Maqlub Mountain

Mousa Sofy

Soran UniversityFaculty of Science

Department of Petroleum Geosciences

Location• Geographical location• Maqlub mountain is located at 30km north east mosul and west of kalakchi.

Between 43.23o - 43.31o E and 36.33o -36.28o N.

Maqlub Mountain

Geological locationIt is located at unstable shelf of Arabian Plate and foothill (low fold) zone. At mosul high subzone.

Maqlub Mountain

low fold zoneThe Foothill Zone is dominated by low amplitude folds with high wavelengths and it shows low relief topography. Eocene rocks are the oldest exposed Formations. Its southern boundary with the Stable Shelf runs along southern limb of the first major surface anticline (Zagros Deformational Front). Its northern boundary with the High Folded Zone runs along the southern limb of the first high anticlines.

Maqlub Mountain

The mountain structure The axial of the mountain sprawl by Northwest and Southeast lengthways 14 Km. and is plunged by low slope at two side one of the Khazir river and other near Henjerok village.

It is known the all mountain of Zagros region are generated due to convergent of Arabian plate and Iranian plate.

Ө>90o Ө<90

o

The thrust fault

the layers are inverted in center mountain

the layers are less inclined in the sides mountain

The dip amount of the layers are changed from place to place even in some place the are in inverted. But in both plunging area are less inclined.

And the thrust fault is one of the main element in this unit.

Ain Sifni strike slip fault, which extends between Shakhan and Maqlub mountain. The abnormal N - S trending anticline in between, might have developed upon a restraining bend along the fault

StratigraphyThe mountain contain mostly limestone rock that come back to Pilaspi formation. This formation is consist mountain framework. But in some place the Pilaspi formation weathered and Gercus formation come into sight. And after Pilaspi the Fars and Bakhtiari formation deposited. Here like mostly region of kurdistan in oligocene no formation deposited in other word no kirkuk group.

Pilaspi formation Gercus formation

Gercus formation This formation are described in high folded zone in southern Turkey by Maxon in 1936 in the Gercus region in Iraq first described by Weztel in Dukan area. This formation are consist red and purple shale, mudstone, sandy and gritty marl with some soft sandstone and conglomerates. And gypsum lenses. Fossils are very rare and probably mostly reworked. the age of this formation lower Eocene in Iraq.

Gercus formation

Pila Spi Formation The Pila Spi Formation was first described by Lees in 1930 from the Pila Spi area of the High Folded Zone. The thick of the formation are varies from 100 to 200 m. in Maqlub area approximately is 100 m the age of this formation is middle Eocene.

Pila Spi Formation

chert nodules in Pla Spi formation Contact between chalk and limestone

The formation consists in the original type section of two parts. The upper part is composed of well bedded bituminous, chalky, and crystalline Limestones and with chert nodules towards the top . The lower part shows well bedded hard, porous, or vitreous bituminous poorly fossiliferous, limestones, with algal or shell sections. In the supplementary type section dolomitic and chalky limestone.

Lower Fars formation(fath’a) the Lower Fars Formation of Iraq is characterized by the prevalent evaporitic (sulphatic and halogenous) facies. The rocks composing the formation are anhydrite, gypsum and salt, interbedded with limestone, marl, and relatively fine grained clastics. The quantity and mutual relation of the individual rock types is the basic criterion for the differentiation of the informal units.But the ratio of evaporitic mineral and limestone and clastics rock is change from place to place. More time the lower fars formation is cycle between the evaporitic mineral and limestone and clastics rock. In the center evaporitic mineral and then limestone marl and in periphery with contact to Pila spi is mostly is clastics rock(red clay mineral). The age of the formation is lower Miocene

Lower Fars formation

Lower Fars formation weathered with contact Pila spi formation

Lower Fars formation is weathered

Pila spi formation

Upper fars formation

In maqlub mountain just the part that contact with Pila spi is come into sight and even is weathered there because is consist mostly clay mineral.

Upper fars formation(Ingana)The lithology of the formation is variable but the unit is essentially composed of mostly red or grey colored silty marlstones or claystones, siltstones of the same color, and medium to coarse grained polymictic sandstones. Conglomerates should not occur according to the original description.

Red colored silty marlstones or claystonesAnd sandstones in Upper Fars formation

gray colored silty marlstones or claystonesAnd sandstones

The thickness of the formation is very variable. The environmental conditions during the deposition of the Upper Fars.

Fossils remnants occur mainly in the lower part of the formation Unfortunately they were not investigated at all. Therefore no list of fossils found in Iraq can be quoted.

The age of the formation is usually accepted as Upper Miocene.

Bakhtiari Formation(Mukdadiyah, Bai Hasan)The formation is composed almost purely of terrigenous. In general, the grain size of the clastics increases upward. The prevalence of the conglomerates in the upper part of the formation had been the main reason for considering that part as an independent formation.The thickness of the formation is very variable due to primary differences and partly due to erosion too.The only fossil reported to be found in the formation is Hipparion sp.The age of the formation is mostly Pliocene.The Mukdadiya (Lower Bakhtiari) Formation comprises of fining upwards cycles of gravely sandstone, sandstone and red mudstone. The sandstones are often strongly cross-bedded and associated with channel lags and clay balls.

Lower part of Bakhtiari Formation (Mukdadiyah Formation)

Upper part of Bakhtiari Formation (Bia Hasan Formation)

Bai Hasan is congolmerate facies was deposited in alluvial fans. The prevalence of the conglomerates in the upper part of the formation had been the main reason for considering that part as an independent formation.

Quaternary depositionThe Foothill Zone is characterised by long anticlines with Miocene cores flanked by very broad and shallow synclines exposing Mio-Pliocene molasse along their flanks. The inner parts of the synclines contain Quaternary deposits, referred to here as the Polygenetic Synclinal Fill. The thickness of this Quaternary veneer is variable but is >120.

Economic of the mountainDolomite is used like building materials and is useful in industrial like Oil refine and glassy industrial and iron industrial ..ectDolomite can fined in Pila Spi formation in Maqlub mountain.

More factory used the limestone that exist in lower fars for industrial of cement like Hamam Ali factory in Mosul.

The Gomil- Khazir sub province groundwater is bounded in the south west by maqlub mountain. the Quaternary sediment and Bakhtiari formation represent the main aquifer within this Sub province.

Oil and gas in MaqlubMaqlub mountain at Ain Safini block. and operated by Hunt Oil Middle East (75%) and Afren(25%).In 2007 a 2D seismic survey was acquired which was subsequently reprocessed in 2010.by Hunt oil.

Exploration well Beginning at 2011. operator Hunt Oil spudded the Maqlub-1 well tested the high potential Maqlub structure drilled ahead in the Jurassic reservoirs. And Maqlub-2 at them planned at 2014 but it don’t beginning due to safety.

The characters of Maqlub Field

Source rock is Naokelekan and Sargelu and Butmah and Kurra Chine C Formations. Reservoir rock is Adaiyah, Butmah and Kurra Chine Formations.Cap rock : the major reservoir are trapped by major fault on the mountain. And Baluti , Kurra chine ….. ect

The Kurra Chine Formation

The most important formation at Maqlub field is became the source ,reservoir and cap rock.The formation in the type area is a monotonous sequence of dark brown and black limestones, alternately thin and thick bedded, with occasional intercalations of thick bedded foetid dolomites, showing slump structures, and with some papery shales. Sometimes recrystallization breccias occur. in many sections by extensive dolomitization. more evaporitic development in some areas (mainly in subsurface sections ofthe Foothill Zone).The age of this formation is upper Triassic.

Quality of the oilThe oil that in Jurassic formation is heavy oil( API 21)But the in the Triassic formation is light oil (API 39) in kurra chine formation.

Reference REGIONAL GEOLOGY OF IRAQ (BUDAY-1980) Geology of Iraq/Saad Z. Jassim and Jeremy C. Goff/2006 SEDIMENTARY BASINS AND PETROLEUM GEOLOGY OF MIDDLE EAST/A.S. ALSHARHAN & A.E.M.

NAIRN/2003 Ain Sifni CPR/ Afren plc/ January 2015 GEOMETRY AND EVOLUTION OF FOLD STRUCTURES WITHIN THE HIGH FOLDED ZONE: ZAGROS

FOLD-THRUST BELT, KURDISTAN REGION-IRAQ/Mjahid Zebari/University of Nebraska-Lincoln/2013

WESTREN ZAGROS FOLD – THRUST BELT , PART1: THE LOW FOLDED ZONE/Saffa F.A.Fouad/2012 HYDROGEOLOGY OF THE LOW FOLDED ZONE /Hatem K. Al- Jiburi and Naseer

H.Al-Basrawi/2012العربيه مصادر

. . / السياب / عبدالله د و العمرى الله صنع فاروق د الموصل جامعة العراق جيولوجي�ا . . / صادق على د و العمرى الله صنع فاروق د العراق شمال جيولوجي�ة

) الرمل ) حجر صخور بين الفاصل الحد لتعيين الكيميائية الطب�اقية الكيموستراتيغرافي طريقة استعمال/ / النعمي جمعة حازم و الصائغ يحيى عبدالهادى بعشيقة جبل في وانجانة الفتحة 2002لتكويني