HILLS BETWEEN TUZ KHURMATU AND KIFRI. 53 



Fars boundary. Take the section opposite Albu Sabah from north-east 

 to south-west (see map, pi. 7). In the Conglomeratic stage the north- 

 easterly dip is quite gentle. Passing down into zone " c " it averages 

 about 40°. In zone " b " there is a gradual drop from 45° to about 

 15.° In zone " a " it sinks as low as 10°, but within 200 yards of the 

 Fars boundary it has risen to 30° and at the boundary is 40°, while a 

 little way inside the boundary it becomes 75°. There are more causes 

 than one which may have individually or collectively been responsible 

 for this ridging up of the Fars outcrop. The primary cause is no 

 doubt the resistance to the thrust, but the localization of this erec- 

 tion may have been to some extent also due to (?) the great plasti- 

 city of wet gypsum sediments, (u) a premature folding movement 

 before or during the deposition of the Kurd series, especially of its 

 lowest zones, (Hi) denudation accompanying a folding movement 

 and lightening the burden over the anticlinal crest. 



Besides the main reversed fault along the south-western Fars 

 boundary, other reversed strike faults are not uncommon within the 

 Fars outcrop. Some of these can be we'll seen in the sections of the 

 Aq Su and the Kifri stream. 



Petroleum. 



Natural Indications. — Due east of Tuz Khurmatu, close to 

 one of the places where an arching over of strata was observed, is 

 an emanation of hydrogen sulphide in a small stream ; the actual 

 source of the gas was not found, but it is probably associated with 

 the usual bituminous earth. Some 2| miles further down, also 

 near a crestal structure, is another occurrence of the same kind 

 (tee map. pi. 8). 



The locality of Palkanah (Abu Sarkal) opposite Sulaiman Beg, 

 and commonly spoken of as the Tuz Khurmatu oil locality, has been 

 known for a long time. The so-called wells are large pits dug 

 presumably upon natural seepages, and lying upon a line very close 

 to. and, as I have observed, probably a few yards south-west of the 

 axial plain of an isoclinal subsidiary fold occurring in the north- 

 eastern flank of the main anticline. The oil is the usual black tarrv 

 material smelling of sulphuretted hydrogen and accompanied by 

 sulphur-laden water. It has already been reported on by the Anglo- 

 Persian Oil Com] any 's chemists. At present some 14 pits are being 

 worked, yielding between 240 and 280 gallons of crude oil a day, 

 one well producing more than the other thirteen. It is carried on the 



