THE QUWAIR. DOME. 37 



is easily obtained by burning sulphur in air. and reacts with hydrogen 

 sulphide in the following way : — 



2H 2 S+S0 2 =2H 2 0+3S. 

 Borne of the sulphur thus obtained could be burned to produce 

 fresh supplies of sulphur cli-oxide. There is no doubt that large 

 quantities of sulphur are obtainable in this way, the final product 

 being collected in a system of settling tanks with controlled inlets 

 and outlets. "With a properly constructed apparatus such as that 

 used by Simpson and Parnell, a still greater yield of sulphur would 

 be possible. 1 At present the sulphur precipitated is only a very 

 small fraction of the hydrogen sulphide evolved. 



The utilization of hydrogen sulphide is a problem well worth 

 consideration in Mesopotamia,, as the gas will probably be evolved 

 in vast quantities from any oil wells that may be obtained. There 

 will probably be an almost unlimited source of sulphur for anyone 

 who can devise a simple contrivance for oxidising H 2 S as it issues 

 from oil wells and seepages. 



3rd February, 1919. 



REPORT No. 8.- PROSPECTS OF OBTAINING OIL IN THE QUWAIR 



DOME. 



Maps.— \ inch =: 1 mile. PI. 4. 



Introduction. 



Quwair is a Gendarmerie Post on the left bank of the Greater 

 Zah — not on the right bank as shown on the old map — some eight 

 miles from the confluence of this river with the Tigris. A range 

 of low hills rises south-east of the town and extends between two 

 large stream-courses for three or four miles in the same direction, 

 where it sinks into a rolling upland as far as the Avanagh Dagh. 

 This range coincides with a clearly defined anticlinal dome exposing 

 Fars beds for a length of about three miles and a width of just 

 under a mile. The general direction of the fold, which is a moderate- 

 ly gentle one, is W.N.W. — E.S.E. Exposures are good, but the 

 map is of very little assistance. 



Fars beds are succeeded in the usual way by the red clays and 

 sandstones of the Kurd series, and both are very little obscured 



1 G. Lungo ; " Sulphuric Acid and Alkali," 3rd Edit., VoL I, p. 370. 



