'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎59] (68/568)

MINERALS 59
stone can be quarried at Hit, and accessories for building, as sand,
shingle, and lime, can be obtained on the edges of the desert. In
upper Mesopotamia the principal quarries are those in the hills near
Mosul, where a hard limestone and a soft marble are obtained. Build
ing-stone can be found in the Euphrates valley between Feheimeh
and Anah, and farther north at Deir ez-Zor and Qishlaq Ma'den.
Basalt is common in the hill-country S. of Diarbekr and in parts of
the northern Jezlreh plain. Lime plaster and marble are found in
Kurdistan along the Turco-Persian borderland.
Oil and Bitumen
In the southern and central parts of this area there are extensive
belts of country where the presence of oil is known or suspected.
But the examination of these belts is still on the whole very in
complete. Thorough geological examination and testing are being
carried out in Arabistan by the experts of the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company, and the Hit and Mandali districts have recently been
inspected. So far as such investigation goes, the results are said
to be promising. But the extent of the supply in any area that
has been ' proved' must remain more or less uncertain, and even
when a well or group of wells is working and is producing abun
dant oil, it is impossible to say how long the yield will last. Else
where thorough examination has taken place only at a few scattered
points. For the most part there is only a presumption from the
general geological structure of the country and from indications of
oil or bitumen on the surface ; in such cases the amount of the supply
and its economic value are unknown. On the whole there is a fairly
good chance that in such a large region, which is certainly or pro
bably petroliferous, more or less valuable oil-fields exist besides that
of Maidan-i-Naftun, which is now being worked by the Anglo-Persian
Oil Company, but the course of future development remains very
uncertain.
{a) The P ersian Gulf-— KirTcuTc Sell —From the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. north
westwards to Kirkuk there extends a belt of country which is in
some parts certainly, in others probably, petroliferous. Indications
of oil occur in the gypsum and sandstone ranges which form the
foot-hills on the south-west side of the Persian mountains. At its
southern end this petroliferous country is continued by the oil-line
along the northern side of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. at its northern end it
may be connected with the petroliferous area of the middle Tigris.
There are two parts of this belt which are at present worked:
(i) the Shush tar—Ahwaz—Ramuz district: here the Anglo-Persian Oil