One eighth of the bird species in the world is considered globally threatened; the avifauna of Iraq comprises 409 species and is considered as the major indicator of the health of Iraq’s biological resources. The Iraqi geography falls into five main regions among which is the desert and semi-desert areas which cover much of the country area. Al-Najaf desert is still one of the poorly known regions from the biodiversity point of view. Birds of conservation concern are detected in Al-Najaf desert during 31 field trips to 20 sites conducted from August 2018 to April 2020, (citing literature records, and personal interviews with locals).The factors caused the bird numbers to decline in Al-Najaf desert include hunting and trapping, logging, invasive species, and climate change.
Nine birds are found threatened with 3 EN and 6 VU comprising Saker Falcon Falco cherrug Gray, 1834 (Falconidae, Falconiformes), Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus Linnaeus, 1766 (Falconidae, Falconiformes), Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis Hodgson, 1833 (Accipitridae, Accipitriformes), Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Accipitridae, Accipitriformes), Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga (Pallas, 1811) (Accipitridae, Accipitriformes), Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris (Ménétrés, 1832) (Anatidae, Anseriformes), Macqueen's Bustard Chlamydotis macqueeni (Gray, 1834) (Otididae, Otidiformes), Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur (Linnaeus, 1758) (Columbidae, Columbiformes), and Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis aucheri Bonaparte, 1853 (Laniidae, Passeriformes). It is concluded that Al-Najaf desert is a region of top priority area for biodiversity conservation as it hosts large number of threatened bird species.
The results of the present study show that the highest elevation point is (912) meters (a.s.l.) inside Wadi Al-Khur basin while the lowest elevation point is (6) meters (a.s.l.) inside Wadi Abu-Talha basin. The biggest catchment area is represented by Wadi Al-Khur (48840 km²) whereas the smallest catchment area is Wadi Taqtaq (1748 km²). The stream direction of all streams trends from South-West towards North-East. The soil available water capacity (AWC) (Moisture Deficit) in the studied area was15 mm. The average annual rainfall was133.11 mm, the average annual temperature was 25.65 Co, the total depth amount of E Apanwas 3691.85 mm/year, the relative humidity was 40 %, the average annual sunshine is 7.9 hrs., and the
... Show MoreThe type of groundwater in the studied area is slightly brackish. In general, the dominant water type is calcium-sulfate. The reasons behind these different chemical groundwater types can be referred to the active ion exchange between the groundwater of the Dammam aquifer and Rus Formation. The groundwater of the Dammam unconfined aquifer is not suitable for human drinking in all the parameters properties. The groundwater class is fair in the Qasir Al-Ukhaider area, while the Shebcha area and Al-Salman area are poor class except the eastern part of Al-Salman area is very poor.
A new gravity and seismic survey along a profile length (70 Km) carried out at the area of exploration Block- 11 in Al- Najaf desert, southwest Iraq. The obtained gravity and seismic value compared with the previous available data that achieved by IPC and OEC for gravity and seismic data respectively. The difference between the new gravity profile and the old one is mainly in small anomaly not more than (14 %) that related to shallow depth levels and presents through power spectrum analysis. Previously, Ghulaissan-1 well which drilled in (1960) depend on a positive gravity and magnetic anomaly interpret, which is considered as an anticline structure in sub surface. It did not indicate any hydrocarbon shows after drilling, the integration
... Show MoreThe research aims to assess the claystone exposed in the Nfayil Formation (Middle Miocene) for Portland cement (P.C.) manufacturing based on mineralogy and geochemistry. The importance of the study is to avoid the miming of the agricultural soils that are mining now for the cement industry. Claystones of Nfayil Formation and the limestone of the Euphrates Formation were used to design the raw mixture as clay to limestone (1:3). The chemical composition (%) of the designed mixture was calculated using the Alligation Alternative Method (A.A.M.) as CaO (65.52), MgO (1.05), SiO2 (21.65), Al2O3 (7.43), Fe2O3 (2.62), Na2O3+K2O (1.52) and SO3 (0.26), which are suitable for P.C. The lime saturation factor (LSF = 92.8), silica saturation fac
... Show MoreBirds of prey (Raptors) are top predator avian species that many migrate annually through Mesopotamian marshes in southern Iraq toward their wintering grounds in Arabia and Africa, while others are breeding residents; however, information on their current status is scarce. From January 2016 to April 2019, a total of 20 field expeditions were conducted in the geographical zone of the Mesopotamian marshes, wetlands of international importance. The survey covered the Central Marshes, Al-Hammar and Hawizeh Marsh. One of the objectives of the field surveys is to list the raptors species that wintering and/or migrating through the Mesopotamian marshes and to understand their current spatial and temporal distribution. In the present study, a to
... Show MoreFor two years, from January 1995 till December 1996, a survey on helminth parasites of aquatic birds of Bahr Al-Najaf depression, mid Iraq, was achieved. A total of 663 birds, belonging to 11 species, were captured and examined for helminth parasites. These birds were infected with seven trematodes (Notocotylus gibbus, Cyclocoelum mutabile, Echinostoma chloropodis, Patagifer parvispinosus, Psilochasmus oxyurus, Diplostomum spathaceum and Apharyngostrigea cornu), seven cestodes (Paricterotaenia porosa, Dicranotaenia tsengi, Diorchis brevis, D. inflatus, Tatria acanthorhyncha, T. decacantha and Diplophallus polymorphus) and four nematodes (Capillaria sp., Eustrongylides tubifex, Con
... Show MoreGhar Formation outcrop at the Iraqi western desert was studied by microfacies analysis
of (13) thin sections collected from wadi Al-Ratgha ( west of Qaim ) . According to
petrographic com position and organisms content ,rocks were subdivided into (4)
microfacies units :bioclastic wackestone , mudstone , miliolids wackestone , and grainstone
with aggregate grains microfacies .Microfacies units reflect shallow marine environment of
low circulation of very warm water at the middle part . The lower and middle part
interbedded with quite open marine environment below the wave base . The upper part was
deposited at shallow marine environment of low circulation . The main diagenetic processes
were the transformation ( ty
This study aims to overcome the unexpected hydrocarbon non-potentiality detected in the upper Alam El-Bueib (I to IIIE) and justify the hydrocarbon accumulation within Alam El-Bueib (IIIG) at the Emry oil field, also, it is important to highlight the importance of fault seal analysis and the impact of Matruh canyon as a seal. Seismic interpretation and 3D structural framework are carried out using the fault-seal analysis technique for fault no.1 (F1). To assess the fault zone's capacity to be defined as either seal or leakage. Litho-facies juxtaposition diagram (Allan diagram) and Shale Gouge Ratio (SGR) were generated. It is concluded that the possible reason for the dry reservoir of the upper part of Alam El Bueib (Alam El Bue
... Show MoreThe Middle East fat tailed sheep Ovis aries L. examined within the boundaries of Al-Anbar province, western Iraq was found to acquire seven species of ixodid ticks namely, Hyalomma
anatolicum, H. excxavatum, H. marginatum turanicum, H. detritum, Hyalomma sp., Rhipicephalus turanicus and R. s. sanguineus. The results discussed with the pertinent
literature.
This study deals with the processing of field seismic data for a seismic line located within the administrative boundaries of Najaf and Muthanna governorates in southern Iraq (7Gn 21) with a length of 54 km. The study was conducted within the Processing Department of the Oil Exploration Company using the Omega system, which contains a large number of programs that deal with processing, through the use of these programs applied predictive deconvolution of both( gap) and (spike). The final section was produced for both types. The gap predictive deconvolution gave improvement in the shallow reflectors while in deep reflectors it did not give a good improvement, thus giving a good continuity of the reflectors at
... Show More