TECTONIC AND STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF THE MESOPOTAMIA FOREDEEP, IRAQ

Abstract

The geological setting of the Mesopotamia Foredeep within the tectonic framework of Iraq, has been reviewed and redefined according to the modern concepts of foreland basins, and new structural boundaries are introduced. The Mesopotamia Foredeep, which is the present day expression of the terrestrial part of the Zagros Foreland Basin, is an integral part of the Zagros Fold – Thrust Belt that lies between the deformational front of the Zagros orogenic belt and the stable interior of the Arabian Platform. The Mesopotamia Foredeep is an elongated epicontinental basin formed above an earlier plat formal and marginal basin. Accordingly, the Phanerozoic stratigraphic sequence of the basin can be broadly categorized into three major tectono-stratigraphic assemblages; Cambrian – Early Permian intraplate assemblage, Late Permian – Middle Cretaceous Neo-Tethys passive margin assemblage, and Late Cretaceous – present foreland basin assemblage. The Mesopotamia Foredeep is a mobile tectonic zone and contains several buried structures including folds, fault and diapiric structures. Recent activity of some of these structures is recorded through their effects on the Quaternary stratigraphy and present geomorphological landforms.