2 PASCOE: GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON MESOPOTAMIA. 



caused great delay and made some of the lateral traverses, which 

 ii was desired to make, impossible. 



Alv thanks are due to the various political and military officers 

 for all their assistance and courtesy. The relations between 

 my camp and the Arabs and Kurds were, without exception, 

 friendly, a consummation I owe largely to the excellent and 

 efficient work of my interpreter, Habib Kus Elias. Persistent bad 

 weather curtailed work and caused profound discomfort. 



To render the reports more connected, it is proposed to anticipate 



Oaasifi ti *° some extent the fi na ^ conclusions as regards 



the classification of the rocks. Two Tertiary 

 series only were encountered, the older forming part of Dr. Pilgrim's 

 marine Fars series and the younger a fluviatile series which I at 

 first called the " Red Clay and Sandstone series," but for which I 

 now suggest the less cumbrous name of " Kurd series " provisionally, 

 until we know more precisely to what extent it corresponds to Dr. 

 Pilgrim's Bakhti) ari series. As there seemed no sufficient inducement 

 to split up the Fars beds met with in the various isolated areas, 

 these will be referred to as the Hamrin stage of that series, since 

 they are well exposed in the Jabal Hamrin. The base is not seen. 

 Its uppermost bed in each area has been taken to be the youngest 

 band of white gypsum or f ossiferous limestone, and its strata, 

 especially near the top, include short premature lagoon or fluviatile 

 phases ; the latter have been separated off by some as " Passage 

 Beds." The Kurd series, as exposed in the area under review, 

 usually shows four or five distinct phases which can be grouped 

 into two stages, an upper or conglomeratic, and a lower consisting of 

 sandstones and clays. The phases are alluded to as " a " " b " and " c " 

 forming the lower stage and " d" and <; e" forming the upper. These 

 phases pass gradually up into each other, and their boundaries 

 are sometimes so ill-defined as to be very difficult to allot, but the 

 phases in the majority of cases are recognisable. No suitable 

 names for them have so far presented themselves with the exception 

 of phase " d," which is magnificently developed in the Jabal Nasaz 

 and for which I propose the term "Nasaz zone." A description of 

 these zones will be found in the report on the hills between Tuz 

 Khurmatu and Kifri (pp. 4<)-51), where the sequence was first seen 

 clearly exposed. Other allusions to them are made in the last or 

 Final Summary Report (p. 69). 



