Reconnaissance Stream Sediments Survey in the Sidakan Vicinity, Iraqi Kurdistan Region

Abstract

A stream survey was conducted in the Sidakan vicinity in the northeastern part of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, which covered the catchment area of the main stream. The covered area is about 450 km2. The exposed rocks in the study area are mainly igneous with subordinate sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The catchment area was divided into 14 sub-basins using Global Mapper software. The junction point of the valleys at the end of each sub-basin was sampled. From each junction point, 2 stream sediments were collected. The samples were sieved using the wet method into 2 mm fractions, before the fractions were subjected to x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results obtained from both tests were used to calculate the concentrations of 9 elements (Cr, Ni, Co, Cu, U, Ag, V, Zn, and Cd). The element concentrations are presented in 9 concentration maps after normalizing the concentration values. Some anomalous results were found. The average concentrations of Ag and Cd were nearly 120 and 266 times higher than the background concentrations (6 mg/kg and 16 mg/ kg, respectively). The acquired data also showed interesting average concentrations for the elements Co, Cr, Ni, and U (280 mg/kg, 999 mg/kg, 375 mg/kg, and 12 mg/kg, respectively). All of these anomalous concentrations are discussed and possible reasons for their existence are given.