PASCOE, E. H.

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Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Volume XLVIII. First edition of this detailed illustrated study of the petroleum geology of northern Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan, one of the earliest published works on oil exploration in Iraq, by Edwin Pascoe (1878-1949), Director of the Geological Survey of India. The first commercial oil field in Iraq was discovered at Baba Gurgur, near Kirkuk, in 1927.The only volume in the Geological Survey of India series devoted entirely to Mesopotamia, the work is based on Pascoe's survey of the region in 1918-19, following several years of research into the geology of oil-bearing formations in India. It focuses on the potential of the region extending from Tikrit to Mosul, including Jabal Hamrin, Jabal Makhul, Kirkuk, Tauq, and Kani Qadir. Each area is analysed in geographical, geological, and stratigraphic terms, concluding with assessments of natural indications of petroleum, including seepages of tarry oil and bitumen, and of the prospects for drilling in light of local geological structure.The section on Kirkuk discusses Baba Gurgur, soon to become one of Iraq's most productive oil fields. Pascoe observed oil seepages that were being "exploited by an Arab who is said to get 48 kerosene tins full of oil per day", together with hydrogen sulphide emissions and deposits of tarry bitumen. Although he regarded the seepages as "of some importance", he considered the area too structurally complex for drilling because of the uncertainty surrounding

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