Abu-Jir Fault Research Articles

Relay Ramp of Abu-Jir Fault Zone, Western Iraq

A previously unstudied structure such as a relay ramp provides a great understanding of the geometry and behavior of the Abu-Jir Fault Zone. The field work, using topographic maps of a 10 meters contour interval and digital images revealed a relay ramp structure within the fault zone. Abu-JirFault consists of two segments, Sahliyah and Al-Dulab, which were chosen, both of which are right step normal faults subjected to strike-slip movement, where both are located northwest of the Heet area which them connected by a relay ramp. These ramps contained some accommodated antithetic structures such as local folds and faults. The results show much understanding of the Abu-JirFault Zone and its role in hydrocarbon migration and entrapment in the studied area.

Variable behaviour of Abu Jir fault zone, western Iraq

This study sheds light on the dynamic nature of the Abu Jir fault zone, uncovering intriguing contrasts along its path. It was conducted to know the variation through the zone, western Iraq, that starts at Razzazah Lake’s west and continues to Anah city. It is divided into two parts, southern and northern, utilized seismic sections for the southern part whereas fieldwork for the northern part. Seismic sections indicate that the southern part of the fault zone is negative flower structure which develops depressions, while field studies reveal that the northern part is positive behaviour forms some structures such as ridges, relay ramps and controlled the distribution of valleys within its zone. The Abu Jir fault zone not continuous fault but consists of many segments that subject to differential forces of strike-slip movements during Early-middle Miocene. The variation of behaviours is attributed to the difference of the direction between the northern and southern parts of the fault with sense of movement.

Morphotectonic of Euphrates River between Al-Qaim and Haditha cities, western Iraq

The study area is located between Haditha and Al-Qaim cities, western Iraq. The research aims to demonstrate the effects of tectonic activity and structural features on the course of the Euphrates River by using field studies and remote sensing techniques to know the structures, hydrological indicators and morphometric properties which affected upon river course. Two main software, ArcGIS 10.8 and EARDAS Imagine, are used. The extension phases during Late Cretaceous develop Anah Graben and Abu Jir normal fault that delineate the course of the Euphrates River whereas the positive inversion of Anah Graben and the dextral movement along of the Abu Jir fault zone formed Anan Anticline and pressure ridges during the E-M Miocene respectively, determine the river course along both structures, many indications of hydrological and morphometric properties reflect the impact of the last activities that prevent it to creep or change the direction of its course.

The geological situation in Abu-Jir Faults Zone, western Iraq: evidence from the radioactivity in Hit–Haditha area

Total radioactivity measurements (cps) in 59 sites were achieved in the Hit–Kubaiysa–Haditha area. Geological samples (soil and rock) from those sites were analyzed for Ra-226, U-238, Th-232, and K-40 using Gamma spectroscopy system based on high pure germanium. The study aims to assess the radioactivity in the study area and attempt to understand the relationship between radioactivity and the geological situation in the area. The results showed that many sites have relatively high total radioactivity exceeding the background radioactivity by many times. The radioactivity concentrated in areas around the springs spreading in the area caused by the high concentration of Ra-226 which being have disequilibrium with its parent U-238. Some areas also have a relatively high concentration of U-238 in depressions areas where the upper part of the Euphrates Formation is outcropped. Based on the pattern of the spread of total radioactivity in the study area, the extension of the Euphrates Fault Zone and the Abu Jir Fault Zone could be determined. These fault zones extend towards northwest–southeast, in addition to the delineation of some of the recent faults that intersect with these zones in an east–west direction, most of which follow the spreading pattern of the springs in the region.

Early-middle Miocene Inversion of the Abu Jir Fault in the Western Iraq: a Possible Consequence of the Arabian Plate Northward Movement

The Abu Jir fault zone in western Iraq that marks the western limit of the Zagros foreland basin merges with the Anah graben in the north. The northern segment of the Abu Jir fault zone and the western Anah graben are inverted structures. In this study, we investigated the timing and mechanism of the northern Abu Jir fault zone inversion in comparison with other inverted structures like Tel Hajar and Sinjar, which are located in the north and closer to Arabia–Eurasia collision zone. In the study area the Abu Jir fault zone is characterized by a local-scale northwestern-trending asymmetric fold, associated with inverted normal faults, positive flower structures, right–lateral strike-slip faults, and seismically induced early middle Miocene slump structures. Based on the structural synthesis of the surface geology and age constraints from syntectonic deposits at the northern Abu Jir fault area, the Abu Jir fault inversion and its western block northward movement were inferred to be resulted from forces that originated from the south to the north, unlike the northern younger inverted structures. This early middle Miocene age of the Abu Jir fault inversion is comparable to the arrival time of the Afar plume hot mantle material flow from the south to the north in western Arabia. Therefore, we argue that the Abu-Jir fault inversion is more likely to be due to dragging of the Arabian plate by mantle flow from the south to the north rather than shortening propagation from the north to the south.

Miocene Stratigraphy of Abu-Jir Fault Zone, Al-Baghdadi Sub-Basin, Western Iraq.

Stratigraphy of Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene age, suggested the carbonates evaporate succession in the area between Heet and Haditha cities within Abu-Jir fault zone has distinguished as “Al-Baghdadi sub-basin” after Al-Baghdadi city. It has NW–SE trending align the western bank of the Euphrates. Al-Baghdadi sub-basin is a local basin, which forms a part of the western marginal of the large foreland Tertiary basin (Zagros Basin) that was created on the Arabian shelf as a result of the collide of Arabian and Eurasian plates. The impact of the Abu-Jir fault on the formations on both regions of the Euphrates has been determined by observing the changes in thickness and lithofacies of the Euphrates, Jeribe and Fat’ha formations. On the western side, the Euphrates and Fat’ha formations were deposited with a relatively a little thickness, with absence of the Jeribe Formation between them and the top of the Euphrates Formation is above sea level. On the eastern side of the Euphrates River, the three formations were deposited with large thickness as compared to the western side, and the top of the Euphrates Formation is below sea level. This is enough to indicate that the western side was uplifting locally due to the activity of the Abu-Jir Fault as a positive flower structure during Miocene, while the eastern side was subsiding. Abu-Jir fault zone behaves as the basin bounding fault that acted like a growth fault. There are also variations in lithofacies between outcrops within Al-Baghdadi sub-basin as revealed from lateral missing or thinning of some layers.

Determining the Tectonic Implication Derived from Geophysical Data of Bahr An-Najaf Basin, SW Iraq

Free-air gravity, magnetic and topographic data derived from satellite imagery are used to study the main geological structures and features in the Bahr An-Najaf Area SW Iraq. A comparison between this map and gravitational and magnetic maps along with two profiles, each one on a map for the same location and direction. Both profiles show a decrease in values in the eastward direction of the two maps. The total magnetic intensity data of the study area are converted to reduction to pole data and drawn as a magnetic map. It is clear from the reduction to pole map that the rates of uplift and subsidence that occurred in the basement rocks are due to the faults in the Bahr An-Najaf region. The location of the Bahr An-Najaf Depression coincided with the negative anomalies on both the free-air gravity map and the reduction to pole magnetic map. Both maps are also used to define the important faults in the area, especially the Abu Jir Fault.

Sub-Bottom Profiler and Side Scan Sonar investigations, with the assistance of hydrochemical and isotopic analysis of Sawa Lake, Al-Muthana Governorate, Southern Iraq

A marine geophysical survey are including Sub Bottom Profilers and Side Scan Sonar integrating with under-water imagery, as well as hydrochemical and isotopic investigations have been carried out for Sawa Lake, one of the unique, shallow and closed water body in Iraq. The results showed that the depth of the Lake is shallow, ranged between 1 m in areas near the edges of the Lake and 2 m in the Lake center. The Recharge site has been detected exactly (this is a first recording (Nov. 2012)), as a hole. It has a longitudinal an axis of 50 m with NW-SE tren, which resembles the trending of the longitudinal axis of the Lake and Abu-Jir fault trending. The maximum width of this hole ranging from 23.0-29.5 m. The hole depth about 20 m, but may be greater then, because the emergence of a high proportion of noise in the geophysical sections. The Lake bottom is homogeneity and does not has any diacritical features. Also, the results showed discontinuous layers on either side of the hole due to the existance a number of caves under the bottom of the Lake extends into several meters with different dimensions and forms. Hydrochemical analysis of the water samples collected from different depths inside the hole by scientific diving with specefic equibments and the result showed that the water is NaCl type, with domination of Mg and Cl over Ca and SO4. The Stiff diagram, detected that very high TDS arising mainly from sodium and chloride, it is mostly typical marine water. Values of δ18O and δ2H in water samples of Sawa Lake, when plotted along the global meteoric water line shows that the three collected water samples from the lake, which have a similar isotopic composition, indicating that all of them are receiving water from the same flow zones, with diffuse recharge type. Also, the isotopic parameter showed that the Sawa lake water suffering from strong evaporation.

Geospatial analysis of groundwater contamination by heavy oil in the Dammam aquifer-Middle of Iraq

This study aims to apply Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to map the groundwater contamination of the Dammam aquifer by heavy oil in the middle of Iraq. For this purpose, the inventory map of 139 groundwater wells (contaminated and non-contaminated with heavy oil) with the seven important factors playing a role in controlling contamination were used. The factors are distance to faults, faults density, groundwater depth, aquifer saturated thickness and hydraulic conductivity, elevation, and distance from Abu Jir fault. For the performance of ANN model, five statistical measures were used namely, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, kappa, and the relative operating characteristic curve. Obtained results from applying the model in R statistical package indicated that ANN has a high accuracy (> 90%) in training and testing phases. The probability prediction of ANN model was categorized into five groundwater contamination classes: very low-low, moderate, high-very high. The averages of areas occupied by these zones were 5267 km2 (65%), 488 km2 (6%), and 2362 km2 (29%), for very low-low, moderate, and high-very high, respectively. The contamination map developed in this study could be used to drill successful non-contaminated groundwater wells and avoid loss of many efforts in drilling contaminated wells in the study area.

Natural Radioactivity in Soil and Bitumen in Al-Marj Spring and Abu-Jir Village, Anbar, Western Iraq

The aim of the present research is to illustrate γ-ray levels emitting from soil and bitumen producing from 238U, 232Th, and 40K along Abu-Jir Fault Zone. in the area extended from Al-Marj valley to Abu-Jir village using scintillometer device. Such study is important in environmental assessment to buildup data base about radioactivity. The concentration of natural radionuclides in the study area was determined to be occurring mostly in the clay minerals and organic matter. A high purity germanium spectrometer was used to detect the activity of these elements which ranged between 00.6±18.1- 1526±102, 0- 8.4±1.4, and 70.1±10.9- 328.2±73 in soil, and 28.2±5.6- 94±22.1, 0- 2.2±0.5, and 38.4±7.9- 70.1±10.9 in bitumen for 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K respectively. The anomaly of the Naturally occurring radioactive material was associated with hydrocarbon accumulation and springs. The source of 232Th and 40K came from the same source rock (illite), while 226Ra was associated with ascending fluids. The obtained results showed that the activity of 226Ra in soil has value above the world averages and other countries.

An Investigation of Seismic Velocity Variation through a Tectonic Boundaries-Case Study in Central Iraq

A 3D velocity model was created by using stacking velocity of 9 seismic lines and average velocity of 6 wells drilled in Iraq. The model was achieved by creating a time model to 25 surfaces with an interval time between each two successive surfaces of about 100 msec. The summation time of all surfaces reached about 2400 msec, that was adopted according to West Kifl-1 well, which penetrated to a depth of 6000 m, representing the deepest well in the study area. The seismic lines and well data were converted to build a 3D cube time model and the velocity was spread on the model. The seismic inversion modeling of the elastic properties of the horizon and well data was applied to achieve a corrected velocity cube. Then, the velocity cube was converted to a time model and, finally, a corrected 3D depth model was obtained. This model shows that the western side of the study area, which is a part of the stable shelf, is characterized by relatively low thickness and high velocity layers. While the eastern side of the study area, which is a part of the Mesopotamian, is characterized by high thickness and low velocity of the Cretaceous succession. The Abu Jir fault is considered as a boundary between the stable and unstable shelves in Iraq, situated at the extreme west part of the study area. The area of relatively high velocity gradient is considered as the limit of the western side of the Mesopotamian basin. This area extends from Najaf-Karbala axis in the west to the Euphrates River in the east. It is found that the 3D stacking velocity model can be used to obtain good results concerning the tectonic boundary.

Probability mapping of groundwater contamination by hydrocarbon from the deep oil reservoirs using GIS-based machine-learning algorithms: a case study of the Dammam aquifer (middle of Iraq).

The Dammam Formation in the southern and western deserts of Iraq is an important aquifer because it contains a huge groundwater reserve suitable for various uses. In the Karbala-Najaf plateau and the neighboring areas of the middle of Iraq, the drilling of groundwater wells usually fails due to the contamination of this aquifer with hydrocarbon from the deep oil reservoirs. This work suggests a method for the spatial delineation of groundwater contamination in this aquifer. Three machine learning classifiers, backpropagation multi-layer perceptron artificial neural networks (ANN), support vector machine with radial basis function (SVM-radial), and random forest (RF) with GIS, were used to map the probability of contamination in this aquifer. An inventory map of 139 groundwater boreholes (contaminated and non-contaminated) was utilized for building the models with seven factors that are considered to control contamination: fault density, distance to faults in general and the Abu Jir fault in particular, groundwater depth, hydraulic conductivity, aquifer saturated thickness, and land-surface elevation. The Relief-F feature selection method indicated that all factors were relevant. Five statistical measures were used for comparing the model performance: accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, kappa, and the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC). Applying the models using the R statistical package indicated that all models had excellent goodness-of-fit (accuracy > 90%), but the ANN (accuracy = 97%, sensitivity = 1.00%, specificity = 96%, kappa = 0.93, and AUC = 0.97) and RF (accuracy = 95%, sensitivity = 1.00%, specificity = 93%, kappa = 0.88, and AUC = 0.98) outperformed SVM-radial (accuracy = 92%, sensitivity = 1.00%, specificity = 90%, kappa = 0.82, and AUC = 0.95). The contamination probability values produced by these three models were categorized into different contamination zones range from very low to very high. The finding of this analysis may be used as a guide for drilling uncontaminated wells of groundwater.

RADON GAS AND EFFECTIVE DOSE IN GROUNDWATER IN ABU- JIR VILLAGE IN ANBAR, WESTERN IRAQ

In the present study, radon gas concentration in the shallow groundwater samples of the Abu-Jir region in Anbar governorate was measured by using Rad-7 detector. The highest radon gas level in the samples is up to 9.3 Bq/L, while the lowest level is 2.1 Bq/L, with an average of 6.44±1.8 Bq/L. The annual effective dose is varied from 33.945 μSv/y to 7.66 μSv/y, with an average of 0.145±0.06 μSv/y. Consequently, the radon level in the groundwater studied is lower than the standard recommended value (11 Bq/L) reported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The potential source of radon is uranium-rich hydrocarbons that are leakage to the surface along the Abu-Jir Fault. This research did not indicate any risk that radon gas concentrations may occur in the groundwater in the study area, and despite this, the research strongly recommends to propose a new Iraqi specification that defines the permissible level of radon gas concentrations in the groundwater and air to avoid harm to human health and will be an Iraqi standard that will be applied for the first time in Iraq.

Organic geochemistry of oil seeps from the Abu-Jir Fault Zone in the Al-Anbar Governorate, western Iraq: Implications for early-mature sulfur -rich source rock

Organic geochemical methods were performed on four oil seep samples collected from the Abu-Jir Fault Zone (AJFZ) in the Al-Anbar Governorate, western Iraq. These oil seeps have undergone biodegradation, showing large unresolved complex mixture (UCM) shapes, with degradation of normal alkanes and isoprenoids. The inorganic elements of the Abu-Jir oil seeps, i.e., S, Ni and V, suggest a marine carbonate-rich source rock deposited under reducing environment conditions. The biomarker ratios and parameters of hopane and sterane further suggest that the oil seeps were derived from source rock rich in lipids from phytoplankton and bacteria with less contribution of terrigenous organic debris. The chemical maturity indicators show that the Abu-Jir oil seeps were generated from early mature sulfur -rich source rock, thus in association with a high S content of more than 1.93%. The geochemical characteristics of the analyzed oil seep samples are similar, which is consistent with most of the crude oils in the northern and southern basins in Iraq, and were generated from the Middle Jurassic Sargelu Formation. The overall geochemical correlations and geological information confirm that the Abu-Jir Faultoil seeps in the western Iraq were sourced from the Middle Jurassic Sargelu Formation that reached an early maturity level of oil-generation window and that they migrated into the ground surface through the Abu-Jir major fault during the middle Miocene.

Evaluating the Dibdibba Aquifer Productivity at the Karbala–Najaf Plateau (Central Iraq) Using GIS-Based Tree Machine Learning Algorithms

This study assessed the groundwater productivity of the Dibdibba aquifer on the Karbala–Najaf Plateau, central Iraq, using three GIS-based tree machine learning classifiers, namely classification and regression trees (CART), rotation forest (rF), and random forest (RF). The geographical locations of groundwater wells with a specific well capacity and eight groundwater productivity conditioning factors were used to build the three models. The factors used involved four related topographical factors (elevation, slope, curvature, and aspect), two aquifer hydraulic characteristics (transmissivity and specific yield), and two proximity factors (distance to Abu Jir Fault and distance to faults). The multi-collinearity preliminary test indicated that there was no multi-collinearity issue among the factors used. Investigating the powerful factors of the building models using the information gain ratio showed that five factors (distance to Abu Jir Fault, specific yield, transmissivity, elevation, and distance to faults) played a major role in controlling aquifer productivity. The five most important factors were used to build the models. The performance of the models was compared in the training and testing stages using three evaluation metrics: accuracy, kappa, and area under the relative operating characteristic curve. Applying the models showed that RF was the best classifier, followed by rF and then CART. The probability predictions of the models were interpolated and classified into three categories of aquifer productivity: low, moderate, and high; these classes encompassed approximately 23%, 8%, and 69% of the study area, respectively. The total sum of the moderate and high productivity classes was 75% of the study area; therefore, the study area was promising in terms of its water yield. The maps derived from this study could be used by hydrogeologists and decision makers as a guide to develop the studied aquifer by setting rules for a pumping scheme, particularly in areas where the productivity is low.

Mapping groundwater zones contaminated by hydrocarbons in the Dammam aquifer in the Karbala–Najaf plateau, Iraq

This study focused on delineating the groundwater contamination zones that contain hydrocarbons (heavy oil) in the Dammam aquifer in the Karbala–Najaf plateau, central Iraq, using two hybrid models, specifically, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) (AHP-TOPSIS and entropy-TOPSIS). Six factors were identified as causing the contamination of groundwater in the Dammam aquifer depending on data availability and the opinions of experts. These factors were the distance to the Abu Jir fault, fault density, aquifer hydraulic conductivity and thickness, borehole depths, and elevation above mean sea level. The AHP and entropy methods were used to derive the weights required to run the TOPSIS algorithm. The ranked values from TOPSIS were classified into five contamination hazard zones: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The results from the hybrid models were validated using the receiver operating characteristic curve and proved that the hybridization of entropy-TOPSIS with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve equal to 0.80 performed better than that of AHP-TOPSIS with a value of 0.75. The direct comparison of groundwater-contaminated boreholes (validation dataset) with groundwater contamination zones also confirmed this result. The moderate–very high contaminated zones occupy 60% of the study area and are distributed in the northern and northeastern parts of the plateau, whereas the very low–low zones are concentrated in the southwestern and southern parts. The map of contamination level hazard zones from this study could be used by decision-makers and drilling workers as a guide to drill new boreholes and thus to avoid drilling-faulted contaminated boreholes.

Behavior of Abu-Jir Fault Zone in Al-Thirthar Valley and near Habbaniya Lake Areas – Comparative Study Using Seismic Reflection Sections

A comparative study of behavior of Abu-Jir fault zone in Al-Thirthar Valley and near Al-Habbaniya Lake areas has been carried out using seismic reflection sections. Interpretation of the seismic sections showed some similarities and differences in behavior of Abu-Jir Fault Zones in both areas. The seismic sections exhibit simple flower structure in the fault zone of both Al-Thirthar Valley and near Habbaniya Lake but the flower structure in later is simpler than the former. The fault zone in Al-Thirthar Valley behaves as blind fault, whereas it reaches to the Earth's surface near Habbaniya Lake. Abu-Jir Fault Zone near Habbaniya Lake is wider than that in Thirthar Valley area. Syn-rifting due to faulting and slightly thickening has begun within both areas; occur between Alan and Hartha reflectors in Thirthar area and between Alan and Dammam reflectors near Habbaniya Lake. Abu-Jir Fault Zone near Habbaniya Lake suffered to strike slip movement less than that in Thirthar Valley because it is far from the collision suture zone between Arabian plate and Turkish and Iranian plates.

Hydrochemical and isotopic investigation of groundwater of Al-Batin alluvial fan aquifer, Southern Iraq

Major ions and important trace elements in addition to δ18O and δ2H were analysed for 43 groundwater samples sampled from the Al-Batin alluvial fan aquifer, South Iraq. The most dominant ions (with respect to molarity) were: Na+ > Cl− > SO4 2− > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > NO3 − > HCO3 −, with total dissolved solids (TDS) averaging 7855 mg/L. High concentrations were found for the trace elements U, Mo, V, B, Sr, and Cr. This study suggests a hydraulic connection exists near the fan apex between the uppermost part of the Al-Batin aquifer and the underlying Dammam aquifer by means of the Abu-Jir fault system. Except for the effects of extensive irrigation, fertilizer use, and poorly maintained sewers, the groundwater chemistry is mainly controlled by geological processes such as dissolution of evaporites and the enrichment of dissolved ions as a result of the high evaporation and low recharge rate. Furthermore, it is shown that the Kuwaiti fuel–oil burning during Gulf War in 1991 contributed to the enrichment of V and Mo in the studied aquifer. The spatial distribution of most ions appears to generally increase from the south-west towards the north-east, in the direction of groundwater flow. The stable isotopes show heavier values in groundwater with a gradually increasing trend in the direction of groundwater flow due to the decreasing depth to groundwater and thus increasing of evaporation from both groundwater or irrigation return water. Additionally, the stable isotope signature suggests that rainfall from sources in the Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Sea is the major source of recharge for the Al-Batin aquifer. Except for two samples of groundwater, all samples were not suitable for potable use according to the WHO standards. Most of the groundwater is suitable for some agricultural purpose and for livestock water supply. Apart from the high salinity, boron represents the most critical element in the groundwater with respect to agricultural purposes.

Spatial mapping of artesian zone at Iraqi southern desert using a GIS-based random forest machine learning model

Random forest (RF) machine learning technique and geographical information system (GIS) have been applied to delineate groundwater flowing well zones in the southern desert of Iraq. A spatial database consists of target variable, i.e., geographic locations of 93 flowing wells and predictor variables, i.e., the factors that control groundwater occurrence was prepared for this purpose. Eleven predictor variables were selected based on data availability, literature review, and field conditions which include elevation, slope, profile curvature, aspect, topographic wetness index, stream power index, distance to Abu Jir fault, distance to Euphrates River, major aquifer group, total hydraulic head, and well depth. The RF model in R package along with ArcGIS 10.2 was used to generate groundwater flowing well potential index for the study area. The obtained potential indices were classified using natural break classification scheme into five categories namely, very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The results revealed that high or very high groundwater flowing well potential zones occupy 15 %, moderate potential zone covers 6 %, and low or very low potential zones cover 79 % of the southern desert of Iraq. The groundwater flowing well zone map was validated using relative operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The areas under the ROC curve for success and prediction rates were 0.98 and 0.97, respectively, indicating excellent capability of RF model to delineate groundwater potential. It is expected that the method development in this study can be used for rapid but efficient evaluation of groundwater flowing well potential from limited amount of data.

Use of 2D azimuthal resistivity imaging in delineation of the fracture characteristics in Dammam aquifer within and out of Abu-Jir fault zone, central Iraq

The 2D azimuthal resistivity imaging is a new technique used to determine the subsurface fracture characteristics in Dammam aquifer within and out of Abu-Jir fault zone, southwest of Karbala City, central Iraq. This technique was carried out by Wenner–Schlumberger array through 11 stations distributed within and out of Abu-Jir fault zone. Each 2D azimuthal station includes four 2D imaging lines in different directions (N-S, E-W, NE-SW, and NW-SE) with coverage equals to 45°. The 2D imaging line consisted of 60 electrodes at 10-m spacing. The 2D azimuthal results showed two types of fracture zones. The first is formed from cavities that developed from small fractures and fissures through a dissolution process of carbonate rocks. In some cases, this zone is found as horizontal canal near the Earth’s surface. While the second fracture zone formed by tectonic movements and that typically occurs as vertical and nearly vertical zones of fractures. These zones are characterized by increasing of resistivity values within Abu-Jir fault zone and decreasing out of it. In general, the fracture density of these zones is increased with the depth in SE, E, and NE directions within and out of Abu-Jir fault zone.