Iraq can be divided into five major geological/tectonic provinces: the Widyan
Basin/Arabian platform, the Mesopotamian Foredeep, the Zagros
Fold Belt and the Rutbah and Khleisha Uplifts (Fig. 1).TheWidyan
Basin forms the eastern part of the stable interior of the Arabian
Plate and is composed of sediment deposits that dip gradually to the
northeast. The Mesopotamian Foredeep was formed by subsidence
and sedimentary deposition and is composed of folded sediments
that reach up to 10 km depth. The Zagros Fold Belt is a zone of
elevated and highly folded sediments extending from southeastern
Turkey to the Oman Line.