78 PASOOE: GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON MESOPOTAMIA. 



Road-metal. 



Attention has been drawn in Reports Nos. 1 and 5 (pp. 3 and 

 30) to the suitability of the larger pebbles of the conglomerates 

 and gravels, when broken up, for road-metal. 



Water. 



There are good prospects of obtaining potable artesian water 

 in any of the broad flat synclines in which the Conglomerate stage 

 is present. The conglomerates usually contain sufficient sandstone 

 to store water, and the underlying thick massive clay of zone " c " 

 would act as a basin. The same may be said also for any 

 synclines in which zone " b " is within reach of an artesian boring, 

 as it also is usually underlain by massive clay, and is an eminently 

 porous zone. Unfortunately it is not in these synclines that artesian 

 water is usually required, since the conglomerates are generally 

 the source of streams which, in the cold months at any rate, attain 

 some size. It is difficult to treat the water question from a general 

 point of view, and it will, I think, be best to deal with any proposed 

 area individually and on its own merit. 



26th April, 1919. 



