Iraqi National Journal of Earth Science

The Euphrates River is one of the lengthiest rivers in West Asia. Its length is 2786 km. The river basin has an area of 440,000 km². It enters Iraq, north of Huseiba on the Iraqi-Syrian borders, and cuts through carbonate bedrock forming a very slim strip flood plain. This study describes and explains the hydrochemistry, water quality, water plus sediment pollution assessments, and sediment geochemistry of the Euphrates River within Iraq by reviewing several environmental, geochemical, and environmental pollution in previous papers.
The water chemistry of the Euphrates River revealed good and clear results during years 2012 and 2016 and it is characterized by dominant SO4 and Cl ions in 2013, although the water was chemistry altered through the year 2021. The high temperatures and the absence of rainfall contributed to the deposition of large quantities of gypsum on the river bed, which caused the depletion of SO4= in the river water. By way, the sequential of the salt’s precipitation and ions solubility was increased.
From 1995 to 2020, it is clear that there are increasing concentrations of toxic trace elements in sediment such as Cu, Ni, Co, and Cd. The content of these elements in the Euphrates River sediments increased towards Basra City with an increase in water salinity due to the climatic changes that occurred in recent years and the desertification of the region. Also, agricultural and industrial activities, domestic wastewater discharge, and irregular continuing human consumption of the river water had the greatest role in causing pollution.

The mineralogical and geochemical constituents of the Aptian-Albian Malha Formation at the Abu Darag region, Gulf of Suez, Egypt, can be discussed here. These constituents are related to paleoweathering and paleoclimatic circumstances that managed the depositional settings. The present study aims to evaluate the geochemical conditions that have control over the depositional environments and characterizes them in terms of lithological, mineralogical, and chemical composition. To achieve this aim, selected kaolinitic clay samples were geochemically and mineralogically examined. Kaolinite and quartz are the main constituent minerals in the investigated samples, whereas anatase and hematite serve as auxiliary minerals. The presence of hematite minerals indicates precipitation in an oxidizing environment, whereas anatase is related to basaltic rock. Bivariate discrimination provenance diagrams, major oxides, and trace elements all identify felsic-intermediate igneous source rocks as the leading contenders. The examined samples were deposited in non-marine environments and underwent weak to moderate chemical weathering as well as severe physical induration in tropical climates.

This study is conducted using data analysis of minerals gained from X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as by using the data of chemical analysis of the main elements measured by the X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) at selected areas in northern Iraq Thirty samples (twenty soil and ten rock samples) are collected distributed through five regions (Qayarah, Hamam Alil, Tel kaif, Duhok, and Zakho) with four depths and two rock samples for each section in order to calculate the index of weathering mineral (Xd) and mineralogy index of alteration (MIA) as well as chemical index of alteration (CIA). The aim is to measure the amount of decomposition relative to the resistant minerals in soils and rocks, as well as to assess the amount and capability of these soils as evidence of the degree of development, and then the possibility of classification depending on the degree of resistance to weathering processes. The results show transaction weathering in these areas varying in degree and ability of these soils in resisting weathering processes at different locations and the nature of the original material. The study shows that Zakho soil samples have a high degree of weathering; on the contrary, Qayarah soil samples have a very low degree of weathering due to different topographical and climatic conditions of these two regions. The remaining areas are intermediate in the degree of weathering, considering that these areas have received variable amounts of rain precipitation ranging between 1,000 mm / year as in Zakho and 250 mm / year in Qayarah area. The topography of these areas is different being high in Zakho and low in Qayarah area

The studied surface section of Khurmala Formation which lies in the northeast of Dohuk city north Iraq consists of mixed carbonate and clastic sediments, package about 60 meter thick of Early Eocene age. The carbonate sediment is comprising four microfacies association allocated to shoal bank (Kh2), lagoon (Kh1), intertidal (Kh1, Kh3), and supratidal (Kh4), while the clastic sediment included two lithofacies affiliated to estuaries depositional environment. A depositional model of the Khurmala Formation was proposed.
Diagenetic processes of dissolution and dolomitization are recognized in microfacies (Kh3).