Petrographic, heavy mineral and clay mineral analyses are carried out for the sandstone and the mudstone units of Injana and Mukdadiya Formations in Zorbatiya area, Wasit Governorate, East of Iraq. The sandstones and the mudstones are nested as repeated fining–upwards successions, representing fluvial deposits. The sandstones of the Mukdadiya Formation is gravelly and on occasions becomes conglomerate. The sandstone of both formations comprises rock fragments, quartz and feldspars. The rock fragments are the dominant component consisting sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock fragments, accordingly these sandstone are classified as litharenite. The clay minerals of the mudstone u

This study deals with the petrology of Injana Formation (Upper Miocene) at
Zawita, Amadia and Zakho areas. The sandstone of Injana Formation is of two
typesnamely, litharenite and feldspathiclitharenite. The rock fragments of Injana
Formation are mostly sedimentary and hence the sandstones are classified as
sedarenite and more specifically chertarenite owing to the predominance of chert
rock fragments. The sandstone is mineralogicallysubmature rangingfrom
mechanically and chemically stable tounstable. The petrographic studies reveal
nearness of source area with arid to semi-arid climate. The source rocks are
sedimentary, low- to medium-grade metamorphic and basic volcanic rocks. They are
mostly supplied from th

This study showed that the rock bed units of Fatha (M. Miocene) includes mold of fish fossils imprint on marly limestone; Injana (L. Miocene) includes large femur bone of Mastodont and large number of bone remains; and review study of Mukdadiya Formations (Pliocene) showed more than 21 mamalian species such as: Mastodont, Hipparion, Gazzella, Felidae, Bovidae, Antilopini, Caprinae, Crocodilia, and others. Those vertebrate fossils bones were deposited and preserved within rock bed units of fluvial and evaporite marine environments. Paleoenvironment of fluvial ecosystem made up of food chain, which were includes producer, herbivores as a primary consumer as Mastodon, Hipparion and Gazelle, carnivores as a secondary consumer as felidea and

    The study of the geochemical characterization of sandstone rocks contributes to understand the nature of the source rocks, their tectonic setting and the effects of paleoclimate and paleo-weathering. Accordingly, twenty sandstone samples from the red sandstone units of the Gercus Formation were collected from the northeastern limb of Safin Anticline at Shaqlawa Area – Northern Iraq. The studied sandstone samples show depletion in major, trace elements contents, except for CaO, MgO and Ni, Co and Cr respectively, and general depletion in the rare earth elements (REE) contents. Major element geochemistry indicates that the red bed sandstones of the Gercus Formation are of an oceanic island arc (OIA) tectonic setting. On the other

     The mineralogical study using X-ray diffraction (XRD) supported by scanning electron microscopic (SEM) examination and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) on the claystone of the Kolosh Formation from northern Iraq was conducted to Shows the provenance history of rocks. Chlorite, montmorillonite, illite, palygorskite, and kaolinite were recorded in different amounts in the study area. The association of montmorillonite and chlorite in the claystone of the Kolosh Formation (Paleocene) refers to the marine environment. Chlorite and montmorillonite are the common minerals in the Kolosh Formation with less common of illite, kaolinite and palygorskite. These clay minerals are of authigenic, detrital and diagenetically origin, which

The present study deals with the petrographic investigations revealed that the sandstone of Gercus Formation the studied samples of sandstone units composed primarily of rock fragments (sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic), quartz grains (monocrystalline and polycrystalline), and feldspars (orthoclase, microcline and plagioclase). These components are cemented by carbonate and iron oxides. The studied sandstones are classified as litharenites, Sandstone rocks of Gercus Formation  are chemically and mechanically unstable due to the high percentage of rock fragments ,such a grain assemblage infers that the source of the rock fragments is nearby. The petrographic analyses indicate that the studied sandstones are immature mineralogically b

The Shiranish Formation is cropped out in several areas in northern Iraq. A stratigraphic and facies study was conducted within the Duhok region to determine the sedimentary environment. Three microfacies, reflecting the various subenvironments within different shelf parts of the deep sea, have been identified within the Shiranish Formation. Four depositional environments are identified: slope, the toe of slope, deep shelf, and deep-sea or cratonic deep basin. The Shiranish Formation in the Duhok region, Northern Iraq, was deposited in an open shelf carbonate platform. The Shiranish Formation sequence is divided into six third-order cycles in the study area. These asymmetrical cycles reflect an imbalance between the relative level of the