Reservoir Characterization of the Early Jurassic Butmah Formation Using Well Log Data in Selected Wells from Iraqi Kurdistan Region

The reservoir characterization of Butmah Formation (Early Jurassic) was studied in two wells: (AT-1) and (SH-1B) from Atrush and Shaikhan Oilfields respectively, in Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Well logs including;sonic, density, neutron, gamma ray, and resistivity, were employed to investigate the formation. The petrophysical properties, such as lithology, shale volume, porosity, water saturation, hydrocarbon saturation, and bulk water volume, were estimated using Interactive Petrophysics Software (IP). Water saturation, bulk volume of water, residual hydrocarbon, and movable hydrocarbon were plotted as Computer Processed Interpretation (CPI) for Butmah Formation in the studied wells. In order to check reliability of log data, lithology of the formation was detected using neutron-density cross plot and M-N cross plot. The results of log interpretation display that Butmah Formation is composed of dolomite, limestone with anhydrite and shale in the studied wells. The calculated shale volume shows low clay content. Therefore, Butmah Formation is considered as a clean formation in both wells. Porosity was estimated using porosity logs (sonic, density, and neutron) and had the average total porosity of (7% - 8%) in the two wells. Based on the determined petrophysical properties, particularly porosity and hydrocarbon saturation, it can be concluded that Butmah Formation seems potentially good in reserving oil.

GIS Based Soil Erosion Estimation Using EPM Method, Garmiyan Area, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Using empirical model is one of the approaches of evaluating sediment yield. This research is aimed at predicting erosion and sedimentation in Garmiyan area at Kurdistan Region, Iraq used EPM （erosion potential model） incorporating into GIS （geographic information system） software. This basin area is about 1,620 km2. It has a range of vegetation, slope, geological, soil texture and land use types. The spatial distribution of gully erosion shows three main zones in the studied area （slight to moderate gully, high gully and sever fluvial erosion）. They form about 10%, 89% and 1% of gully erosion in the studied area respectively. The results of the EPM model show that the values of the coefficient of erosion Z are classified as moderate to high erosion intensity. They increase northward due to increasing of slope, elevation and rate of precipitation that generate Hortonian overland flow, which is due to high discharge and huge fluvial erosion power that cause ground surface erosion to produce large quantity of sediment. The results of GSP （spatial sediment rate） are increasing northward similar to Z due the same reasons, while the value of total sediment rate, shows different values for each watershed because they are mainly affected by the total watershed area.

A General Overview on Children＇s Rights Situation in Kurdistan Regional Government

Undoubtedly, children are one of the biggest assets of any society and it is the duty of all authorities to have a systematic plan to educate the next generation and make a better life for children so that they can progress and be effective for their communities. In an effort, Kurdistan Regional Government （KRG） has adopted standards to improve the condition for children; however, there are challenges that remain, such as child abuse, child labor, children right＇s law, orphans, street children and etc.. In this paper, a descriptive-analytical method is used to discuss the general situation of children in today＇s Iraqi Kurdistan and the issues such as drug abuse, child labor, orphans and street children, forced marriages, sexual abuse, handicapped children, school dropouts, child soldiers, nutrition, immunization, female genital mutilation and etc. will be explained. The questions this research addresses are： How is the situation of children in Iraqi Kurdistan and what are their challenges？ Also, what is the KRG＇s strategy and through which ways can they make a better life for children and change their current status？ The author believes that nowadays, the KRG is trying to crack down on problems against children; however, their effort is not adequate and some other activities should be performed, one of which is passing the children＇s law against violence.

Groundwater Flow Modeling for Qushtapa Plain Unconfined Aquifer in Southern Erbil Basin, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Increasing population growth and water demand for various purposes such as irrigation, domestic and industrial production in many parts of the Kurdistan Region is causing deficit in fresh water and rising groundwater dependence. Drilling many deep wells in the area unsystematically and continuously increased pumping water from groundwater reservoirs results in lowering of water table. Therefore, it is essential to assess the management of water resources. The study focuses on the groundwater modeling for the Qushtapa District plain area in particular under steady state flow conditions. The aquifer was simulated under unconfined condition and is represented by a single layer of 100 m thickness. MODPATH was used to measure contamination track lines and travel times. This approach involved the introduction of particles at sources of contaminants in the wells and the recharge area, then the identification of the path lines and the determination of the special distribution of contaminants through steady state flow conditions. The simulation of the groundwater head shows that the groundwater head starts from the northeastern part of the plain and decreases towards Lesser Zab River in the south of the plain from 420 m to 140 m above sea level. The modeled layer was calibrated under steady state conditions using hydraulic parameters obtained from observation and pumping wells. The calibrated model is effective in producing steady-state groundwater head distribution and good compliance with observed data. The standard error was estimated as 4.88 m, the normalized root mean square error is 8.3% and the residual mean is 15.79 m. The results of the forward tracking show the source of potential pollutants from the recharge area after different travel time, the particles released at the northern boundary travels to the center and the western part toward the pollution sources. The results of the backward tracking show that the particles located in the extraction wells moved toward the recharge area in the north and northeastern part of the study area.

Macro Rain Water Harvesting Network to Estimate Annual Runoff at Koysinjaq (Koya) District, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Macro rainwater harvesting techniques (Macro RWH) are getting more popular to overcome the problem of water scarcity in arid and semi-arid areas. Iraq is experiencing serious water shortage problem now despite of the presence of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. RWH can help to overcome this problem. In this research, RWH was applied in Koya City in its districts, North West Iraq. Twenty-two basins were identified as the catchment area for the application of RWH technique. Watershed modeling system (WMS), based on Soil Conservation Service-curve number (SCS-CN) method, was applied to calculate direct runoff from individual daily rain storm using average annual rainfall records of the area. Two consecutive adjustments for the curve number were considered. The first was for the antecedent moisture condition (AMC) and the second was for the slope. These adjustments increased the total resultant harvested runoff up to 79.402 × 106 m3. The average percentage of increase of harvested runoff volume reached 9.28%. This implies that water allocation is of the order of 2000 cubic meter per capita per year. This quantity of water will definitely help to develop the area.

Estimation of annual harvested runoff at Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Kurdistan region of Iraq

Kurdistan Region (KR) of Iraq has suffered from the drought period during the seasons 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 that affected the human and economic activities of the region. Macro rainwater harvesting (Macro RWH) is one of the techniques that can ensure water availability for a region having limited water resources. This technique is based on Soil Conservation ServiceCurve Number (SCS-CN) method and the Watershed Modeling System (WMS) was used to estimate the runoff. Rainfall records of Sulaymaniyah area for the period 2002-2012 were studied and an average season was selected (2010-2011). The results of the application of the WMS model showed that about 10.76 million cubic meters could be harvested. The results also showed that the quantity of the harvested runoff was highly affected by rainfall depth, curve number values, antecedent moisture conditions (AMC) and the area of the basins.

Drought mapping using Geoinformation technology for some sites in the Iraqi Kurdistan region

Iraq has suffered severely from drought in recent years and the year 2008 was the driest,particularly in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.This study incorporated Geoinformation technology into mapping the drought that severely affected the Kurdistan region in the years 2007
2008.Geoinformation technology provides support in the theories,methods and techniques for building,and development of Digital Earth aspect.Five vegetation,soil,water,and land surface temperature(LST)indices were applied to two Landsat 7 ETMimageries of June 2007 and June 2008,to assess the drought impacts in Erbil governorate Kurdistan during the study period.The indices that were employed in this study were Normalized Difference Vegetation Index,Bare Soil Index,Normalized Differential Water Index,Tasseled Cap Transformation Wetness,and LST.The results revealed a significant decrease in the vegetative cover(56.7%)and a decline in soil/vegetation wetness(29.9%)of the total study area.Likewise,there was a significant reduction in the water bodies surface area in the region such as Dokan Lake,which lost 32.5%of its surface area in comparison with the previous year,2007.The study results showed that the soil moisture content was the most effective actor on the vegetative cover,LST,and drought status in the study area.

The Pushtashan juvenile suprasubduction zone assemblage of Kurdistan (northeastern Iraq): A Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Neo-Tethys missing link

The Pushtashan suprasubduction zone assemblage of volcanic rocks, gabbros, norites and peridotites occurs in the Zagros suture zone, Kurdistan region, northeastern Iraq. Volcanic rocks are dominant in the assemblage and consist mainly of basalt and basaltic andesite flows with interlayered red shale and limestone horizons. Earlier lavas tend to be MORB-like, whereas later lavas display island arc tholeiite to boninitic geochemical characteristics. Tholeiitic gabbros intrude the norites and display fractionation trends typical of crystallisation under low-pressure conditions, whereas the norites display calc-alkaline traits, suggesting their source included mantle metasomatised by fluids released from subducted oceanic crust. Enrichment of Rb, Ba, Sr, Th and the presence of negative Nb anomalies indicate generation in a suprasubduction zone setting. Trondhjemite and granodiorite intrusions are present in the volcanic rocks, gabbros and norites. SHRIMP U-Pb dating of magmatic zircons from a granodiorite yields a mean^(206)Pb/^(238)U age of 96.0 ±2.0 Ma(Cenomanian). The initial ε_(Hf) value for the zircons show a narrow range from +12.8 to+15.6, with a weighted mean of + 13.90±0.96. This initial value is within error of model depleted mantle at 96 Ma or slightly below that, in the field of arc rocks with minimal contamination by older continental crust. The compositional bimodality of the Pushtashan suprasubduction sequence suggests seafloor spreading during the initiation of subduction, with a lava stratigraphy from earlyerupted MORB transitioning into calc-alkaline lavas and finally by 96 Ma intrusion of granodioritic and trondhjemitic bodies with juvenile crustal isotopic signatures. The results confirm another Cretaceous arc remnant preserved as an allochthon within the Iraqi segment of the Cenozoic Zagros suture zone. Implications for the closure of Neo-Tethys are discussed.

中东局势的新动向与地区格局的新变化

当前中东地区继续呈现冲突激化、战乱不断的动荡场景,叙利亚、伊拉克等旧有热点依然温度不减,继续占据各国新闻媒体的醒目位置,而一度沉寂的也门也经受战火"洗礼",成为舆论关注热议的新起焦点,俄土军机事件则再次给本已火爆的地区局势"火上浇油"。中东局势的持续动荡推动地区政治格局的演变,随着埃及难以恢复旧日威望、沙特影响日益上升,阿拉伯世界的政治版图呈进一步碎片化之势,土耳其忧患加重、伊朗以守为攻、以色列相对被外缘化等因素共同促使地缘力量对比朝向新形态发展。从外部结构看,美国仍然是决定该地区秩序的核心力量,欧洲日渐衰落难以成为主要角色,俄罗斯则强势回归地区前台,诸多域外势力的沉浮起落也对地区战略格局的变化和走势产生着重大而深远的影响,而这又决定地区格局未来数年内仍旧处于变幻不定之中、继续在跌宕曲折中前行。

伊拉克局势与英国政府的政策选择

2014年6月以来,"伊斯兰国"迅猛发展,并加速了伊拉克政治版图瓦解的速度,伊拉克库尔德地方政府劫后余生,更加坚定了独立的信念。这种情势引起域外大国的警觉,并采取不同的应对之策。英国议会于2014年9月通过了在伊拉克实施军事行动的议案,其主要考量因素有:针对"伊斯兰国"采取有效的打击行动;加强库尔德地方政府的防御能力;坚持伊拉克作为统一国家的存在。国际社会需要注意到伊拉克政治和社会凝聚力持续下降的趋势,前瞻性地看待伊拉克问题,在此基础上对"伊斯兰国"实施切实可行的打击战略。