Northeastern Iraq Research Articles

Recent earthquake activity in the lesser Zab region of northeastern Iraq

In December 1980 a series of moderately strong earthquakes struck the Lesser Zab region in the northeastern part of Iraq. The shocks were recorded at the Baghdad Seismological Observatory (BHD); the two largest earthquakes (events 1 and 2) had observed magnitudes of 5.2 and 5.8 M s . These earthquakes caused observable field effects as well as resulting in variable degrees of structural damage to semi-engineered buildings within the mesoseismal area. By means of field quastionnaires the observed macroseismic intensity maps of the two largest shocks were compiled and an intensity attenuation relationship—the first of its kind in Iraq—was derived. The assessment of recent earthquake activity as evidenced by the recurrence relationship, focal mechanisms and source parameter estimations for events 1 and 2 reveal the region to be undergoing a continuous state of stress which indicates the probable future occurrence of a moderately-sized shallow earthquake in the same vicinity.

Planktonic Foraminifera and Stratigraphy of the Tanjero Formation (Maastrichtian), Northeastern Iraq

The present paper deals with the lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and micropaleontology of the Tanjero Formation of the Dokan area, Sulaimaniah district, northeastern Iraq. The Tanjero Formation is middle-late Maastrichtian in age and is assigned to the Globotruncana aegyptiaca-lapparenti-stuarti Assemblage Zone, G. gansseri (part), G. contusa and Abathomphalus mayaroensis subzones. Forty-nine species assigned to 12 genera have been recorded, and the species belonging to the Heterohelicidae and Planomalinidae families are discussed and photographed.

Petrography and petrochemistry of some zagroside geosynclinal calcarenites from north-eastern Iraq

This paper traces the general chrono-petrographic and -petrochemical trends in the evolution of the sand- and silt-sized carbonate clastic beds of the geosynclinal basins bordering the Zagros orogen in north-eastern Iraq. This orogen was repeatedly uplifted from at least the Late Cretaceous to the present. Clastics in older marginal basins, particularly those near the uplifted orogen, were themselves uplifted and contributed debris to younger basins. All successive basins were therefore filled mostly with carbonate lithoclasts and to a lesser extent by a debris of radiolarian chert. Clastic grains of feldspar, monocrystalline quartz as well as volcaniclastic debris were subordinate. Twenty-two samples collected from calcarenites of the most important Cretaceous to Pliocene Zagros marginal basins were chemically analysed for their major elements and for Cr, Cu, Ga, Ni, Rb, Sr, V, Zn and Zr. In clastics of all these ages, elements such as Al, Ti, Fe, P, Zr, Ga, V and K correlate fairly to crudely with each other as they are particularly concentrated in the detrital non-carbonate particles, viz. ilmenite, magnetite, apatite, zircon, feldspar and clay minerals. On a Ti-Cr-Zr triangular diagram, plots of calcarenites of the same formation tend to cluster together on a loop in an order corresponding to their age. Zr progressively increases in the younger clastics while Ti relatively increases in the older sediments irrespective of whether they were metamorphosed or not. The increase in Ti is suggestive of an earlier basaltic activity. Cr had its maximum relative concentration in the Early to Middle Miocene clastic formations, indicating that the ophiolitic slivers caught up in the initial Zagros collision suture had the maximum exposure to weathering during this interval.

Characteristics of soils of a toposequence in northeastern Iraq

Morphology and composition have been determined for a set of four pedons in a toposequence with a length of 3 km. A detailed description of one profile and abbreviated ones for the others are given in this paper. All four have evident dark surface horizons and some also have distinct horizons of carbonate accumulation but otherwise these soils have faint horizonation. All have fine textures and are calcareous throughout. Laboratory characterization data consist of particle size distribution, 15-bar water retention, pH, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, organic C, carbonates, chemical composition and the kinds and proportions of minerals in the clay fractions. All soils are high in carbonates (19–61%) and in clay (40–61%) with montmorillonite as the most common mineral. All soils are considered to have mollic epipedons and three have calcic horizons. All four shrink and swell to some extent as moisture levels fluctuate with passing seasons, but the cracks are wider and deeper in the two upper members of the toposequence than in the two lower ones. The upper members also have slickensides in deeper horizons. Based on their combinations of characteristics, the two upper members are classified as Chromoxererts (Vertisols), the lowest member as a Haploxeroll (Mollisol) and one intermediate member as a Calcixeroll (Mollisol). Placements are provisional and are carried down to the family level in the U.S. soil taxonomy. The differences in characteristics of these four pedons, found within a relatively small area, provide some indication of the local variety among soils of northeastern Iraq.

The Penjwin area, along the zagros suture zone, as an example of collisional orogen

The structural zonation of the Penjwin area, northeastern Iraq, has major tectonic features characterizing collisional orogens. Three distinct structural zones are recognized, each is distinguished by a special pattern of deformation. As in other examples, indications of consumption of oceanic crust and crustal shortening are found in wide zones and not confined to the suture zone.

A study of the palaeoecology and bathymetry of the foraminiferal assemblages of the Shiranish Formation (Upper Cretaceous), northeastern Iraq

The palaeoecology and environmental conditions prevailing during the sedimentation of the Upper Cretaceous Shiranish Formation are revealed by the interpretation and correlation of its faunal content and sedimentary facies. Lithologically, the Shiranish Formation is subdivided into two members: the Lower Shiranish Marl Member and the Upper Shiranish Shale Member. Species diversity is greater in the Lower Shiranish Marl Member and sediments are thought to have been deposited in deeper water (middle slope depth) that the sediments of the Upper Shiranish Shale Member (outer shelf depth). The Lower Shiranish Member is almost devoid of benthonic specimens of Foraminifera, indicating a low oxygen content for the waters of Lower Shiranish sea. Depositional environments 200–800 m deep in a continental margin trough of the Tethys are defined by the presence of depth-restricted benthonic foraminiferal genera and by sediment characteristics.

Origin of red color in the gercus formation (eocene), Northeastern Iraq

The Gercus Formation (Eocene) in northeastern Iraq consists of a fluvial sequence of associated red and drab beds deposited under an arid to semi-arid climate. Occurrence of pigment on grain contacts in the sandstones and the uniform distribution of pigment in the marls and siltstones indicate that part of the pigment is of predepositional or syndepositional origin, most probably detrital ferric hydroxides that coated the grains. Alteration and corrosion of iron oxides and ferromagnesian minerals, intensified pigment around some opaque grains, and decreased heavy-mineral content (compared to the recent river sediments in the area) point to intrastratal alteration and the diagenetic origin of part of the pigment. Iron contents indicate that leaching of ferric iron with an average of 1.41% Fe from the drab marl and siltstone beds and 0.74% Fe from the drab sandstone beds washed out the pigment (or its precursor) from these beds.

The Fauna from Shanidar Cave : Mousterian wild goat exploitation in Northeastern Iraq

Reports on the faunal remains from the fourth and final archeological season at Shanidar Cave in northeastern Iraq were presented in 1964 by Dexter Perkins, Jr. However, the first three field seasons at Shanidar produced more sizable faunal collections, which have not previously been published. The following paper summarizes results of a study of the macrovertebrate assemblage from the important Mousterian levels excavated between 1951 and 1957, during which time the full vertical sequence of cave deposits was excavated. Wild goat was the primarily exploited ungulate at Mousterian Shanidar. The age profile of goats comprising the archeological sample appears to represent a pattern of catastrophic mortality.

Early Agricultural Settlements in the Sinjar Plain, Northern Iraq

In the spring of 1969 the Soviet archaeological expedition began extensive studies of early agricultural sites in north-western Iraq. Up to that time the investigation of archaeological cultures representing the early stages of development of food-producing economies in Mesopotamia had been confined to north-eastern Iraq and western Iran, the mountains of Kurdistan and the Zagros with their foothills and valleys. But in north-western Iraq, from Mosul to the Syrian frontier, there are areas whose natural resources offer an equally fruitful prospect for investigation of this process. One such area particularly favourable to agriculture from its earliest stages is the broad and fertile Sinjar plain. Eastward the plain borders on the Mosul region, beyond which lie the Kurdish foothills around Erbil and Kirkuk, and on the north it is bounded by Jebel Sinjar, rising to a height of c. 1250 m. This range reproduces on a small scale the natural conditions of the Zagros, and abounds in caves, but is as yet inadequately investigated. Winter rainfall is relatively high, and a number of small perennial streams flow from the hills into the soft alluvial soils of the plain, which are extremely fertile and favour the construction of simple irrigation systems; in places these now extend up to 15 km. south of the range.

The immature stages of Ixodes tatei Arthur (Ixodidae).

The original description of Ixodes tatei was given by Arthur (1959) and based on three females taken from a rock partridge of unknown species and from a fox (Vulpes sp. ?) in Jarmo, Chemchemal Valley, Kirkuk (type locality) and the Zagros Mountains, Erbil, both in north-eastern Iraq. The material, on which the following account is based, consisted of two females, one gorged nymph, one slightly fed nymph and two fully gorged larvae. They were collected from the head of Alectoris graeca, which was shot about 20 km south of Jerusalem on 17 December 1966 and sent to me by Professor O. Theodor of the Hebrew University. One female, one nymph and one larva have been deposited in the Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, and one female, one nymph and one larva are retained in my collection. The holotype female is deposited in the Chicago Natural History Museum, Cat. no. 84472.

Kurds, Turks, and Arabs. Politics, Travel, and Research in North-Eastern Iraq 1919-1925

Kurds, Turks, and Arabs. Politics, Travel, and Research in North-Eastern Iraq 1919-1925

Mesozoic Radiolaria of the Middle East and their Stratigraphical Distribution

AbstractRecent work on various Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous radio-larian faunas from sections in northern and north-eastern Iraq, all of known stratigraphic horizon, and from elsewhere in the Middle East, confirms the existing view that as absolute indicators of age, without associated evidence, these fossils as commonly preserved are of little use, but that in local and regional problems where they are associated with other evidence they may be of considerable stratigraphical value. The genus Meyenella is not regarded as a useful indicator for the Jurassic.

Kurds, Turks, and Arabs. Politics, Travel, and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919–1925. By C. J. Edmonds, pp. viii + 457, pl. 16, 3 maps. Oxford University Press, London, 1957.

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A Herpetological Collection from Northeastern Iraq

The herpetological collection herein discussed was made by the senior author while a member of the 1954-1955 Iraq-Jarmo Archeological Expedition of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. Due to the heavy demands of other duties, little time could be devoted to random collecting and we made no pretense of completeness; even so, a total of 346 herpetological specimens were catalogued from Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, and this number could have been increased if there had been available space for all the frogs, turtles, and common lizards which could easily have been gathered. In this paper, only the 188 specimens from northeastern Iraq are discussed, as those collected elsewhere in southwestern Asia do not add materially to the herpetological knowledge of the areas. Except for a few specimens from Palegawra Cave, Sulimaniyah Liwa (province) and some frogs from Balad Sinjar, Mosul Liwa, all of these Iraqi specimens are from Erbil and Kirkuk Liwas. Particularly valuable, it is considered, is the circumstance that much of the collection was made at one spot, the archeological site of Jarmo in eastern Kirkuk Liwa, and for this one site the herpetofauna collected is probably quite representative of that actually present at the locality. Due to the above-mentioned demand of other duties, primarily mammalogical and archeological, the ecological notes on the reptiles and amphibians are not as complete as desirable, but at the same time the area involved is one from which relatively little material has hitherto been known, and so it has been thought valuable to add such natural history notes as were gathered. One favorable circumstance, resulting from work done as part of an archeological expedition, is that a relatively large number of rare burrowing snakes were collected, since the native workmen were paid for finding these animals. The senior author is responsible for assembling the original collection, for such natural history notes on each species as are included, and for the preliminary discussion of the environment of northeastern Iraq, and particularly of Jarmo. The junior author made all the identifications and observations on the external anatomy. Both authors, however, accept mutual responsibility for the paper as a whole.

Book Review: Kurds, Turks and Arabs. Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq 1919–1925

Book Review: Kurds, Turks and Arabs. Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq 1919–1925

Kurds, Turks and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919-1925

Kurds, Turks and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919-1925

Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919–1925

Journal Article Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919–1925 Get access Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in North-Eastern Iraq, 1919–1925. By C. J. Edmonds. London, New York, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1957. xiii+457 pp. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. 42s. R. W. Bullard R. W. Bullard Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 34, Issue 2, April 1958, Pages 242–243, https://doi.org/10.2307/2606777 Published: 01 April 1958

The Geological Setting of Four Prehistoric Sites in Northeastern Iraq

The Geological Setting of Four Prehistoric Sites in Northeastern Iraq