File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎193v] (409/522)

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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’

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Ref: IOR/L/PS/10/815

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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10
It will be seen that the Nafatah and Dalpari oils are extremely similar :
the latter oil comes from the top of the Asmari Limestone Series.. They give
an extraordinarily high Kerosene content, sufficiently so to distinguish them
from almost any known oils and it is of relatively high Specific Gravity.
It is probable that the fresher oil obtained from a bore hole would contain a
little more petrol, and cracking during distillation would considerably increase
the yield of petrol.
The Naft Khana oil exhibits the same peculiarity as the Nafatah oil
though in a less marked degree. It appears to be much like the oil from
Petrolia, Ontario, and also like that obtained from the Athabasca tar sands of
Northern Alberta, but unlike the oil from Maidan-i-Naftun, in that the latter
has sixteen times the amount of petrol and half the amount of kerosene, and
is of a good deal lighter Specific Gravity throughout. It must be remembered
again here that oil fresh from a boring will probably contain-more petrol as
there will have been no possibility of inspissation and little of absorbtion or
absorbtion by the clays through which it has passed.
Both these oils then have the same peculiarity of a large content of
kerosene with a relatively very small amount of petrol.
Asphalt, pitch or bitumen is considered to be a natural product of crude
oil due to oxidation and inspissation under atmospheric conditions, but while
this is an extremely useful substance, the still more valuable oil from which
it has been derived would be the object of any search by drilling.
The tests to which the bitumen samples were subjected are given in the
following table :—
Place of origin of sample.
Hit.
Abu Jir.
Koweit.
Trinidad Lake.
% Water . • . . .
4-00%
1-28
• • t
29% including gas
% Sulphur .....
6-37%
689%
...
...
% Mineral Matter
078%
M4%
82%
25%.
Melting Point ....
...
...
60C.
83C.
% Bitumen .....
88-85%
90-69%
18%
39%
The Koweit bitumen contains . • . 76'5% malthenes
and 23 5% asphaltenes.
Trinidad Lake bitumen contains , . . 63 % malthenes
and 37 % asphaltenes.
The excessive amount of mineral matter in the Koweit bitumen is because
the seepage has come up through desert sand which it has impregnated and
bound together. The analysis of Trinidad Lake asphalt (as given by
Mr. E. H. Cunningham Craig in “ Oil Binding ”) is added for comparison, and
it will be noticed particularly how large an amount of mineral matter and
relatively small amount of bitumen this contains. The area of the lake is
137 acres and that of Abu Jir about 200 acres, but the former contains a vastly
larger amount of useful asphalt, and possesses another great advantage in the
remarkable uniformity of its consistency, to say nothing of its being on the
sea coast. At Abu Jir there is an unknown but probably not great thickness
of sand and earth impregnated with bitumen capped by a layer of practically
pure bitumen. A rough calculation of the latter taken as three inches iq
thickness gives 60,000 tons of pure bitumen.
The bitumen of Hit is used by the natives after first mixing with earth
for caulking boats. It is extremely ductile and tenacious and can be pulled
out into long strings and is unquestionably of very high quality. It is also
used, and has been from earliest historical times, for coating the circular
wickerwork baskets which the Arabs use as boats (Ghufa) on the rivers ot
Mesopotamia.

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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’ [‎193v] (409/522), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/815, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100151508902.0x00000a> [accessed 12 July 2026]

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Reference: IOR/L/PS/10/815
Title: File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’
Pages: 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
Author: East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
Usage terms: Open Government Licence

File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [‎193v] (409/522)

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