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 hand, the results revealed that the paleo-weathering of the source area of the Gercus Formation experienced intensive chemical weathering under humid and/or warm climate conditions. The maturity and paleoclimate conclusions of the studied samples suggest a low feldspar content and low values of K2O / Al2O3 ratio, which in turn resulted from the dominance of low grade metamorphic and sedimentary rock types in the source area.
This study aims to use claystone beds exposed in the Injana Formation (Late Miocene) at Karbala-Najaf plateau, middle of Iraq for the manufacturing of perforated and ordinary bricks. The claystone samples were assessed as an alternative material of the recent sediments, which are preferred to remain as agricultural land. The claystones are sandy mud composing of 29.1 - 39.1% clay, 37.2 - 54.8% silt and 14.1-26.8% sand. They consist of kaolinite, illite, chlorite, palygorskite, and montmorillonite with a lot of quartz, calcite, dolomite, gypsum and feldspar. Claystone samples were characterized by linear shrinkage 0.01 - 0.1%, volume shrinkage 0.1 - 0.9%, bulk density 1.2 - 2.11gm/cm3 (1.68 g / cm3 average), and the efflorescence is
... Show MoreThe present work is conducted on the Paleozoic (Ordovician) Khabour and the (Silurian) Akkas shales in the Akkas-1 well of western Iraq. The study is aiming to determine the implications of clay mineral transformation, organic mineral distribution and maturity of hydrocarbon generation, using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in addition to organic matter concentrations. In the shale of the Khabour Formation, amorphous organic matter is common and includes various Tasmanite-type organic matter, vitrinite, inertinite, and bituminite. The main clay minerals observed include illite, chlorite, kaolinite, in addition to mixed-layer illite-smectite and rare smectite. In Silurian shale, high content of organic matter i
... Show MoreThe regions around the world need to perform their results based on the local geoid. However, each region has different ground topography based on the amount of gravity in this region. Nowadays, the recent global Earth's gravity model of 2008 is successfully used for different purposes in geosciences research. This research presents an overview of the preliminary evaluation results of the new Earth Gravitation Model (EGM08) in the middle of Iraq. For completeness, the evaluation tests were also performed for EGM96 by examining 31 stations distributed over four Iraqi provinces. The national orthometric heights were compared with the GPS /leveling data obtained from these stations. This study illustrated that the GPS /leveling based on EGM
... Show MoreThe current research to study the petrography, mineralogy and geochemical relationships of the ultramafic rocks in the Galalah area within Erbil Governorate, at the Unstable Shelf in the Imbricate Zone, to determine the origin of the ultramafic rocks.
Dunite and Harzburgite are the most abundant rock bodies in the study area, and they represent most of the outer surface exposure of the ultramafic rock aggregates. The dunite rocks are characterized by pale brown color on the altered surface that is broken into olive green and dark green lithic. Dunite represents a homogenous lithologic feature that mainly consists predominately of olivine with accessory spinel and traces of orthopyroxene. While the harzburgite appears as
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The process of soil classification in Iraq for industrial purposes is important topics that need to be extensive and specialized studies. In order for the advancement of reality service and industrial in our dear country, that a lot of scientific research touched upon the soil classification in the agricultural, commercial and other fields. No source and research can be found that touched upon the classification of land for industrial purposes directly. In this research specialized programs have been used such as geographic information system software The geographical information system permits the study of local distribution of phenomena, activities and the aims that can be determined in the loca
Gastropod species belonging to Qamchuqa Formation (Aptian-Cenomanian) in the North of Iraq are studied. These species are Harpagodes nodosus (J.de C. Sowerby,1823), Ampullina sp.1 (Hannaa and Furisch, 2011), Ampullina sp.2 (Hannaa and Furisch, 2011), Tylostoma pallaryi (Peron and Fourtau, 1904), Calliomphalus orientalis (Douville,1916), and Pyrgulifera (Meek, 1871). They are recorded in the Upper Cretaceous succession of Northern Iraq for the first time. Most of these species are internal moulds and not abundant at any stratigraphic level but irregularly scattered in the formation.