Tectonic history of Iraq
13.7.09
3. TECTONIC HISTORY OF IRAQ
Part 1: Tectonic configuration
The regional geological structure of Iraq is known
as a result of surface geological mapping, seismic
surveys, and from the interpretation of regional
gravity and magnetic data. Additional subsurface
data has come from exploration wells. In Northern
Iraq, three major structural zones were defined by
early geological mapping: the Nappe, Folded and
Unfolded Zones. Hydrocarbon exploration initially
targeted prominent surface anticlines in the Folded
Zone. Early seismic surveys in SE Iraq imaged
subsurface anticlines which had been located by
gravity surveys. Later seismic surveys in Central
Iraq identified long, narrow faulted structures in
the subsurface. In the 1970s and early 1980s, major
seismic surveys were conducted, but this data
remains proprietary. These surveys imaged further
buried anticlines in SE Iraq, and more complex
structures in the centre and NW of the country. At
the same time, the Geological Survey of Iraq
conducted regional structural studies based on new
surface mapping in the Nappe Zone and the
interpretation of potential field data. The results of
this work were reported by Buday (1980), Buday
and Jassim (1987) and Jassim and Buday (2006a).
The tectonic history of Iraq, and in particular
the Precambrian to Early Cambrian period of plate
accretion, has influenced stratigraphic and facies
changes through time and has controlled the
development of unconformities and onlap
geometries. Present-day tectonic subdivisions and
palaeostructural elements are thus relevant to
petroleum geology because they have affected
source, reservoir and seal distribution as well as
structural style and trap development.
Knowledge of the deep structure of Iraq is based
mainly on gravity-magnetic data, as first
demonstrated by Tikrity and Al-Ani (1972). The
only recently published seismic line available is a
regional, SW-NE oriented profile through Baghdad
and the Sirwan area of SE Iraqi Kurdistan which
was presented by Mohammed (2006) (Fig. 3.1). This
profile shows very steeply dipping faults bounding
the Ma’ania Depression, along the Abu Jir Fault
1
Zone, and along the trend of the East Baghdad field.
There is currently no evidence for major crustal
extension in Iraq outside narrow Late Cretaceous
graben. Extensional geometries such as tilted fault
blocks have not been imaged outside of these zones.
It is possible that tectonic subsidence has occurred
during periods of subtle crustal extension linked to
movement on zones of weakness in the basement
(for example Precambrian suture zones with
serpentinites). This extension was probably
synchronous with periods of rifting along the
northern and NE margins of the Arabian Plate in
Permian – Jurassic time. Each phase of subtle
extension was probably followed by slow thermal
subsidence.
Tectono-physiographic
subdivisions of Iraq
The compressional northern and NE margins of
the Arabian Plate are limited by the Taurus-Zagros
suture (Fig. 3.2) (Beydoun, 1991). The western plate
boundary is marked by the left-lateral transtensional
Levant fault system, while to the SW is the Red
Sea spreading axis. To the south, the Gulf of Aden
continues this extensional margin which connects
to the Zagros suture via the Owen Fracture Zone,
the Makran subduction zone and the Minab fault
zone.
The Arabian Plate can be divided into the
Arabian Shield and the Arabian Shelf. The
Arabian Shield (Fig. 3.3) is an area of present-
day Precambrian outcrops which was uplifted and
exposed for much of Phanaerozoic time (Henson,
1951; Baker and Henson, 1952). The Arabian
Shelf forms an easterly-deepening Phanerozoic
basin which has a thick sedimentary fill (Powers
et al., 1966; Konert et al., 2001) (Fig. 3.3). The
Arabian Shelf in northern Iraq can be divided into
an unfolded area or Stable Shelf and a folded zone
or Unstable Shelf (Henson, 1951; Dunnington,
1958, 1974; Buday, 1980; Buday and Jassim, 1987;
and Jassim and Buday, 2006b,c)(Fig. 3.4).
2 Chapter 3
IPC (1956) divided Iraq into four divisions based
on topography: (i) a strongly folded mountain belt
in the east (the Zagros Mountains), which passes
westwards into (ii) a foothill region containing
discrete folds (which form anticlinal traps for oil-
and gasfields in North Iraq); this is bounded to the
west by (iii) a region of plains broken by long, linear
folds separated by wide and apparently flat-bottomed
synclines. Further west again is (iv) flat country
with occasional wide swells, which provided
structural traps for oilfields in the Basra area.
Buday and Jassim (1987) and Jassim and Buday
(2006b,c) expanded the IPC scheme. They
recognised five tectono-physiographic zones: three
in the Unstable Shelf, and two in the Stable Shelf.
The zones are characterised by varying degrees of
Neogene structural deformation, often with present-
day topographic expression, and are generally
bounded by major faults which represent deep-
seated structural elements. These zones are from
NE to SW (Fig. 3.5):
1. The Thrust Zone, forming a narrow belt
along the northern and NE borders of Iraq with
Turkey and Iran, respectively;
2. The Folded Zone, comprising mountainous
areas in the north and NE of Iraq;
3. The Mesopotamian Basin, consistng of the
flat, broad plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers;
4. The Salman Zone, a palaeohigh with
shallow basement in the east of the Stable Shelf;
5. The Rutbah-Jezira Zone, a Palaeozoic Basin
in the SW of the Stable Shelf.
The zones are discussed briefly below in turn.
1. The Thrust Zone
The Thrust Zone contains exposed metamorphic and
igneous rocks including ophiolites and highly folded
and faulted Palaeozoic and Lower Mesozoic
sedimentary rocks. From SW to NE, External,
Central and Internal Sub-Zones are recognized,
each of which may be further subdivided (Mitchell-
Thome, 1960). The External Sub-Zone represents
a Late Cretaceous – Tertiary foreland trough in
the NE and a thrust-dominated unit in the north,
near the Turkish border. The Central Sub-Zone has
a radiolarian-volcanogenic basinal succession of Late
Cretaceous – Paleogene age (Jassim and Buday,
2006c). The Internal Sub-Zone in the NE includes
both metamorphic and volcaniclastic sequences
(Buday and Jassim, 2006i). Thrusting is thick-
skinned. However, following imbrication of the
margin during the Late Cretaceous and Palaeogene,
lateral translation appears to be relatively limited
since the controlling faults have steep dips.
2. The Folded Zone
This zone forms a segment of the NW-SE trending
(Zagros) and east-west trending (Taurus) mountain
ranges. It is typically 200 km wide and has been
divided (Fig. 3.5) into the High Folded Zone with
outcropping Mesozoic rocks; and the Low Folded
/ Foothill Zone in which mainly Cenozoic rocks
are exposed. Shortening varies from 10-33% in the
High Folded Zone to 3-17% in the Low Folded Zone
(Ameen, 1991, 1992).Vertical structural closures
often exceed 500 m.
The High Folded Zone (Plate 3.4) is an arcuate
belt 25-50 km wide containing imbricated and
faulted folds (Ameen, 1991, 1992). These folds are
deeply eroded, often down to Jurassic or older levels
(Surface Geological Map of Iraq, 1986; Fig. A4;
Jassim and Buday, 2006c). Long, asymmetric tight
anticlines are separated by narrow synclines
(Ameen, 1991, 1992). Folds verge to the SW or south
and may be connected at depth to the tiplines of
thrusts. The High Folded Zone was strongly affected
by Zagros deformation during the late Cenozoic.
Prior to that, it formed a marginal molasse basin
in the Paleogene and a flysch trough during the
Late Cretaceous.
The boundary between the Low and High Folded
Zones (Fig. 3.5) is sharp and is probably controlled
by a lineament (possibly a former transtensional
fault of Najd origin. See below: p.000). To the north/
NE, at least 1500 m of uplift has occurred relative
to the Low Folded Zone (M. Insley, pers. comm. to
A.H., 2007).
The Low Folded Zone contains outcropping
Neogene sedimentary rocks; the cores of anticlines
may expose Eocene limestones or Upper Cretaceous
sedimentary rocks (Surface Geological Map of Iraq,
1986; Jassim and Buday, 2006c). The Low Folded
Zone comprises the Hamrin-Kirkuk and Mosul-
Butmah subzones, separated by the SW-NE Hadar-
Bekhme lineament (Fig. 3.5) coinciding
approximately with the course of the Greater Zab
River (Fig. 3.6). The Hamrin-Kirkuk subzone is
further divided into Hamrin-Makhul and Kirkuk-
Chemchemal zones (Buday and Jassim, 1987).
The Mosul-Butmah subzone, to the NW of
the Greater Zab River, contains simple, oval or
dome-shaped anticlines which are relatively short
(Fig. 3.6; Plate 3.2) and which are often arranged
en échelon (Ameen, 1990). Henson (1951, p. 122)
noted that these folds are often associated with
gravity anomalies, and that “many, if not all, of
the prominent anticlines in Syria and Western Iraq
are fault-bounded beneath later cover”. These
features suggest that surface structures may be
associated with complex underlying
palaeostructures (the “Block Tectonics” of Henson,
1951), and in turn with significant changes of facies
belt orientations in the subsurface (Dunnington,
1958; Sayyab and Valek, 1968; Ameen, 1992).
Bounding faults may control the orientations of the
folds. Fold terminations may be controlled by
basement lineaments or lateral ramps (Ameen,
1992).
The Kirkuk-Hamrin subzone to the SE of the
Greater Zab River contains long, unbroken
 A A’
Southwest Northeast
Ma’ania Abu Jir Fault Zone East Baghdad Zagros Front
Depression and Nahrawan Fields
0.0 0.0
AP 10
Top Cretaceous
Top Hartha
0.5 Top AP 9 AP 11 0.5
Got
nia
Bakhtiari

Top CENOZOIC
1.0 AP 8 Sa’ 1.0
adi Tel Ghazal
Top
G otni
AP 7 a Top
Low
Top
Two-way Seismic Time (sec.)

1.5 A er 1.5
lan To To Fa
p To p rs
Ra p Jer

Tectonic history of Iraq

taw Ma ibe
Top To ud To
K urra i p du p Ja
Chin Sh d dd
2.0 e u’a ala 2.0
lba

La
MESOZOIC
te Top
Ca Chia
2.5
AP 4? rbo
nife Zair 2.5
rou i
sU
AP 3? nco
nfo
rmi To
ty AP 6 p Go
tni
3.0 a 3.0

AP 2? PALAEOZOIC
Early Cretaceous 3.5
3.5
Progradation

AP 1?
0 50km

4.0 4.0

AP 1 = Infra Cambrian - Early Cambrian AP 5 = Late Carboniferous - Mid Permian (absent) AP 9 = Late Cretaceous
AP 2 = Mid Cambrian - Ordovician AP 6 = Mid Permian - Early Jurassic AP 10 = Paleogene
AP 3 = Silurian - Mid Devonian AP 7 = Mid - Late Jurassic AP 11 = Neogene
AP 4 = Late Devonian - Early Carboniferous AP 8 = Early Cretaceous

Fig. 3.1. Interpretation of the regional-scale seismic profile published by Mohammed (2006). The stratigraphy is coloured to follow the tectonic
megasequences defined by Sharland et al., 2001. The major unconformity separating Megasequences AP4 and AP6 is the intra-Late Carboniferous
(formerly “Hercynian”) unconformity. Profile location is marked on Fig. 3.5.

3
4 Chapter 3

36° 40° 44° 48° 52° 56° 60° 64° 68° Fig. 3.2. Boundaries of the Arabian
TURKEY Mid Oceanic Ridge Plate (after Jassim and Goff, 2006b).
The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden margins
Transcurrent and Transform Fault
36° Collisional Boundary 36°

are currently extensional; the western

Fracture Zone
Ta Upper Cretaceous Obduction
Cretaceous u
(Levant) margin is the site of left-
SYRIA ru
Obduction s
Za
Med.
ult

gr
N
lateral transpression/transtension;
nt Fa

Sea os
32° IRAQ M IRAN
ai
while the northern and NE margins are
Leva

32°
n
Su
tu
JORDAN
re
compressional.
KUWAIT

28° 28°
PAKISTAN

BAHRAIN

QATAR
Gu
24° lf o
S A U D I fO 24°
ma e
A R A B I A U.A.E. n idg
yR
ra
ur
M
OMAN

20° 20°
Re
dS
e

Indian
a

Ocean
16° Arabian
Sea 16°
re
Zo ractu

YEMEN
ne

0 200 400 600 km de n

F

of A
en

G u lf
Ow

36° 40° 44° 48° 52° 56° 60° 64° 68°

36° 40° 44° -15

48° 52° 56° 60°
-9
-7 -6 -4
TURKEY -6 -5
-9

-7 -6 -5
-5
-6
Caspian Sea Depth
-6 -5
-4 -5 -3
-5
(km sea level)
-5 -9
-3
-4 +2
-6 -7
-8
-4 -15 +1
36° -4
-8
-6

0
-6

-5
-7
-9 36°
-6

-6
-10

-7
-6 -9 Tehran -1
-6
-4
-7 -5
IRAQ
-10
-5 -8 -8 -2
-10 -7
-8
-6 IRAQ -10 -3
-7

-7 -6 -9
-9 -8
-8 -8 -12 -9
Med -9 -6 -11 -4
-5

-7
-7

-12
Sea
-5

-13
-5

-7
-6
-5
-7
-7 -6 -5 -8 IRAN
-10

-4 -7
Damascus BAGHDAD -8 -7 -6
-10

-1
2 -6 -7
-9

SYRIA -11 -6 -7
-8

-5 -5 -15 -9
-10
-1

-7
-9

-8
0

-10
32° Amman -7 -8 -1 -10
-6

0
-1

-6 -9 -9
2
-7

-5 -10 32°
-8 -4 -5
-3 -9 -10 -10
-10
-8

-10 -9
-7

-1
0

1 -9 -8
-10-9

-15
-1

-11
-9
-8

-1
-6

-1 -9
0

0 1 -8
-8

-9 -3
-7

-10
-8

-8 -12
-7
-5
-7

-7 -8
-9

-9
-15
-7

-6 -10 -13
JORDAN -5 -9
-3 -5 -14
-10
-9

-4
-8

-6 -8
0
-11

-5 -6
-1

-5 -7
-4
-5 KUWAIT
-4 -9 -8 -6
-10
-5

-6
-9

-3 -10 -8 -9
-8

-1

-3
-3

0
-9
-6 -7
-8

-7 -14 -5 -5
-11
-7

28° -7
-11 -7
-2

-9 -10
-1-10
-1

-1
-9

-8 -6 2 28°
-6

-5
-6 -7

-8 -14
-8

-5 -7
Ar -10
-5

-15 -5 -5
-7 ab -7
0

-4

-10
ian -1
0 -5
-3

-8
Gu
0
-2

-1

-7
-5
lf -15
-12
-10
-1

-6
-9 -13
-8
QATAR
-4
0

-7

-5
-6
-7

SAUDI ARABIA -8
-8

Gulf
-4

24° Riyadh -9
of O
-5

man
-8

Abu Dhabi 24°

UAE
Arabian Muscat
-8

-6 -8

Shield
-7
-9

-6

-5 OMAN
-10

-6
-6 -4
-6

-6

-6
-5
-4

-12

-5
-3

-5

20° -8 -4
-2

20°
-10
-1
Re

-6 -5 -6 -3
-6 -2 -1
-5
dS

-6
-7
0

-6 -4
ea

-1

-4 -4
-6
-3 -2
-5
-6

-4 -2 -5
-8

16°
-3
16°
0

-1 -2
+2

+2 -3 -3
-3 -4
-2
0
0 Sana’a 0 -1
-2
-3
-4
Arabian
-2
+1
+2 -2 -3 Sea
-1
0 500km YEMEN -3
-2

-1 -2

den
-1 +1
0
of A
Gulf
0 -1
-2

36° 40° 44° 48° 52° 56° 60°

Fig. 3.3. Depth to basement (i.e. Phanerozoic isopach) of the Arabian Plate. Modified after Konert et
al. (2001) and Jassim and Buday (2006a).

anticlines (Ameen, 1990) (Fig. 3.6; Plates 3.1, 3.2, Basin where relatively narrow anticlines are
3.6 and 3.7). The XXkm long Kirkuk anticline for separated by wide synclines.
example (K: Fig. 3.4) contains three separate Recent studies based on regional seismic data
culminations or domes (Fig. 3.7 A-C). Structures suggest that the Hamrin and Kirkuk structures
are open and simple with few thrusts (Ameen, 1992). (locations in Fig. 3.4) are inversion “pop-ups” on
Folds generally flatten towards the Mesopotamian opposite sides of a single Late Cretaceous basin
 Tectonic history of Iraq 5

40° 42° T U R K E Y 44° 46°

LEGEND
Oil Field
Ain Zalah A
A
I R A N
Butmah B
B

N
Kirkuk K

AP
JEBEL SINJAR
S
IB HE Mosul

PE
Bai Hassan H RA IK
HI H

FO

ZO
M
Jambur J S K

LD
36° 36°

N
N

ED

E
Qasab S W
Q
N H

ZO
Najmah

I A

N
SA
Jawan W

E
DI
D
KIRKUK
Q

M
S Y R
Qaiyarah K

AK
HU
Naft Khaneh KH

L
HA
MR
IN
NO
Fold RT
H

HA
Buried trend

MR
I R A Q

IN
SO
U
0 100 km

UT
FO

H
34° KH 34°

LD
ED
AR
EA
GA’AR
BAGHDAD

40° 42° 44° 46°

Schematic Structural Cross Section

F O L D E D Z O N E NAPPE ZONE

SW NE

UN-FOLDED AREA FOLDED ZONE

Fig. 3.4. Map of northern Iraq where Nappe, Folded and Unfolded Zones are recognised. The
Southern Margin of the Folded Zone is marked by a series of folds including the Sinjar, Sheikh
Ibrahim, Makhul and Hamrin anticlines.. After Dunnington (1958).

(Kent, pers. comm. to A.H., 2008). In this case, as
with the Mosul-Butmah subzone, first-order
geometries are controlled by inherited Late
Cretaceous (or older) extensional structures.
Outlying” anticlines
Large-scale, tightly-folded asymmetric anticlines
occur along the SW margin of the Folded Zone (Plate
3.5). These include Jebel Sinjar (Henson, 1951), and
Jebel Hamrin to the SE (locations in Fig. 3.4). They
formed by inversion of Late Cretaceous and possibly
Triassic half-grabens. The folds in the NW
developed around the flanks of a “buttress” marking
the northern limit of the Unfolded Area or Stable
Shelf which is known as the Khleisia High (Fig.
3.8) (Hart and Hay, 1974; Lovelock, 1984; Ameen,
1992). Re-activated graben-bounding faults may
show reverse offset at shallow levels but preserve
an extensional geometry at depth (e.g. Hart and
Hay, 1974).
An analogous structure with a similar geometry
at Jebel Abd el Aziz in Syria (Figs 3.9, 3.10) has
been interpreted as an inverted graben (Kent and
Hickman, 1997). An extensive Late Cretaceous
graben system developed in eastern Syria (Fig.
3.11).
Levels of detachment
It is not certain whether the large-scale Zagros
anticlines in Iraq are thick-skinned structures
involving the basement or whether they are thin-
skinned with a basal detachment in overpressured
Lower Palaeozoic mudstones. In the present-day
Folded Zone, it is likely that many pre-existing
extensional or strike-slip faults affecting the
basement (which were active in Late Cretaceous
time) were reactivated by compression in the late
Miocene – Pliocene. There is evidence from some
Late Tertiary anticlines (from well and seismic data)
of thickness changes in the Upper Cretaceous
section indicating an earlier phase of extensional
or strike-slip faulting. Important facies changes in
Mesozoic and Palaeogene sediments are associated
with several anticlinal structures (e.g. Kirkuk). It
is thus plausible that all the major anticlines in
6 Chapter 3

5 km

Plate 3.1. False colour Landsat image overlain on SRTM DEM of the fault-related Hamrin anticline,
centred on 34o56’47N, 43o54’36E, looking east. This anticline is part of a long, high aspect ratio system
of folds. Its geometry suggests that it is a forced fold above the suspected Zagros Foredeep Fault
zone, which is thought to have been reactivated in the Pliocene to Recent. Image courtesy N. Banks
(Fugro Robertson).

5 km

Plate 3.2. False colour Landsat image overlain on SRTM DEM of the Sasan (left) and Gusair (right)
anticlines, centered on 36o32’6N, 42o21’57E, looking NE (x 10 vertical exaggeration). These are short
aspect ratio buckle folds, part of an en échelon system which may be controlld by the Sinjar Herki
fault. Image courtesy N. Banks (Fugro Robertson).

5 km

Plate 3.3. False colour Landsat image overlain on SRTM DEM of the Bai Hassan (left) and Kirkuk
(right) fields, centred on 35o40’9N, 44o3’6E, looking NW (x 10 vertical exaggeration). The structures
at both fields are anticlinal folds located beneath shallow detachments which decouple the surface
structure from the underlying reservoir. Image courtesy N. Banks (Fugro Robertson).
Tectonic history of Iraq 7

Plate 3.4. Frontal folds (limited by fault)

bounding the High Folded Zone which marks
the SW limit of the Zagros Mountains. To the NE
is the Zagros suture zone. Landsat image,
courtesy of M. Insley.

Plate 3.5. Anticlines around the NE margin of

the Khleisia high (Mosul-Bekhme subzone),
formed by inversion of half graben. Note that
the anticlines appear to wrap around the high to
the SW. Landsat image, courtesy of M. Insley.

Plate 3.6. Elongate anticlines at Kirkuk (to the

NE) and Qarah Chauq Dagh (SW) in the Kirkuk-
Hamrin subzone, separated by wide synclines.
Landsat image, courtesy of M. Insley.

Plate 3.7. Hamrin (west) and Injana (south

central) anticlines on the margin of the Kirkuk-
Hamrin subzone to the NE of the Mesopotamian
basin. Landsat image, courtesy of M. Insley.
8 Chapter 3

40° 44° 48°

Abtakh-
Sufaiyah
High Faults/Lineaments

gh
gh MB

L.
u Longitudinal Zone
Sinjar Tro

Hi

e
Boundaries

hm
ul
Ch

os

ek
36° em 36°

M
r-B
ch

da
Khleisia em
Qa KH

Ha
High al
SYRIA (W) Ma rah L.
Khleisia kh Ch IRAN
High ul- a

.
Ha uq

rL
(E) mr

bu

t
Tayarat in

en
L.

Ja

am
High

ne
ugh
nah Tro

Li
Damluk A

n
a
Trough S ir w A’
Ea
st
Ba
Rutbah gh
Tinif High d
Trough ad
L.
Abu
Nukhaib Basin

Jir
Lin
Ah
ea
da
m
32° nt L i n b-Ra 32°
e

nt
ea fed

me
me ain

ea
nt
Lin
A
wa
ma

Rumaila
Sa

Ratawi

Zub
air
SAUDI Al Batin
ARABIA Fault
K U WA I T
o
40 44° 48°

LEGEND
Mesopotamian Basin with
Rutbah Subzone strike-slip faulting
Jezira Subzone Low Folded Zone
Salman Zone High Folded Zone
Salman Zone in east of Khleisia High Thrust Zone
Mesopotamian Basin (no Salt) Mosul Block MB

Mesopotamian Basin (with Salt) Kirkuk-Hamrin Block KH

Fig. 3.5. Structural elements of Iraq. Compiled after various sources and original interpretation by
the authors. MB: Mosul-Butmah subzone; HK: Hamrin-Kirkuk subzone. Profile A-A’ markes the line
of section in Fig. 3.1.

NE Iraq have a basement control. At a regional scale, the Pusht-i-Kuh (NW

An important detachment level is provided by
halite layers in the mid-Miocene Lower Fars
Formation. There are also several possible
detachment layers in the underlying stratigraphy,
particularly the thick mudstones of Ordovician and
Silurian ages. These mudstones are probably
strongly overpressured where they have been deeply
buried below the Neogene foreland basin sediments.
It is likely that both reactivation of basement faults
and creation of new faults in the Phanerozoic cover
influenced the structural growth of Late Tertiary
anticlines in Iraq.
Lurestan) area of the Iranian Zagros is
topographically higher and more deformed than
adjacent Iraqi territory (Fig. 1.1). This has resulted
in significant loss of Neogene stratigraphy and the
Cenozoic isopach is significantly thinned as a
consequence in the area between the Kirkuk and
Dezful Embayments (Fig. 3.12). The strikes of
major anticlines show that Zagros deformation
propagated further to the SW here than in Iraq;
the structural grain is deflected in the border area.
There may thus be an underlying basement control
on the morphology of the Folded Zone in this area,
perhaps with the presence of Infracambrian
 Tectonic history of Iraq 9

ZA
GR
OS

River

r
ve
Ri
b
Za
Greater Zab

er
ss
US

Le
UR
TA
Mosul

Ti
gr
is
Ri
KHLEISIA

ve
r
HIGH M E S O P O TA M I A N
BASIN
40o 48o
TURKEY

36o
LEGEND
SYRIA Late Cretaceous
Graben / Half Graben Mosul-Butmah sub zone
IRAN

Hamrin-Kirkuk sub zone

Strike slip fault zone
IRAQ
High folded zone
32o
Mountain front
SAUDI River Lake
ARABIA

0 30km
K U WA I T
Index Map

Fig. 3.6. Suggested positions of Mesozoic graben and half-graben in NE Iraq. Modified after Ameen
(1990). Show: Mosul-Butmah zone; Hamrin-Kirkuk subzone.

75 K H U R M A L AVAN AH D O M E
80 A DOME B A B A DOME F
F
85 90 100
80 90
F 80
10 Km. F
A
BABA DOME
N
75 F
85 100
95
95
F 90
85 F F 85
80
B 75 5 Km. 75

BABA DOME
N
30.5 F
61
F
183 61
F
305 183 F
F F
F
F 122 F
61
C 5 Km.
CREST
PLUNGE PLUNGE
N

SADDLE

F F
F

SALT THICKNESS Thinnest Thin Thick Very thick Thickest

D
Outcrop of Overthrusts Axis of Anticline in Competent Group

Fig. 3.7. Folding and thrusting within the Lower Fars Formation on the Kirkuk structure and final
position of thickest salt. After Dunnington (1968).

Hormuz Salt at depth. Deep detachment of thrusts Lower Jurassic evaporites, as indicated by the
on Hormuz Salt is well documented (Harrison, intense deformation in these rocks in well Makhul-
1930; King, 1937; Stocklin, 1968, 1972; Kent, 1970). 2 at the southern boundary of the Folded Zone
The absence of such elevated indentations of the (Dunnington et al., 1959), and possibly also within
Zagros Mountain front in Iraq suggest that there the Upper Jurassic Gotnia Formation. Triassic
is little or no Hormuz Salt beneath the Iraqi Zagros. evaporites may form the main décollement in the
Elsewhere, higher-level detachments probably occur Palmyra area (Searle, 1994).
within Early Palaeozoic shales, as suggested by the
uplift of later Ordovician coarse clastic rocks in SE Small-scale structures
Turkey and northern Iraqi Kurdistan. Thin-skinned thrust and flow structures in the
Detachments may also occur within Triassic - Folded Zone occur within the Miocene Lower Fars
10 Chapter 3

38°E 40°E 42°E 44°E 46°E 48°E

TURKEY

IRAN
36°N Area 36°N
of
map
SYRIA

34°N
34°N

BAGHDAD
Tig
ris 32°N
32°N
I R A Q
Nasiriyah

SAUDI ARABIA

GULLAR
30°N

AIN ZALAH 30°N

K U WA I T

KAND
46°E
RAFAN
40°E 42°E 44°E 48°E
GUSAIR BUTMAH

SINJAR
ALAN
SASAN Mosul
b
ATSHAN
Za

AD
e r

AI Y
at

AH
re
QALIAN
G
QUWAIR
QASAB
JAWAN
KIRKUK

NA QAIYARAH
JM
AH

BAI
QARA HASSAN
LEGEND HIBBARAH
CHAUQ
DAGH

Tigris
Alluvium SADID
Upper Fars Formation
b
Lower Fars Formation
KHANOUKAH Za
e r
ss
Oligocene Limestone Le
Eocene Limestone

Transfer faults at depth MAKHUL

Fold axis
Southwest limit of
surface deformation.
River
HAMRIN

Fig. 3.8. Map of NW Iraq showing the location of the “outlying” anticlinal folds (inverted graben)
around the margins of the Khleisia High at the northern limit of the Stable Shelf. (After IPC, 1956).

Formation, which is composed of marls, anhydrites 3. The Mesopotamian Basin (Zone)

and intervals of halite (Baker, 1938; Dunnington,
1968; Al-Fadhili et al., 1989). The NE limbs of
anticlines may be thrust over the SW limbs, with
a detachment at the base of the Lower Fars
evaporites (Dunnington, 1968) (Fig. 3.13). As in
Iran, however, the sub-Lower Fars structure is
rarely affected by this deformation, and although
some seepage of hydrocarbons may occur along these
thrusts, there is little overall effect on seal integrity
(Dunnington, 1968).
As a result of this small-scale structural
deformation within the Lower Fars Formation, it
is often difficult to locate the top of the underlying
anticlines (Baker, 1938). Anticlines frequently
become tighter with depth (see figures in
Dunnington, 1968). A well located on the basis of
surface structures will not necessarily find the crest
of a deeper trap. Careful geophysical interpretation
and structural mapping is required in order to locate
subsurface closures on many structures. This is
demonstrated in Iran, where at both Agha Jari and
Gachsaran, the surface crest of the anticline does
not coincide with the crest of the Asmari Formation
reservoir. At Gachsaran, the surface anticline
coincides with a subsurface syncline (Ion et al.,
1951; Slinger and Crichton, 1959).
The Mesopotamian Basin is a flat-lying area located
between northern Central Iraq and Kuwait (Fig.
3.5). It is covered by loess and Quaternary fluvial-
plain deposits of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
(Parsons, 1957). The basin contains the largest
and richest petroleum province in Iraq which is
dominated by Cretaceous plays. Anticlines and
faulted highs lie beneath undeformed or gently
deformed Neogene cover, and are frequently related
to long-lived palaeostructures. In the Basra area,
they may be related to reactivation of Infracambrian
Hormuz Salt (see Jassim 2006c, page 93). IPC (1956)
first suggested that the Nahr Umr structure was
a salt-associated dome.
The Mesopotamian Basin was subdivided from
south to north into the Zubair, Euphrates and Tigris
subzones by the Geological Survey of Iraq (1984).
The basin is an asymmetric foredeep with a regional
dip to the NE and east (Fig. 3.1). The base-
Cretaceous surface lies at 2000–3500 m subsea in
the west, deepening to 6000–7500 m subsea in the
east.
The western margin of the Mesopotamian Basin
is bounded by significant NNW-SSE trending fault
zones (1984 Tectonic Map of Iraq). These include
an 80 km long normal fault between Hit and
 Tectonic history of Iraq 11

39° 40° 41°

Aziz Graben Upper Fars Early Cretaceous
Rift Fault Fault
Pre-Rift Fault Hemar
Lower Fars Triassic

W
N J-1 Al-Hasakah

-5
J-2
Jafar Fault
rst
Jeribe Carboniferous-Silurian
Ho
uja

W
E-4 lo

-1
Ar gh Chilou Ordovician

W-

4
Ma

E-
ab

2
aF
au 5 E-6
lt E-
9
E-
Syrom Fault Jaddala Cambrian
lt 36°
au
a nF
10 km
Ma
km Shiranish Northeast-Striking Fault

Cross-section across Jebel Abd Al Aziz

NORTH SOUTH
Jafar-1 Syrom-2
E-1 E-2

Maghluja
Horst

E-4

1 km
Section Restored On The Top Of The Shiranish Formation

Fig. 3.9. Structural cross-section of Jebel Abd El Aziz, an inverted half-graben in NE Syria (location
in Fig. 3.10). After Kent and Hickman, 1997. Analogous inverted structures may be present in NW
Iraq.
Shithatha in the NW, and the 300 km long Abu Jir deeper depth-to-basement (Mohammed 2006).
Lineament (Fig. 3.5). North of Hit, the western The Salman Zone contains a thinner, less
margin of the basin strikes north-south for some complete Mesozoic and Tertiary stratigraphic
200 km. The NE margin of the basin is marked by succession than the Mesopotamian Basin to the
a series of folds along the SW margin of the Folded east. The base-Cretaceous surface in the Salman
Zone including the Makhul and Hamrin anticlines Zone dips gently to the east, from 1000 to 3500 m
(Fig. 3.4). The basin margin then passes into Iran, sub-sea (Fig. 3.1). Overlying Miocene and
reappearing in SE Iraq before passing back into Palaeogene sedimentary rocks have a gentle dip.
Iran along the SW margin of the Abu Ghirab and The Salman Zone is bounded by Early Palaeozoic
Jebel Fauqi anticlines (B-B’ on Fig. 3.5). Further basins to the west and Mesozoic-Cenozoic basins to
details of the internal structure of the Mesopotamian the east. It is limited to the east by the Abu Jir
Zone were given by Jassim and Buday (2006b). Lineament (Mohammed, 2006) (Fig. 3.1, 3.5).

4. The Salman Zone 5. The Rutbah – Jezira Zone

The north-south oriented Salman Zone in western This zone (Fig. 3.5) covers the present-day Western
Iraq (Fig. 3.5) may be a late Precambrian Desert of Iraq (including the Rutbah area near the
palaeohigh (anticline or anticlinorium: see Fig. 3.1) Jordanian border) where rocks as old as
that was re-activated in Late Carboniferous time. Westphalian (late Carboniferous) crop out. It
A depth-to-basement map (Fig. 3.3) shows a extends as far north as Jebel Sinjar, an inverted
prominent basement ridge extending along the Late Cretaceous graben in the SW of the Folded
length of the Salman Zone, with top- basement at Zone (Fig. 3.4; Fig. 3.10), and Jebels Sadid, Ibrahim
depths of 5000–6000 m below sea level. The and Makhul. The zone is a continuation of the Hail/
basement surface dips to the east to about 8000 m Jauf Highs of western Saudi Arabia and Jordan
below sea level along the boundary with the (Lovelock, 1984; Al Laboun, 1986) and has a
Mesopotamian Basin. A thin Cambro-Ordovician regional dip of less than 1° to the NE.
section (only 1000 m thick) is modelled to occur The Rutbah–Jezira Zone has been divided into
between basement and the Late Carboniferous Rutbah and Jezira subzones, separated by the
unconformity (Jassim and Buday, 2006b; their Figs narrow east-west trending Anah Trough or graben
5-3). However, the interpreted seismic line in Fig.3.1 (Fig. 3.11) which contains up to 2000 m of Late
shows a much thicker Lower Palaeozoic section Cretaceous marls.
beneath the Salman Zone, implying a considerably The Rutbah subzone to the south of the Anah
12
36°
T U R K E Y
Mediterranian Sea
S Y R I A
Possible Extent of
Inversion Terrain
N
O
N
A
B
E
L
Oil field Gas field
Fig. 3.10. Map of northern Arabia showing the possible boundaries of the zone within which Late
Cretaceous and older graben were inverted during Tertiary regional compression. Interpreted
inversion structures include Jebel Abd El Aziz in Syria and Jebel Sinjar in Iraq.
After Kent and Hickman (1997).
Trough (Fig. 3.5) is an inverted Palaeozoic basin
with a Cambrian – Silurian succession inferred to
be 6000 m thick (see Figs 5-1 and 5-3 of Jassim and
Buday, 2006b). It is covered by a thin, incomplete
Devonian – Paleogene succession (< 1500 m thick
in the western and central parts of the subzone),
containing significant unconformities. The Rutbah
subzone is dominated by the Hauran Anticlinorium,
a fold in which the base-Cretaceous surface plunges
from 650 m above sea level at the Iraq–Jordan border
to sea level some 300 km to the NE (see Fig. 5-7 of
Jassim and Buday, 2006b). At a regional scale, the
Rutbah subzone forms a very prominent uplift
(Surface Geological Map of Iraq, 1986). Paleogene
limestones crop out along the western margin of
the Hauran Anticline and over the eastern part of
the subzone; Lower Miocene strata crop out in the
north (Fig. 3.14). The core of the Hauran Anticline
(covering an area of about 1000 sq. km) exposes
Permian – Lower Cretaceous strata unconformably
overlain by Upper Cretaceous carbonates.
The Jezira subzone to the north of the Anah
Graben (Fig. 3.5) extends from the eastern limit of
the Euphrates graben system in Syria (Fig. 3.11)
to the SW limit of the Folded Zone in Iraq. The
Iraqi portion of the subzone can be divided into the
Khleisia and Tayarat highs (Fig. 3.5). These highs
Chapter 3
38° 40° 42° 44°
BITL
IS - Z
AGR
OS Z
ONE 38°
Jebel Abd Al Aziz
Jebel Sinjar
36°
34°
I R A Q
Plio-Pleistocene inversion (Lower Fars and equivalents outcrop area) Bitlis suture
are cut by the east-west trending Khleisia and
Tayarat Grabens. The Tertiary and Cretaceous
cover is thin over the crest of the Khleisia High.
Depth to the base-Cretaceous surface is probably <
750 m sub sea, while at the Hauran Anticline (in
the Rutbah subzone) it is < 500 m subsea.
Prominent “horst-block” structures in the
Rutbah-Jezira Zone (Tectonic Map of Iraq, 1984)
(Fig. 3.14) comprise six features within the Hauran
Anticlinorium, two large-scale north-south trending
highs in the eastern Rutbah subzone, and a high
corresponding to the Tayarat Anticline in the Jezira
Subzone.
Palaeostructural Elements in Iraq
Many lineaments, structures and faults have been
identified in Iraq, as shown on the Tectonic Map of
Iraq (1984). Revisions include Figs 4-7, 4-8 and 4-
15 in Jassim and Buday (2006a). Recently identified
structures have been derived from satellite or
gravity-magnetic analyses, and many have been
confirmed from well or seismic data. Here, we
consider only those features which are thought to
have influenced the Phanerozoic development of
facies patterns and depocentres (Fig. 3.5, 3.16).
Other structures may also prove to be significant
 Tectonic history of Iraq 13

Fig. 3.11. Late Cretaceous N

basin system beneath Peripheral Grabens
Al Jazera

Tertiary inversion in Central Graben

Eastern Syria. After de

Khab
Platform Areas
Ruiter et al., 1995.

our
Palmyra
ben
Inverted Gra
Zr ab
Tel
Basin

Khleisia High
Ata
lla
Blo
ck Northern Platform
Deir Ez Zor
■
Graben
rn
Al Fura Northe
t Terrac Si
e ja
n Central
Thayye
m Terr
Ash Shola Platform ace
G
Platform
ra
be
n
Hamra
Block ben
SYRIA Gra
rghouth
Ba
Jido
El Gra
Ma ben
da
be
Pla
tfo El Ward
rm
Platform
IRAQ

R
South

at
ka
El Madabe

H
or
Syrian

st
Euphrates

Gr
ab
Platform

en
raben
Anah G

igh
a hH
utb
0 10 20 30 40km
R

TURKEY

Sediment of “early” Late Miocene

age was uplifted, eroded and
re-deposited further west in latest
Miocene time.
3000

This isopach includes the

Upper Fars and Lower
Thrust Bakhtiari Formations which
belt probably represent two
different depositional
I R A N sequences

Kirkuk 20
Embayment 00

Metres
I R A Q 30
00
<1000

1000 - 2000
20
00
Dezful 2000 - 3000
Embayment
10 >3000
00

KUWAIT THE
GULF
0 200km

Fig. 3.12. Restored Cenozoic isopach after Goff, 2003.

14 Chapter 3

Southwest Northeast

FRONTAL
PUCKER
KNEE
BEND NE FLANK
PLAINS F
F

Lo Overthrust
Up we Sheet
F pe r B
r ak SEA LEVEL
M Fa ht
SUB-THRUST Mobile id rs ia
dl ri
FLANK Group e
Fa
rs

er Fars Competent Group

Upp
s
A M . Far 1750 metres

Southwest Northeast
FRONTAL GYPSUM KNEE BAKHTIARI
PUCKER RIDGE BEND RIDGE
Upper
Upper Fars Bakhtiari
Fars F

SEA LEVEL
SUB-THRUST
Lo

FLANK Overthrust
U

we
pp

Mobile Group Sheet

rB
er

UP
ak

RO
h
Fa

tia

G
ri

E
rs

V
S SI
Competent Group PA
F

B 700 metres

Fig. 3.13. Folding and thrusting within the Miocene Lower Fars Formation on the Kirkuk structure.
After Dunnington (1968). See chapter X and Fig. XX for an explanation of the stratigraphic
terminology (“Mobile Group”, etc.).

in future. Daniel (cited by Henson, 1950 p. 222; and Henson,

Structural divisions in Iraq relate closely to
basement geology, specifically to Precambrian
terranes (Fig. 3.17). Thus, the Stable Shelf
corresponds to the Afif and Ad Dawadimi terranes,
while the Salman Zone corresponds to the Ar Rayn
Terrane. Unstable Shelf units show significant
cross-cutting of Precambrian basement elements,
and indicate that in locations close to the plate
margin, relatively recent compressional
deformation is the most important factor controlling
present-day structural divisions.
Subsurface geological data indicate considerable
structural complexity in Iraq which is not apparent
from the geometries of the surface tectono-
physiographic zones. Dominant palaeostructural
trends in Iraq are oriented NW-SE, NE-SW, west-
east and north-south, and comprise faults or fault
complexes (sometimes referred to as “lineaments”,
for example by Buday and Jassim, 1987) which have
been located by geophysical methods, analyses of
satellite images, and well data (Fig. 3.5). These
structural orientations were first noted by E. J.
1951, p. 126).
Major Faults
Jassim and Buday (2006a, pages 48-54) interpreted
three major fault systems in Iraq and reviewed their
influence on the thickness of major stratigraphic
intervals. They relied mainly on gravity data to
identify faults, integrated with magnetic data and
satellite imagery. The fault systems comprise the
NW-SE trending “Najd Fault System”, the NE-
SW trending “Tranverse Fault System”, and the
north-south trending “Nabitah Fault System”
(Fig. 3.16). These fault systems were reactivated
at different times during the Phanerozoic,
controlling the distribution of subtle structural
highs and lows which influenced subsidence and
facies patterns. Jassim and Buday (2006a) identified
fifteen major faults in Iraq: six striking NW-SE,
and nine striking approximately NE-SW. These
authors also identified additional faults with the
above trends, together with many north-south and
east-west trending faults.
 Tectonic history of Iraq 15

A A’
Wadi Semhat M’sad Uba’id K160
Ras Semhat Rutbah Mulussa KH 5/9 Zor Hauran Muhaiwir 7/12

0 Umm Er Radhuma Paleocene

Ubaid Tayarat (25m) Tayarat
50 Hartha (35m)
Ga’ara
Rutb M’sad (30m) Hartha
ah ( Shira
100 23m nish
) Rutbah
Saggar M’Sad
150 Tayarat /
Saggar W Shiranish /
ad
Raha (10m) Na Hartha

iH
200 hr
Fm. Um 470m

au
r M’sad
Late

ra
Campanian -

n
250 20m 97m at

Le
25 Maastrichtian

ve
m
Sa K160
Amij

lo
gg
ar

fs
300 (50m) 43
Thickness (m)

urf
ac

ion
e
350

ros
M

ero
Hussainiyat Mu au

ee
ha dd

s
(84m) iw

ion
ud

ac
400 ir

urf
Am

fs
ij (

lo
450 42
m)

ve

Sh
Uba’id M’sad

Le

u’
126m Hu

ai
ran

ba
500 ss Na
ain hr Cenomanian -

au
iya Um
Early Triassic

iH
t( r
550 12

d
0m Sa

Wa
Zor ) gg Nahr
Mu
>1 Uba
Ga

5m ’id ar
Hauran Umr
lu
’ar

600 at
ssa

112m Zo typ 72m Albian

a

rH e
au Shu’aiba
650 ran
8m
Zubair
700 131m Neocomian -
Mulussa Aptian
158m
750 Muhaiwir
>130m
Bajocian -
Bathonian
Ca Nori
Ca arly

Rh

Ea assi
Vi

Ju
E
sé

rn an
rb Pe

r
ae

rly c
La ifero ian

ian
on rm
an

tic
te us

-
-

40° E Rawah
Al Qaim
Raihana

SYRIA

34° N Al Hadĩthah A’
34° N

Kubaysah Hĩt

Qasr Amij

Kilo 160 Abuel Jir

JORDAN

32° N
Nukhayh
Mugr Al Naam Al Gaisoma
32° N

LEGEND
Maastrichtian
Tayarat / Digma Phosphatic Facies
Campanian - E. Maastrichtian
Hartha Nukhaib gravel
Cenomanian - E. Turonian Mio-Pliocene
Rutba / M’sad Sands and karst filling
Albian Mauddud /
Nahr Umr Fatha / Khirsh Beds
Tithonian - Aptian?
Saggar Euphrates / Ghar
U. Jurassic
Najmah Kirkuk Group SAUDI ARABIA
M. Jurassic
Muhaiwir Ratga (Mugur Mb.)
Liassic Ubaid / Jil / Rus
Hussainiyat / Amij Ratga (Phosphatic)
Umm Er Radhuma 0 100km.
Mulussa / Zor Hauran Akashat (Phosphatic)

E. Permian (Ga’ara)
42° E

Fig. 3.14. (a, above). Cross-section through the Western Desert of Iraq. Line of section in (b) below.
Compiled from various sources including Dunington et al., 1959; Buday, 1980; Kaddouri, 1986;
Hassan, 1986; Jassim and Buday, 1987; and Jassim and Goff, 2006a.
(b) regional map (after the Geological Map of Iraq: Jassim et al., 1984).
16 Chapter 3

is along strike from an un-named feature indicated

-55
by gravity data in SE Iraq (Jassim and Buday,
2006a their Fig. 4-1) along the Ahab-Rafedain
-5
-25 0

-35
structure. The continuation of this system into Iran

-5
5
-30

-40
-5
may define the southern margin of the Bala Rud

-45
0
-15

trend.
The Makhul-Hamrin Lineament (Fig. 3.5, 3.16)
comprises a line of anomalously high surface
anticlines (Makhul and Hamrin) defining the SW
limit of the Folded Zone (Fig. 3.4), which formed

-55
during late Miocene – Pliocene compression. This
-20

trend has a pronounced gravity anomaly (Sayyab

-50
and Valek, 1968) (Fig. 3.15; see also Fig. 4-1 of
-4
5
-25

Jassim and Buday, 2006a). It may be related to the

Baiji
-35
southernmost of three Late Cretaceous half grabens
-40
with a major fault to the SW downthrowing to the
Fig. 3.15. The Makhul gravity anomaly (Sayyab, NE (Haddad and Amin, 2007). Lovelock (1984)
1968). This approximately 2 km wide anomaly suggested that the fault is part of an oblique-slip
disrupts the north-south oriented fabric of the transcurrent system linked to the opening of the
regional gravity field, unlike other anticlinal Sinjar Trough, although detailed studies of fold
structures in Iraq. This suggests the geometries along this trend do not support
involvement of the deep basement in the transtension (Kent, pers. com. to A. H., 2008). The
structure. continuation of this fault system into Iran may
NW-SE faults and lineaments define the northern margin of the Bala Rud trend,
Major NW-SE trending faults in Iraq form and may also therefore control the SE extension of
prominent structural features. The Tal Al Jil Fault, the Cretaceous (Qamchuqa Formation) shelf
along the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia margin.
(Fig. 3.16), significantly affects surface topography The NW-SE oriented Kirkuk Fault (Fig. 3.16)
(Jassim and Buday 2006a, p. 50). The SE portion of controls the location of the Kirkuk Anticline. Three
the Euphrates Boundary Fault controls the margin other NW-SE lineaments are: the Qamchuqa
of the Quaternary Mesopotamian Basin. This fault Lineament which controlled the location of the long-
probably acted as a hinge zone along its entire lived (30 Ma), NW-SE trending Qamchuqa
length during Miocene subsidence; only limited Formation carbonate shelf margin in Iraqi
subsidence occurred to the SW of the fault. The Kurdistan; the Chemchemal Lineament (Fig. 3.5),
Abu Jir Fault between Kifl and Samawa controlled partly by a Late Cretaceous fault which
(Mohammed, 2006, Fig 8) marks the eastern limit throws down to the NE (Haddad and Amin, 2007);
of the thick Najmah Formation in southern Iraq, and the Qarah Chauq Lineament (Haddad and
as defined by Sadooni (1997). Amin, 2007) (Fig. 3.5). Neogene uplift of Qarah
The Ramadi-Musaiyib Fault (Fig. 3.16) (also Chauq relative to neighbouring structures
referred to as the Fallujah-Amara Fault) controls (Palaeogene rocks are exposed in its core) suggest
the location of the subsurface West Baghdad that it is an inverted graben.
structure. These NW-SE trending structures are
The Tikrit-Amara Fault (also referred to as the contiguous with the Euphrates and Azraq Grabens
Balad-Baghdad Fault) controls the location of of Syria (Fig. 3.11) and Jordan, respectively
subsurface strike-slip related structures, which (Lovelock, 1984). Grabens and half-grabens with a
formed in the Late Cretaceous and were identified similar orientation with a Cretaceous sedimentary
by seismic surveys leading to the discovery of the fill also occur in the Jauf area of Saudi Arabia
East Baghdad and Balad oilfields. This fault zone (Helal, 1968). They are all probably controlled by
was interpreted by Mohammed (2006, his Fig. 8). the Infracambrian “Najd” trend, and are rooted in
It may control the SW margin of a shallow-water zones of weakness within the Precambrian
carbonate system of Cenomanian – early basement.
Campanian age in the East Baghdad area. Synsedimentary normal faults of Neocomian age
The East Baghdad structure is occur in the Western Desert which define narrow
compartmentalised into at least ten fault blocks and graben (Geological Map of Iraq, 1986) (Fig. 3.14),
has been interpreted as a positive flower structure within which sandstones of the Saggar/S’Ker
(Aljawadi, 1993; Sadooni, 1996, 2004). A zone of Formation are preserved (Jassim et al., 1987;
similar flower structures may be extend between Kaddouri, 1989).
Makhul – Hamrin and Tikrit – East Baghdad
towards the Iranian frontier (Fig. 3.5). The trend
 Tectonic history of Iraq 17

40° 44°
TRANSVERSAL BLOCKS
Basra Block
Kochuk-Dohuk
gh Mesopotamian Block
l Hi Central Iraqi Block
Sinjar su
Mo
36° Herki Deir Al Zor-Erbil Block
Sinjar-Abdul Aziz Block
SYRIA t
en
Hadar- ym
Bekhme ba
Em
uk
izeh rk IRAN
Ki
tD Ki
-Qala rk
Anah uk

arra
-Sam
Amij Kut-Dezful
Ma
Ra Tik kh
ma ri t-A ul
di ma
Mu ra He
sa m
yib rin
32° 32°
Eu
n ph
wa rat
Sir

n
es

ati
Bo
un

-B
SAUDI da

Al
ry
ARABIA Ta
r Al a
Ji rn
l -Qu
d
Najd Fault System di
kha
Transversal Fault System Ta
All Faults including the K U WA I T
N-S Nabitah Fault System
44° 48°

Fig. 3.16. Map of Iraq showing the Tectonic zones according to Jassim and Buday (2006a). Also
shown are the three principal fault systems: Najd (NW-SE); Transverse (NE-SW); and Nabitah (north-
south).
NE-SW trending palaeostructural elements:
The “Transverse System” (Fig. 3.16)
Buday and Jassim (2006a) considered that the major
NE-SW trending faults affect thickness variations
in the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments
in Iraq. Several of these faults correspond to major
structural features. The western portions of the
Sinjar-Herki and Kochuk- Dohuk Faults
probably correspond respectively to the southern
and northern bounding faults of the Sinjar Trough.
The western part of the Anah-Qalat Dizeh Fault
Zone controls the location of the narrow and deep
Anah Graben (Fig. 3.11).
Cross-cutting NE-SW lineaments may have been
initiated in the Precambrian and were then
rejuvenated during opening and closure of Neo-
Tethys as lateral transforms. Most were
transtensional during opening and transpressional
during closure (O. Skarpness, pers. comm. to A.
H., 2008). Some of the lineaments are active at the
present day as indicated by earthquake data. Their
offshore extensions segmented Neo-Tethys sea floor
by analogy with present-day oceans in which there
is active spreading. The faults acted as “release”
zones, compensating for different spreading and
closure rates in different segments of Neo-Tethys.
Transverse elements include the Risha-Rutbah-
Khleisia-Mosul highs (Fig. 3.15) which make up a
regional anticlinorium which plunges gently to the
NE. This structure was initiated during the Late
Carboniferous and represents an inverted Early
Palaeozoic basin. Although it was perhaps most
positive between the Permian and Jurassic, subtle
movement of the high influenced sedimentation
until the Neogene, when it separated the NE Syrian
and Mesopotamian Lower Fars salt basins.
The NE segment of the Mosul High is limited
by the SW-NE oriented Hadar-Bekhme fault or
lineament of Jassim (2006a) (Fig. 3.5; Fig. 3.16).
Caron and Mouty (2007) suggested that the margin
of the Hamad Uplift in SE Syria (part of the same
system of palaeohighs) is controlled by a major SW-
NE oriented normal fault which runs just within
the Iraqi side of the Iraq-Syria border.
A second major NE-SW oriented feature (Figs
3.5, 3.16) is the Al-Batin Lineament, one of the best-
18 Chapter 3
known surface lineaments in northern Arabia,
which follows the Iraq-Kuwait border. The influence
of this feature is uncertain within Iraq. To the SW
it bounds the NW side of elevated Hercynian blocks
in Kuwait and eastern Saudi Arabia, separating
them from the Widyan Basin to the NW (Al-Laboun,
1986; Al-Husseini, 2000).
In northern Iraq, a range of SW-NE oriented
features may have controlled facies patterns and
have influenced the response to Tertiary structural
deformation (Jassim and Buday, 2006a). For
example, the Albian-Barremian Qamchuqa
Formation shelf margin, which followed a NW-SE
course through Iraqi Kurdistan, abruptly changes
strike to NE-SW in the vicinity of the Kirkuk and
Jambur structures. This change in strike may be
controlled by a segment of the Amij-Samarra-
Halabja Fault (proposed by Jassim and Buday,
2006a) which limits the Kirkuk Embayment (Fig.
3.16). The shelf margin then strikes NW-SE again
along the Makhul-Hamrin Lineament.
The topography and geology of the Zagros fold-
thrust belt (Fig. 1.1) show that the anticlines in
Lurestan occupy a significant embayment within
the Mesopotamian Basin. The boundary between
Lurestan and SE Iraqi Kurdistan is thus defined
by the Sirwan Lineament (Figs 3.5, 3.16),
corresponding to a series of SW-NE trending
magmatic anomalies (interpreted as intrusions).
Another gravity/magnetic anomaly forming a
SW-NE lineament runs from the border between
Iraq and Saudi Arabia, via well Samawa-1, into
the Mesopotamian Basin at least as far as well
Ahdab-1 (Fig. 3.5). This lineament also corresponds
to intrusions interpreted in the Precambrian
basement (Jassim, 2006b).
East-west trending palaeostructural elements
East-west trending elements are less common than
NE-SW or NW-SE elements in Iraq. They may be
related to the Taurus trend in SE Turkey. Examples
include (Fig. 3.5):
1. The “Sinjar Trough” including the Sinjar
Anticline (Dunnington, 1958; Lovelock, 1984);
2. The Tayarat Graben and Tayarat High on
the southern margin of the Khleisia High (Jassim
and Buday, 2006b);
3. The Anah Trough or Graben which separates
the Khleisia and Rutbah Highs, as first defined by
Dunnington (1958) (Fig. 3.11).
Outside Iraq, Jebel Abd Al Aziz in northern Syria
also has an east-west orientation (Kent and
Hickman, 1997) (Fig. 3.9), as does the northern
part of the Euphrates Graben system where it links
with the Palmyra Basin (de Ruiter et al., 1995;
Caron et al., 2000) (Fig. 3.11).
East-west structural elements may function as
linkages and transfer zones between NW-SE and
NE-SW lineaments. Given the interpretation of the
NW-SE fault systems as transtensional in the Late
Cretaceous (c.f. Lovelock, 1984; Caron et al., 2000),
the east-west fault systems may represent pull-
apart basins.
East-west oriented elements cut across regional
palaeohighs. Within the Stable Shelf, the Rutbah
and Jezirah subzones are separated by the Anah
Graben. A small high in the Abtakh area (a
continuation of the Karachok-Suediye “rampart” in
NE Syria: Nikolaevskiy, 1972) is separated from
the Khleisia High by the Sinjar Graben.
North-south trending
palaeostructural elements
In Saudi Arabia, the Ar Rayn terrane of the Idsas
Orogenic Belt controls the north-south structural
grain in the Ghawar area (Wender et al., 1998; Al-
Husseini, 2000). The Salman Zone is a similar
major north-south trending structural feature in
Iraq. It is bounded by the Abu Jir Lineament to the
east (Mohammed, 2006, his Fig. 8) (Fig. 3.5), which
separates the Unstable and Stable Shelves. The Abu
Jir Lineament can be traced over large distances,
but little vertical displacement is apparent on the
regional seismic line (Fig. 3.1). Lovelock (1984)
suggested that offset was mainly due to strike-slip
movement.
Other north-south structures include the
“Nabitah” trend of Jassim and Buday (2006a). The
“Nabitah” suture forms the boundary between the
Precambrian Afif and Western Arabian Terranes
(Fig. 3.17), and was modified into an easterly-
dipping monocline during Late Carboniferous
deformation. North-south structures in the Afif
Terrane control the margins of the Cretaceous Tinif
and Damluk Troughs (Al-Bassam and Al-Haba,
1990; Al-Bassam and Karim, 1992) (Fig. 3.5).
The Rumaila, Zubair and Ratawi structures in
SE Iraq (Fig. 3.5) are north-south oriented highs
which formed by reactivation of basement faults
and movement of Infracambrian Salt in the Late
Cretaceous (Sadooni and Aqrawi, 2000). They are
part of a group of north-south structures, including
Abqaiq in Saudi Arabia and the Dammam and
Awali Domes, which have Late Palaeozoic strata
preserved in their crests (Wender et al., 1998).
These contrast with the often intervening Rayn
Anticlines in which Hormuz Salt is absent and
which have a deeply eroded Palaeozoic section due
to Late Carboniferous uplift (Al-Husseini, 2000). An
example is the Burgan High in Kuwait (Kahn,
1989).
These large-scale north-south trending anticlinal
structures in the Basra area are a continuation of
the belt of north-south trending structures in Kuwait
and Saudi Arabia. High resolution seismic data is
required to image the deep structure of the anticlines
in Iraq. They may have formed over buried
structural highs (tilted blocks and horsts) formed
during Infracambrian rifting, or by Late
Carboniferous inversion of Infracambrian half
 Tectonic history of Iraq 19

40° 44° 48°

Duhok

Mosul
Erbil

36° 36°

SYRIA Kirkuk
Sulaimaniya

Zagros / Taurus
plutons

Western Arabian Terrane I R A Q Tikrit

Nabitah Suture Eastern Arabian IRAN

Terrane

Baquba

Ramadi
BAGHDAD

Afif Terrane
Karbala
Hilla

32° Najaf 32°

Diwaniya Amara
Ad Dawadimi Terrane
or Amar Suture Zone
Phyllite

Samawa
Amphibolites, gabbro and diorite
Nasiriya
Granite
Basra
Granodiorite, granite

Murdama molasse
Ar Rayn Terrane
Ophiolite, syn-tectonic gabbro SAUDI
Phyllites, schist and granodiorite
K U WA I T
Post-tectonic gabbro, diorite etc.
ARABIA
44° 48°

Fig. 3.17. Precambrian terranes in Iraq. (After Jassim and Buday, 2006b.)

grabens. Their structural evolution has also been
influenced by movement of the Infracambrian
Hormuz Salt. Renewed structural growth of these
anticlines in Turonian – early Campanian time is
well documnets (ADD REF), with further growth
in the Late Tertiary.
Discussion
The detailed structural subdivisions of Iraq
described by Jassim and Buday (1987, 2006) have
not yet been widely used by petroleum geologists
and geophysicists, who generally refer only to the
Stable Shelf; the Unstable Shelf containing the
unfolded part of the Mesopotamian Foredeep and
the Central Faulted Zone; and the Folded Zone
bounded to the SW by the Zagros Front
(Mohammed, 2006).
An important future task is to compare the
structural domains and fault locations identified
by Jassim and Buday (2006a) with structures
interpreteted from new high-resolution seismic data.
This will clarify the significance of the domains and
the history of fault movement during the
Phanerozoic. Many faults have probably influenced
both structural trap formation and facies changes,
and may control the location of untested exploration
plays and traps.
Archive seismic data in Iraq poorly images the
pre-Permian stratigraphy or the top of the basement
(Mohammed, 2006). Existing seismic data cannot
be used to determine the geometry of the
“Hercynian” and older Palaeozoic unconformities,
and the areas where Silurian source rocks were
removed by Palaeozoic erosion cannot therefore yet
be mapped. High resolution seismic data will be
required to determine if the shallow depth-to-
basement in the Salman Zone estimated by Jassim
and Buday (2006a) from gravity and magnetic data
is correct. Careful imaging of the unconformities
in the Palaeozoic section will assist the evaluation
of the successions’s hydrocarbon prospectivity.
20 Chapter 3

40° 44° 48°

Fig. 3.18. Depth to basement map
Duhok of Iraq compiled from gravity data.
Simplified from Jassim and Buday,

60
2006a.
Mosul

00
Erbil

80
36° 36°

00
00
80

6000
SYRIA Sulaimaniya

60
00
Kirkuk

00
60

8 0 00
10
00
0
I R A Q Tikrit

IRAN

10000
800 Baquba
0

Ramadi 8000
BAGHDAD

12
00
0
8000

10 Karbala
00 60 Hilla
0 00 10
00
8000

0 0
10000 8 00
32° Najaf 32°
Diwaniya Amara

10

Depth
00
0
8000
600

Samawa
(metres)
0

100
8000

Nasiriya
6000

2000
00

4000 Basra
6000 800
0
8000
10000
12000 SAUDI 60
00
14000
K U WA I T
ARABIA 40
00
44° 48°

referred to as the Salman-Sharif Zone: Buday and

Precambrian Basement Jassim, 1987) which extends NNW into the Khleisia
High, and is the northern extension of the Summan
Jassim (2006b) reviewed the formation of the Platform of Saudi Arabia (Al-Husseini (2000). The
Arabian Plate by terrain accretion in Precambrian Ar Rayn Terrane is separated from the Ad
time, and extrapolated the known Precambrian Dawadimi Terrain (predicted to be composed
terrains of the Arabian Shield into Iraq using predominantly of phyllites) in the west by ophiolites
magnetic and gravity data. Basement terranes of the Amar Suture Zone (dated at 610 Ma). To the
interpreted by Jassim (2006b) are shown in Fig. east, it is separated from the Eastern Arabian
3.17. Terrane by another suture zone containing
During the later Precambrian, Iraq was in an ophiolites which may represent the northern
intracratonic setting at low to moderate southerly extension of the Summan Suture of Saudi Arabia.
latitudes on the southern passive margin of Palaeo- The Eastern Arabian Terrane forms the
Tethys (Loosveld et al., 1996; Al-Husseini, 2000; basement of eastern Iraq beneath the unfolded part
Blasband et al., 2000; Gema et al., 2001). Plate of the Mesopotamian Basin, and is predicted to be
accretion and assembly took place across the composed predominantly of gneisses and granites.
Arabian and Afro-Arabian-Indian Plates in the Pan- The Amar Orogeny formed gneiss domes and
African orogenic phase between 715 and 610 Ma north-south to NNW-SSE trending anticlines up
(Stoeser and Camp, 1985; Al-Husseini, 2000; Nehlig to 500 km long referred to as Rayn Anticlines
et al., 2002). Terranes accreted from west to east (Al-Husseini, 2000). This orogeny completed the
through time. The Precambrian basement of Iraq accretion of the Arabian Shield (Stoeser and Camp,
probably closely resembles that in Saudi Arabia 1985; Al-Husseini, 2000). The majority of the “giant”
which has been more intensively investigated (e.g. oilfields in Arabia (Ghawar, Burgan, North Dome)
Al-Husseini, 2000) both from outcrops in the are situated above Rayn Anticlines which were
Arabian Shield area and deep exploration wells. periodically re-activated in the Phanerozoic,
Terranes present in Iraq are described below from producing both structural and stratigraphic traps
west to east. and influencing facies patterns The eastern
Basement in westernmost Iraq has a north-south boundary of the Ar Rayn Terrane changes strike
trending structural grain and is interpreted to be from north-south to NW-SE in central South Iraq,
composed of granites, volcanics rocks and molasse possibly due to later Najd shearing. SW-NE oriented
of the Afif Terrane, bounded to the west by the structures with a Precambrian origin are also
Nabitah Suture Zone dated at 678–655 Ma. In prominent. An example is the Al Batin Fault (Al-
central Iraq, the approximately north-south Husseini, 2000), along which basic to intermediate
trending Ar Rayn Terrane is predicted to consist post-tectonic intrusive rocks occur in a SW-NE
of phyllites, schist and granodiorites. The terrane trending zone between Iraq and Kuwait (Fig. 3.5).
forms the basement of the Salman Zone (formerly Similarly, in Syria, a SW-NE trending structure
 Tectonic history of Iraq
through Palmyra may extend into the Sinjar area
of Iraq (Fig. 3.5). This has been interpreted as a
Precambrian suture (Best et al., 1993), as depth to
metamorphic basement differs on either side of it
(Brew et al., 1997).
Basement Depth
Two large-scale anticlines, located adjacent to Iraq,
have proven shallow Precambrian basement: these
are the Mardin High in SE Turkey (1:500,000 series
surface geology of Turkey), and the Burgan High
in SE Kuwait (Strohmenger et al., 2003).
At Burgan, three deep wells have penetrated
shallow basement at depths of about 5245, 5365
and 6750 m (Strohmenger et al., 2003).
Al-Saigh et al. (1990) identified a deep seismic
reflector at a depth of 10 – 13 km along a geotransect
from Baghdad to Dohuk near the Turkish border
which was prepared as an Iraqi contribution to the
Global Geoscience Transects (GGT) project. Brew
et al. (1997) modelled the depth to basement along
a 300 km long north-south trending seismic
refraction profile in NE Syria located about 100 km
from the border with Iraq (except in the south where
the profile started at about 10 km from the border).
The profile cuts across the Euphrates Graben and
Abd El Aziz Uplift. They estimated the top of the
basement to lie at a depth of 8.5–9 km beneath the
Euphrates Graben, at a minimum depth of 8–8.5
km to the south of the graben, and at 5.5–6.5 km
to the north of the graben. The minimum depth to
basement of 5.5 km was estimated beneath the Abd
El Aziz Uplift.
Brew et al. (1997) also modelled the crustal
structure along a NE–SW trending gravity profile
in NE Syria, extending from the Iraq border at
about lat. 33.5oN, long. 39o E to the Iraq border at
about 35.4oN, 41.3oE. The approximate (maximum)
depth to basement ranges from 10 km in the south
to 6.5 km in the north beneath a large Bouguer
anomaly. A separate smaller anomaly (which
extends eastward into Iraq) was modelled using a
steeply dipping, high density mafic igneous body in
the crust (? ophiolitic suture zone) without invoking
a shallower depth to basement.
Jassim and Buday (2006a) modelled the depth
to basement beneath Iraq by iteration of gravity
interpretation and estimates of megasequence
thicknesses. The resultant map shows a large,
shallow central basement high in which the top of
the basement is modelled to lie at a depth of 5 and
6 km (Fig. 3.18). This high extends from Dohuk
and Mosul in the north to the border with Saudi
Arabia in the south.
Mohammad’s (2006) regional seismic line
crosses this gravity high in southern Iraq. The
seismic data is of poor quality below the Permian
Chia Zairi Formation. However a TWT thickness
of at least 700 msec of Lower Palaeozoic rocks is
21
tentatively interpreted beneath the gravity high,
corresponding to a thickness of at least 1700 – 1900
m of preserved section. Estimated depth to basement
was about 6.5 km beneath the high, from gravity
and magnetic data. The depth to basement map of
Jassim and Buday (2006) gave a value of about 5
km at the same location implying a preserved
thickness of Lower Palaeozoic section of < 500 m.
It is possible that the gravity high corresponding
to the Salman Zone may be caused partly by the
presence of rock bodies of unusually high density
in the crust, and that the depth to basement is
significantly deeper than modelled by Jassim and
Buday (2006a). The thickness of Lower Palaeozoic
stratigraphy preserved in the Salman Zone may
thus be greater than that predicted by Jassim and
Buday. New high resolution seismic and well data
is required to resolve the thickness of the Lower
Palaeozoic in this Zone.
Thickness of the Continental Crust
The thickness of the continental crust (depth to the
Moho) in Iraq has been estimated from gravity data
to be 32 – 38 km (Al-Sinawi and Al-Bann, 1992;
Jassim and Buday 2006a), SW of the Zagros thrust
belt in NE Iraq.
Al- Saigh et al. (1990) calculated a Moho depth
along the Baghdad-Dohuk crustal transect of 35.5
km beneath Central Iraq and 30.5 km near the
Turkish border. These depths were derived from
gravity modelling integrated with deep seismic
reflection data. Alsinawi (2002, 2006) calculated a
depth to Moho of about 37 km in the Jezira area
along the same transect. Al-Heety (2002) calculated
a depth of 36.5 km between Baghdad and Rutbah
from analysis of earthquake P-wave data.
Alsinawi (2002 and 2006) also analysed
earthquake data recorded by the Iraq Sesismological
Network at receiving stations at Mosul, Rutba,
Baghdad and Sulaymania. Moho depths at these
locations were calculated to be 31-34, 33-35, 38 and
41-43 km, respectively.
Apart from the Zagros Thrust Belt, where the
continental crust was thickened in the late Miocene,
the depth to the Moho thus appears to range from
31 to 38 km.
The thinnest crust appears to be in the NW.
Areas with similarly prominent positive gravity
anomalies indicating relatively shallow basement
include the Aleppo and Rutbah Highs in Syria; these
are characterised by thick Palaeozoic and thin
Mesozoic-Tertiary successions (Lovelock, 1984).
Regional geological structure and
structural style
The regional structure of Iraq is here illustrated
using a series of cross sections (Figs 3.19 and
3.20a-p) drawn to the top of the Precambrian
basement. Key uncertainties in the structural
22 Chapter 3
Siirt

38°E 40°E 42°E 44°E 46°E 48°E

T U R K H
E Y
Mardin

J
P
Hasakah
R A N
Mosul
I
Buhayrat Al Asad

36°N Arbil

36°N

S Y R I A
O
Kirkuk As Sulaymaniyah

Tudmor F

M
34°N Samarra G
N Buhayrat ath Tharthar
34°N

L BAGHDAD
Ar Ramadi

Behr al Milh
Karbala

Ad Diwaniyah

32°N

Najaf 32°N
I R A Q
D

LEGEND
Oil Field Nasiriyah

Producing field C
Discovered and appraised field Basra
Abadan
Possible discovery
30°N
Gas Field
30°N
Producing field
S A U D I K U WA I T
Well location B
Outcrops A R A B K Kuwait City
I A

0 50 100 150 200km

A

40°E 42°E 44°E 46°E 48°E

Fig. 3.19. Location of geological cross sections of Figs 3.20a-p.

interpretation are noted in the respective captions characterised by monoclinal dip to the NE. The
to these figures. Cross sections from NE Syria, depth to the base-Cretaceous deepens from 2 to 3
based on seismic data, are included. km in the west to 7.5 km along the border with
In western Iraq, the Rutbah and Khleisia- Iran. The most important structures at base-
Tayarat Highs (Fig. 3.5) form prominent structures Cretaceous level in the Mesopotamian Basin are
at base- Cretaceous level. The Kleisia-Tayarat High the north-south trending anticlines in SE Iraq and
is bounded to the north by the inverted Sinjar the NW-SE fault-controlled structures in Central
Trough and to the south by the Anah Graben; it is Iraq. The NE boundary of the Mesopotamian Basin
cut by the Khleisia Graben. is interpreted as a major NW-SE oriented thrust
The Mesopotamian Basin to the west of the zone at base-Cretaceous level, which also marks
Euphrates Boundary (Abu Jir) Fault is the SW limit of the Folded Zone.
 Tectonic history of Iraq 23

Southwest Northeast

Sea level 0 0

5 5
Kilometres

Kilometres
?
?
10 ? 10

Basement

15 15

0 25 50km
Vertical Exaggeration = x 10

Neogene Norian - Toarcian

Paleocene - Eocene Anisian - Carnian

Upper Cretaceous Upper Permian - Lower Triassic

Lower Cretaceous Cambrian - Lower Permian

Middle - Upper Jurassic Infracambrian

Fig. 3.20a. SW-NE structural cross-section across SE Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19). Note the
large-scale north-south trending anticlines which grew in early Late Cretaceous and late Miocene
time, with an earlier phase of movement in the Late Carboniferous.
Southwest Northeast

5 5

Sea level 0 0

5 5
Kilometres

Kilometres

10 10

Basement

15 15

0 25 50km Neogene Norian - Toarcian

Paleocene - Eocene Anisian - Carnian

Upper Cretaceous Upper Permian - Lower Triassic

Vertical Exaggeration = x10
Lower Cretaceous Cambrian - Lower Permian

Middle - Upper Jurassic

Fig. 3.20b. SW-NE structural cross-section across southern Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19).
Note the “front” of late Miocene deformation in the NE of the section.
24 Chapter 3

Southwest Northeast

5 5

Sea level 0 0

5 5
?
Kilometres

Kilometres
10 10

Basement

15 15

0 25 50km Neogene Norian - Toarcian

Paleocene - Eocene Anisian - Carnian

Upper Cretaceous Upper Permian - Lower Triassic

Vertical Exaggeration = x 10
Lower Cretaceous Cambrian - Lower Permian

Middle - Upper Jurassic

Fig. 3.20c.SW-NE structural cross-section across Central Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19). Note
the possible basement-involved structure (formed by ?Late Carboniferous deformation).

Southwest Northeast

5 5

Sea level 0 0

5 5
Kilometres

Kilometres

10 10

Basement

15 15

0 25 50km Neogene Norian - Toarcian

Paleocene - Eocene Anisian - Carnian

Vertical Exaggeration = x10
Upper Cretaceous Upper Permian - Lower Triassic

Lower Cretaceous Cambrian - Lower Permian

Middle - Upper Jurassic

Fig. 3.20d. SW-NE structural cross-section across Central Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19). Note
the naroow, “wrench related” structures along the East Baghdad trend, and older possibly Late
Carboniferous structures to the west.
 Tectonic history of Iraq 25

West southwest East northeast

5 5

Sea level 0 0

5 5
Kilometres

Kilometres
10 10

Basement

15 15

Oligocene - Pliocene Norian - Toarcian

0 25 50km Paleocene - Eocene Anisian - Carnian

Upper Cretaceous Upper Permian - Lower Triassic

Vertical Exaggeration = x 10
Lower Cretaceous Cambrian - Lower Permian

Middle - Upper Jurassic

Fig. 3.20e.WSW-ENE structural cross-section across central-northern Iraq (see profile location in
Fig. 3.19). Note the closely spaced “Zagros” folds controlled by thrusts which are shown
schematically detaching in Lower Palaeozoic shales.
West southwest East northeast

5 5

Sea level 0 0

5 5
Kilometres

Kilometres

10 10

Basement

15 15

Cretaceous - Tertiary Anisian - Carnian

0 25 50km
Middle - Upper Jurassic Upper Permian - Lower Triassic

Vertical Exaggeration = x 10 Norian - Toarcian Cambrian - Lower Permian

Fig. 3.20f. WSW-ENE structural cross-section across Northern Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19).
Note the complex folding with detachments shown schematically in the Lower Palaeozoic cover and
in the basement.
 Southwest Northeast
26

Lower Cretaceous Palaeocene - Lower Miocene Middle Miocene - Pliocene Upper Cretaceous
5

0 0 Sea level

5 5

10 10

Kilometres
Kilometres

15 15
Basement
20 20

Triassic - Jurassic Mid Cambrian - Permian Infracambrian - Lower Cambrian

0 10 20km
No Vertical Exaggeration

Fig. 3.20g. SW-NE structural cross-section across NE Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19). The balanced cross-section shows a detachment near the base
of the Lower Palaeozoic section beneath the foreland basin, and in the basement beneath the High Folded Zone.

South North
Chapter 3

Jebel Khand-1 5
Permian
Cretaceous Tertiary Permian
0 0 Sea level

Triassic - Jurassic
5 5
Pre Permian

10 10
Kilometres

Kilometres
Basement
15 15

20 0 10 20km 20
No Vertical Exaggeration

Fig. 3.20h. North-south structural cross-section across Northern Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19). In this interpretation, the elevated ramp anticlines
in the north do not include the basement.
 Tectonic history of Iraq 27

Southwest Northeast

1 1
Bakhtiari

Upper Fars

Middle Fars
Lower Fars
2 2

Top Tertiary Carbonates

TWT (sec.)

TWT (sec.)
Near Top Shiranish Formation

3 CRETACEOUS 3

Near Top Chia Gara Formation

JURASSIC - BERRIASIAN
4 4

0 5 10km

Fig. 30i. Local SW-NE stuctural cross-section across NE Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19). The
cross-section is based on a published seismic line and shows shallow deformation in the Miocene
section, and major structural growth post-dating deposition of the Upper Fars Formation. (Modified
from Western Zagros, 2008).

Southeast Northwest South North

Baghdad Baguba Mosul

5 East 5

Near base Tertiary Near base Jurassic

Near base Cretaceous Near base Middle Miocene Near base Upper Permian
Sea level 0 0
Kilometres

Kilometres

5 5

10 10

15 15

Intra Palaeozoic 0 50 100km

Vertical Exaggeration = approx x 10

Fig. 3.20j. North-south-SE structural cross-section across Central and Northern Iraq from East
Baghdad to the Mosul High (see profile location in Fig. 3.19) (after Al-Saigh et al., 1993). Note the
multiple faults affecting the Mosul High.
28 Chapter 3

West East

0 0

1 1

2 2

Kimmeridgian - Tertiary

3 3

Base Gotnia
4 4

5 5
Late Permian - Oxfordian

6 Base Khuff 6

7 7
Cambrian - Devonian

8 8

9 9

Basement
10 10

Infracambrian
0 25 50km
Vertical Exaggeration = x25

Fig. 3.20k. Local east-west structural cross-section across the Burgan High in Kuwait (see profile
location in Fig. 3.19) (after Strohmenger et al., 2003). Depth to basement is constrained by well data.

Southwest Northeast

KH 5/1 Akkas-1

Sea level 0 0
Upper Palaeozoic Cretaceous -
Tertiary
Triassic -
Silurian Jurassic
Kilometres

Kilometres

Upper Cambrian - Ordovician

5 5

Lower - Basement Basic / Metam-

Middle Cambrian Metamorphics Basic / ultrabasics ultrabasics orphics

0 50km

Vertical Exaggeration = x 9

Fig. 3.20l. Local SW-NE structural cross-section across Western Iraq (see profile location in Fig. 3.19)
(after Al-Hadidy, 2007). The cross-section traverses the Western Iraq Palaeozoic basin adjacent to
the Akkas location.
 Tectonic history of Iraq 29

Southwest Northeast

5 5

Triassic - Lower Cretaceous Upper Cretaceous Tertiary

Sea level 0 0

Cambrian -
Carboniferous
Kilometres

Kilometres
5 5

Basement
10 10

15 15
0 25 50km
No Vertical Exaggeration

Fig. 3.20m. SW-NE structural cross-section across the Euphrates Graben of Eastern Syria (see profile
location in Fig. 3.19) (after Litak et al., 1998). Note the closely-spaced extensional faults
(uninverted).

North South
Abd El Aziz Euphrates Rutbah
2 Uplift River Uplift 2

Upper Palaeozoic
Sea level 0 0
Tertiary

2 2
Mesozoic
Kilometres

Kilometres
4 Upper Cambrian - 4
Ordovician

6 6

Lower - Middle ? Infracambrian

8
Cambrian 8

Basement
10 10

0 50 100km

Vertical Exaggeration = x 15

Fig. 3.20n.North-south structural cross-section across Eastern Syria (see profile location in Fig. 3.19)
(after Brew et al., 1997).
 South North
30

Sinjar Uplift Upper Campanian - Maastrichtian Jurassic - Lower Campanian

0 0 Sea level
Tertiary

5 Triassic 5
Palaeozoic

Kilometres
Kilometres

10 Basement 10

15 15
0 5 10km

–
No Vertical Exaggeration

Fig. 3.20o. North-south structural cross-section across NE Syria (see profile location in Fig. 3.19) (after Brew et al., 1999). The cross-section passes
through the inverted Sinjar Trough.

South North
Chapter 3

Triassic - Lower Campanian Late Campanian - Maastrictian Tertiary

Sea level 0 0

Lower Palaeozoic
-
Carboniferous
5 5

Kilometres
Kilometres

Basement

10 10

0 5 10km
No Vertical Exaggeration

Fig. 3.20p. North-south structural cross-section across NE Syria (see profile location in Fig. 3.19) (after Kent and Hickman, 1997). The cross-section
traverses the Jebel Al-Aziz inversion structure.