Shakrook Anticline, a Very Complicated Structural Form, North Iraq, Kurdistan Region

Abstract

The Shakrook anticline has very a complicated structural form, this is attributed to three thrust faults, and the presence of four anticlinal axes with the main anticlinal body. The most northwest existing anticline is called in the current study the Sisawa anticline, the main two anticlines are called the Shakrook East and Shakrook West, whereas the fourth one is called the Biluk anticline it is developed along the southwestern limb of the Shakrook East anticline. The exposed rocks in the Shakrook anticline range from Upper Jurassic to the Paleogene age. The bulk of the main Shakrook anticline is formed by the Bekhme Formation (Upper Cretaceous age), whereas the bulk of the Sisawa anticline is formed of the Shiranish Formation (Upper Cretaceous age) with Paleogene and Neogene aged rocks. Geological maps and high-quality satellite images were used to elucidate the complex structural form of the Shakrook anticline. The updated geological map is quite different from those existing geological maps. A field investigation was carried out to check the interpreted data and to implement photography to the interested structural and geomorphological forms. Different geomorphological forms also were interpreted; they all refer to the lateral growth of the Shakrook anticline.

Sinjar Anticline Northwest of Iraq: A Tectonic Geomorphological Study

“…The Sinjar anticline is an inverted graben (Fouad 2009(Fouad , 2015 as many other southerly existing subsurface folds in the Jazira Plain, like Tayarat anticline (Fouad 2009). The inversion process has increased the deformation of the anticline, besides the lateral growth, which is a characteristic feature of most of the anticlines in the IKR (Ghafur et al 2019, Sissakian et al 20182020, 2021. Moreover, it has caused the Cretaceous rocks to be exposed in the core of the Sinjar anticline.…”

Tectonic development of northeastern part of the Arabian Plate: Examples from Pirmam and Bana Bawi anticlines in the Kurdistan region of north Iraq

“…Majority of the anticlines in the region exhibit lateral growth; which is attributed to the tectonic activity of the region due to the plate collision (Berberian, 1993;Blanc et al, 2003;Bennett et al, 2005;Ramsey et al, 2008;Bretis et al, 2011;Hinsch and Bretis, 2015;Sissakian and Fouad, 2015;Zebari and Burberry, 2015;Koshnaw et al, 2020;). The lateral growth accompanied with the exerted forces due to the collision have obliterated the normal shapes of the anticlines giving rise to en-echelon plunges, swinging of the fold axes and the development of hanging synclines (Sissakian and Fouad, 2015;Sissakian et al, 2021a and2021b).…”