HEATED HYDROCARBONS AND RELATED TECTONICS OF THE UPPER CRETACEOUS-LOWER TERTIARY SEQUENCE, SHARBAZHER AREA, KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ

The Sharbazher area is located on the northwest side of the City of Sulaimani in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It lies within an elevated tectonic zone between the High Folded Zone and the Imbricate Zone. The rock beds are characterized by severe folding and faulting that led to the deformation of the rock strata and produced an elevation of temperature as evidenced by the presence of graphite.

The stratigraphic sequence of the studied sections consists of mudstone and clastic rocks. The clastic rocks are mostly sandstone and conglomerate that form hydrocarbon reservoir rocks of the Cretaceous Tanjero and Aqra Formations and the Cenozoic Red Bed Series. The clastic rocks are brittle as a result of the tectonic history of the region. The deformation process resulted in fracturing of the rock beds that created a number of oil seepages along fault planes. In addition the rise in temperature heated oil in the source and reservoir rocks to produce graphite. In summary, this research is focused on the tectonic effects on the stratigraphic succession in the area that caused the formation of the oil seeps and heated their hydrocarbon contents to bituminized form. For this reason, the Qishlagh and Shakha Swr localities have been chosen for this case study.