--> ABSTRACT: Crustal Structure along Geotransect Baghdad-Dohuk, Northern Iraq, by N. H. Al-Saigh, I. Namik, I. Abdul Hameed; #90097 (1990).

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ABSTRACT: Crustal Structure along Geotransect Baghdad-Dohuk, Northern Iraq

N. H. Al-Saigh, I. Namik, I. Abdul Hameed

Seismic reflection data correlated to five exploration wells along with geological, gravity, and magnetic data are used to construct the subsurface structure along an approximately 100 km wide corridor that traverses central Iraq in a SE-NW direction for a distance of about 500 km from Baghdad in the central part of Iraq to Dohuk near the Turkish border. This transect is one of few such transects that represents the Iraqi contribution to the Global Geoscience Transects (GGT) project.

A strong reflector has been identified at a depth of about 10-13 km. This reflector is believed to be the top surface of the crystalline basement. This seismic evidence finds support in the interpretation of gravity and magnetic data. The crystalline basement becomes shallower as we approach the Turkish border, until about 100 km from the border, and then becomes deeper again to subduct under the Anadolian plate. In central Iraq the basement also becomes deeper as we approach the Iranian border to subduct under the Iranian plate. It appears that the thickness of the crust varies between 35.5 km in the central part of Iraq and about 30.5 km near the Turkish border.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90097©1990 Fifth Circum-Pacific Energy and Mineral Resources Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 29-August 3, 1990