...99...200...21-4-19.

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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.

Written in
English in Latin script
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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎102v] (219/522), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/815, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100151508901.0x000014> [accessed 8 July 2026]

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