Abstract
AbstractThe study utilized geomorphic and structural geology analysis integrated analysis to understand the effect of West Qurna Oil Field (or West Qurna Structure) on the part of Euphrates river route, whether it’s related to neotectonic activity or it’s a natural phenomenon. The Euphrates River Drainage Basin is located in the northern part of the Basra governorate in the south of the Mesopotamian Basin. The channel of the river is mostly straight and characterized by large loops. The channel sinuosity of this river system is analyzed in order to draw conclusions on the neotectonic activity of the region. The original status of the river thalweg was digitized from recent satellite images using the new Landsat 8 Scenes. Sinuosities at different sample section lengths were computed in a GIS software environment ArcGIS 10, providing so-called ‘sinuosity spectra’ for each point of the analyzed using a moving-window method and different window sizes channels. High sinuosity sections were correlated to geological subsurface structures of West Qurna Oil Field identified, indicating their neotectonic activity. A structural analysis (geometric and genetic analyses) performed to identify its type, origin and to find its relevance to main regional tectonic events. The geometric analysis detect that the bending fold mechanism (vertical force) could responsible about form West Qurna oil. Thus, thinning feature associated with West Qurna Oil Field. This mechanism could be connected with growth of salt structure of Hormuz Salt below it as confirmed by negative residual anomaly associated with West Qurna Oil Field.
Highlights
The alluvial rivers are one of the landforms that changed the earth’s surface through the processes of erosion and deposition
The studied segments of the Euphrates River start from the border of Basra Governorate Mudaina city, and ends to the confluence of Tigris and Euphrates rivers at Qurna with length of about 32 Km, and the sinuosity spectrum was showed for each section (Fig. 6)
The current study proposes a scenario for West Qurna Oilfield, which is at Cretaceous period the tectonic activity is prevailed with the result of abduction between Arabian and Iranian plateaus, which led to reactivate the basement faults, and induced salt structure below the study area and made uplift arching, and thinning features
Summary
The alluvial rivers are one of the landforms that changed the earth’s surface through the processes of erosion and deposition. It was among the significant features used as indicators that it reflects the effect of the neotectonic movement (Burnett and Schumm, 1983; Ouchi, 1985). The aims of this paper are to (1): analysis of river pattern for the Euphrates river near West-Qurna Oilfield and their relationship with the evolution of subsurface structures and neotectonic movements, (2): geological analysis (Geometric, Genetic) for the subsurface structures in this area. The West-Qurna Oilfield located about 65 km northwest of Basra city southern Iraq, between latitude (30°53'07"–31°3'16"N) and longitude (47°17'27"–47° 22' 24" E), north of Rumaila oilfield
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