THE QUAY AIR DOME. 



39 



•On the south-eastern side the dome rises distinctly to a point about 

 1\ miles from Quwair, close to a Survey cairn beside the road. As 

 far as could be made out the Fars passes up under a transverse 

 tongue of the Kurd beds, which stretches between the two lateral 

 outcrops of the latter series. Near the cairn the crest is not simple 

 but consists of two minor parallel crests which extend almost hori- 

 zontally for about 1,000 yards in a S.S.E. direction to another point 

 also close to the road, beyond which the anticline pitches distinctly 

 towards the E.S.E. There may be a slight sag between the two 

 points mentioned, but if so, it is hardly perceptible. The fold, 

 therefore, is not straight but curves sigmoidally to a slight extent. 

 The general maximum dip on the north-eastern flank is between 

 15° and 20°, but the dip waves and there are distinct minor puckers 

 of some sharpness. On the ^outh-west the general maximum dip 

 is about 40° though similar waving produces locally higher and lower 

 dips; at the junction between the Fars and the Kurd series it is 

 25°. The dome, therefore, is somewhat asymmetric, and follows the 

 normal rule in being steeper on the south-west than on the north- 

 east. The pitch E.S.E' wards is moderate, but very distinct. 



Petroleum. 



Natural Occurrences. —There are seepages of black tarry oil from 

 several spots along 60 or 70 yards of the river bank at Quwair town. 

 Around them artificial basins have been constructed, from which 

 oil is extracted. These basins contain water in which a little sul- 

 phur has collected, and from which the usual odour of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen emanates. The oil is probably derived from a seeping 

 limestone whose outcrop is just covered by the gravelly alluvium ; 

 there is very little gas. This is another case of seepages occurring 

 down the pitch of an anticline, exposed by a river. 



Prospects of Boring.— The structure, nature of the seepages, age 

 of the rocks exposed, and topographical position with respect to 

 other oil indications, are all favourable factors. The chances of 

 this being a field of considerable value are, in my opinion, distinctly 

 good. If it should justify its promising appearance, it will be a 

 well-defined field about half a mile wide and two miles long. The 

 best location for a test well is 250 yards south of the Survey cairn 

 mentioned on the line running along the middle of the crestal area. 

 The second crest-maximum mentioned is 25° E. of S. from the cairn 

 and about three-quarter mile distant from it, about half a mile due 



