Comparison of the Manifestations of Western Region-Iraq Karst and Some Typical Karst Areas in the World

Abstract

Karst is one of the geological manifestations that form different earth shapes and scenic landscapes. Which are generally divided into surface landscapes that are important its sinkhole and the sub-surface landscapes. The research aims to compare the manifestations of karst for the study area and the typical karst (holocaust) areas in the world. The most important of which are the caves, which result from the process of dissolution the rocks of all kinds, But the most important rocks formed for karst carbon rocks, especially limestone rock, due to its abundant and moderate solubility. add to evaporated rocks, especially gypsum, come second in the form of karst manifestations. There are several surface landscapes karst forms in the Western Desert such as a Solution and Collapse Sinkhole and subsurface landscapes karst such as cavities formed from carbonate and gypsum rocks. Landscapes karst distribution in variable shapes and dimensions on surfaces of the plateaus on Zor Hauran, Ubaid, Hussainiyat, Amij, Dammam, Umm Er Radhuma, Russ, and Ms`ad within Euphrates Fatha and Zahra formations, which belongs to Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras times. The meaning of the non-typical karst is that the surface karst forms such as (Sinkholes) and the subsurface karst forms such as (cavities) are few in number in addition to the size, depth and dimensions of these phenomena are small compared to the typical karst forms, which are characterized by the abundance of their numbers in addition to the huge size of these karst phenomena. There are a number of reasons and observations that make this phenomenon unclear and not typical for the study area because of Lithology, geomorphology, tectonic, and climatic reasons. In addition to the time factor, which has a main role in the development of karst. The type of karst in Iraq belongs to the arid and semi-arid karst group depending on classification of karst assemblages according to climate.