Mineral resources and occurrences of sodium chloride in Iraq : an overview

Abstract EN

Sodium chloride salt deposits in Iraq are found in many forms.

It is found as beds of rock salt and in the Quaternary inland salterns and sabkhas.

The rock salt layers were deposited in closed basins in various geological times and found in Kurra Chine, Butmah, Adaiyah, Alan, Gotnia, Dhiban and Fatha formations.

Another form of the rock salt is the salt plug at Jabal Sanam in southern Iraq, derived from the evaporites of the Hormuz Series and formed by the upward movement of the salt due to pressure of the overlying sediments and low density of the salt.

On the other hand, the inland salterns are of Quaternary (Holocene) age and formed by the accumulation of salt derived from salt-bearing beds at depth, such as those in the Fatha formation, seeping upward through fault planes or washed from surrounding salt-bearing formations or saline soils and precipitated by evaporation in local depressions.

The main inland salterns are those found in Bowara, Albu-Gharis, Snaisla, Ashgar, Umm Dhiyaba, Al- Tawila and Gzaiz in the Jazera area; Hawija Saltern NE of the Fatha gorge; Shari Saltern near Samarra Khalifa Saltern near Hemrin Mountain, Douz Saltern north of Duz Khurmatu town, Samawa and Umm Al-Tigan salterns in southern Iraq.

Sea water of the Arabian Gulf represents another source of sodium chloride in Iraq.

The Basrah salt plant is constructed to produce sodium salts from seawater and includes a number of artificial basins, some of them are for increasing the salt concentration by solar evaporation of the seawater and the others for salt precipitation.

Sodium chloride is produced by the Ministry of Industry and Minerals for industrial and domestic uses mainly from the Samawa Saltern and from the Basra salt plant.

In addition, numerous small-scale salterns are being exploited for this purpose by the private sector.

The total reserves of sodium chloride have been estimated in the inland salterns by about 50 m.t., but the potential resources are much larger, especially in the rock-salt deposits