Depositional Setting, Provenance and Tectonic Setting of the Ga’ara Formation (Late Permian) in Subsurface Section, Central Iraq

Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Alhaj

Article Details

Depositional Setting, Provenance and Tectonic Setting of the Ga’ara Formation (Late Permian) in Subsurface Section, Central Iraq

Authors:

Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Alhaj

Publisher:

Iraqi Geologists Union (Union of Iraqi Geologists)

Journal:

The Iraqi Geological Journal Vol.59 Issue 1A, pp.118-133

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

1/2026

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001836964

pISSN:

2663-8754

Keywords:

Abstract:

 The Ga’ara Formation (Late Permian) is studied in a subsurface section from Central and Western Iraq. The succession of the formation consists mainly of sandstone and pebbly sandstone with a little siltstone, in the form of three cycles of fining upward sequence. Three lithofacies were distinguished within each cycle: planar-cross bedded sandstone lithofacies, ripple cross-laminated sandstone lithofacies and laminated sandstone and siltstone lithofacies (Fl). The vertical succession of the three lithofacies indicates that they were deposited within a braided fluvial environment. Petrographically, the main framework grains are quartz, feldspar, and rock fragments, and the type of sandstone is classified as quartz arenite with a few sublithic arenite. The formation was influenced by several diagenetic processes, the most important is compaction and cementation. According to the common abundance of monocrystalline quartz grains in the formation as compared to polycrystalline grains and the scarcity of rock fragments and feldspar, the source rocks are plutonic igneous rocks. Petrographic and geochemical analysis of the Ga’ara Formation indicated the deposition in a craton interior tectonic setting. It was believed that the presence of faults controlled subsidence, or that a basin led to the formation of areas with a high slope that helped in the formation of the braided rivers within the intracratonic basin setting.

Article Details

Depositional Setting, Provenance and Tectonic Setting of the Ga’ara Formation (Late Permian) in Subsurface Section, Central Iraq

Authors:

Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Alhaj

Publisher:

Iraqi Geologists Union (Union of Iraqi Geologists)

Journal:

The Iraqi Geological Journal Vol.59 Issue 1A, pp.118-133

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

1/2026

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001836964

pISSN:

2663-8754

Ga’ara

Late Permian

Petrography

Depositional Setting

Provenance

Tectonic Setting

Issues

Article Details

Depositional Setting, Provenance and Tectonic Setting of the Ga’ara Formation (Late Permian) in Subsurface Section, Central Iraq

Authors: Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Alhaj

Publisher: Iraqi Geologists Union (Union of Iraqi Geologists)

Journal: The Iraqi Geological Journal Vol.59 Issue 1A, pp.118-133

Document Type: Article

Publication Date: 1/2026

Document Language: English

Document ID (Org No.): 2001836964

pISSN: 2663-8754

Ga’ara

Late Permian

Petrography

Depositional Setting

Provenance

Tectonic Setting

Issues

Authors:

Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Alhaj

Publisher:

Iraqi Geologists Union (Union of Iraqi Geologists)

Journal:

The Iraqi Geological Journal Vol.59 Issue 1A, pp.118-133

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

1/2026

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001836964

pISSN:

2663-8754