Microfacies Characterizations and Paleoenvironment of Upper Part of Qamchuqa Formation from Chwarqauran Section, Sulaimaniyia Area, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Israa Q Hussain ,Sarah A Hashem ,Abdalratha Mohammed Sahaab ,Khaldoun Ahmad ,Salah Ali Hussain

doi:10.46717/igj.54.1b.9ms-2021-02-27

Israa Q Hussain , Sarah A Hashem + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.46717/igj.54.1b.9ms-2021-02-27

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Abstract

The Qamchuqa Formation was studied in Chwarqauran section, Sulaimanyia, Kurdistan region, Northeastern Iraq. The lithology of the formation contains limestone throughout the whole section except for one bed of dolomite at the Middle part. Twenty-four slides were prepared from 24 rock samples that were taken from this section to discriminate the petrography and fossil content. The petrographic study shows four main microfacies including lime mudstone, wackestone, packstone, and floatstone. Additionally, there are four sub microfacies: bioclast wackestone, miliolid wackestone, bioclast packstone and orbitolinid packstone. However, the fossil content shows the abundance of benthic foraminifera against the planktonic. All the microfacies indicate facies zone 7, 8 and 9A which reflect deposition in the platform interior between the tidal flat to the mid ramp and back reef environment

Highlights

Wetzel (1950) was the first to describe the Qamchuqa Formation in the Qamchuqa gorge in the High Folded Zone in the north and northwestern city of Sulaimanyia, northeastern Iraq
Recent oil exploration in Kurdistan region (N Iraq) show that interest is increasing towards High Folded Thrust Zone (HFTZ), in oil production from those units (Lawa et al 2020)
Al-Sadooni (1978) studied the sedimentology and petroleum prospects of the Qamchuqa Group from Kirkuk, Bai Hassan and Jambur oil fields and compared the stratigraphy with outcrops at SafeenDagh and inferred that the deposition of the Qamchuqa Group is a rudist-algal-hydrozoans bank, he mentioned that the contact between the Mauddud Formation (The equivalent of the upper Qamchuqa Formation) and the overlying Dokan Formation is unconformable

Summary

Introduction

Wetzel (1950) was the first to describe the Qamchuqa Formation in the Qamchuqa gorge in the High Folded Zone in the north and northwestern city of Sulaimanyia, northeastern Iraq. Al-Sadooni (1978) studied the sedimentology and petroleum prospects of the Qamchuqa Group from Kirkuk, Bai Hassan and Jambur oil fields and compared the stratigraphy with outcrops at SafeenDagh and inferred that the deposition of the Qamchuqa Group is a rudist-algal-hydrozoans bank (not a reef), he mentioned that the contact between the Mauddud Formation (The equivalent of the upper Qamchuqa Formation) and the overlying Dokan Formation is unconformable. Ameen (2008) studied the sedimentology and lithostratigraphy of the Qamchuqa Formation, along the outcrop section in northeastern Iraq and subdivided the formation into eight units based on the lithology and fossil content, concluding that the formation was deposited in low energy reef, back-reef, fore-reef and lagoon environments.

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