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For more information, take a look at Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Happy editing! = Mesopotamia Foredeep Basin = The Mesopotamia foredeep is an epicontinental flexural foredeep basin that spans from northeast Syria to the Straits of Hormuz. The basin is ~900km long and ~200km wide, extending to Syria, Iraq, Iran, and the Persian Gulf. The foredeep sits on top the rifted passive margin of Arabia and is a part of the outer Arabian platform which is bounded by the Zagros fold-thrust belt to the northeast and the inner Arabian platform to the southwest. Within the Iraqi territory, the foredeep is divided into two provinces: the Mesopotamian Plain and Al-Jazira area. The Mesopotamian Floodplain, located in the center and southeast of Iraq, is comprised of the central and southern parts of the foredeep and contains sediments from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The Al-Jazira area, also known as the Khleissia heigh, is located in northwestern Iraq and northeast Syria and is considered the NW extension of the Mesopotamia foredeep on the outer Arabian platform. The foredeep is tectonically active and contains a series of anticlinal folds and faults due to collision between the Eurasian and Arabian plates.

Tectonic Setting
The Mesopotamia foredeep contains a complex of faults, folds, and salt structures. The ENE-SWS fault system is located in the northwestern portion of the foredeep and contains a series troughs in the forms of grabens and half grabens. A portion of the foredeep is inverted resulting in fault-propagation folds above the grabens while the remainder of the foredeep remains tectonically stable and unaffected. The NW-SE fault system contains normal faults that form a complex of grabens and half grabens. The majority of the folds in the foredeep are covered by Quaternary deposits with the exception of the Tikrit, Anah, and Samarra anticlines, which are inverted in the NW-SE fault system. The amplitude of the anticlines decrease towards the southwest of the foredeep which coincides with the decrease of deformation intensity moving away from the Zagros fold and thrust belt towards the outer Arabian platform. There are three types of folds throughout the Mesopotamia foredeep: compressional fault propagation folds, simple buckle folds, and bending folds. The compressional fault propagation folds were developed above inverted basins and reflect the geometry of the grabens or half grabens below. The simple buckle folds are a result of regional compression from collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. The bending folds are identified as long and low amplitudes fold that are believed to be formed due to halokinesis of the Cambrian Hormuz Salt.

Basin Formation
Formation of the Mesopotamia foredeep began during the Cretaceous when the Neo-Tethys Ocean opened resulting in the break-up of Gondwana. During this period, the Kermanshah complex imbricated the Amiran basin, resulting in ~180 km of obduction overlap. Tectonics of the Arabian plate converted from extension to compression during the Middle Cretaceous resulting in reverse reactivation of extension faults. The Paleocene marks the final closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and the start of compression between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. During the Eocene, the closed Neo-Tethys Ocean formed a narrow seaway resulting in reef basins. During the Middle Miocene, marine transgression progressed and formed shallow basins that contained carbonates in open lagoons and evaporites in closed lagoons. Collision of the Neo-Tethys and Arabian plate during the Late Miocene marked the transition from marine deposits to continental and clastic deposits. Collision between the Neo-Tethys Ocean and Arabian plate continued into the Pliocene where major thrusting occurred resulting in uplift of the Zagros orogeny. With continuous uplift of the Zagros orogeny came rapid erosion which was deposits into the nearby Mesopotamia foredeep. As uplift continued into the Pliocene-Pleistocene, the foredeep continued to sink and resulted in extension faults and long anticlines formed in the Zagros fold and thrust belt.

Depositional History
The stratigraphy of the Mesopotamia foredeep can be divided into syn-rift and post-rift units with the syn-rift units extending from the Pre-Cambrian to the Early Cretaceous and post-rift units extending from the Early Cretaceous to present. Post-rift units can be further divided into terrestrial (Upper Miocene to present) and marine deposits (Cretaceous to Middle Miocene). The marine deposits are dominantly limestone and mudstone/clay while the terrestrial deposits are a combination of conglomerates, sandstones and anhydrites. Units thicken towards the Zagros fold and thrust belt to ~12 km and thin towards the inner Arabian platform to ~3 km.

The Mesozoic sequence contain the majority of the hydrocarbon units with the exception of the Kirkuk Formation, a Tertiary shale that serves as a reservoir. The middle Jurassic Sargula Formation and the upper Jurassic Naokelekan Formation are the main source units. The Early Cretaceous Zubair Formation serves as the main reservoir unit and is influenced by the underlying Late Jurassic Gotnia evaporite sequence (the regional seal).

The Cretaceous was a period of continuous sediment succession due to sea-level rise and elevated temperatures which resulted in open marine carbonate deposits. Paleogene units are dominated by open marine carbonates which grade up into Neogene lagoonal deposits and marine evaporite sequences. The Miocene marine evaporite sequence was deposited during the uplift of the Zagros Orogeny while influence from marine transgression decreased. The Miocene-Pliocene boundary marks the transition from marine deposits to terrestrial deposits caused by the final closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and is dominated by conglomerates, sandstones, and molasse deposits. Quaternary deposits are well-developed in the Iraqi portion of the foredeep and cover three quarters of the entire basin. The Quaternary deposits are diverse (gypsiferous sand, gravel, carbonates, metamorphic rock) and receive sediment from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Hydrocarbon Potential
Exploration in the Mesopotamia basin began in the 1920s and currently contains 73 oil fields. The Mesopotamia basin dominantly contains oil-producing fields. In 2019, Iraq produced 4.7 million barrels of crude oil per day, earning $87 billion in net crude oil export revenue. Up to 80% of the oil reserves are located in carbonate rocks while 95% of gas reserves are found in limestones and dolomites. Gas production mainly occurs in older formations (Paleozoic to Mesozoic) while oil production mainly occurs in Cretaceous formations. Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs are present but are less common in the southern Mesopotamia basin. In the southern Mesopotamia basin, traps are dominantly broad N-S striking anticlines influences by Pre-Cambrian faults and diapiric growth of the Cambrian Hormuz salt.