Industrial assessment of carbonate rocks using geochemical test: Bekhme Formation of Iraqi Kurdistan Region

Korek Mountain is one of the outstanding mountains in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region; located north of Erbil city. It faces the entrance of the famous Galley Ali Beg gorge with its beautiful waterfall. The exposed rocks at the entrance of the gorge belong to the Bekhme Formation which consists of many types of carbonate rocks with a total thickness of around 100 m. The current study is concerned with the industrial assessment of the exposed carbonate rocks in the Bekhme Formation and to indicate the most relevant industrial uses of the exposed rocks. To perform the industrial assessment, samples were collected from the exposed rocks. The first sample was collected from the bottom of the Bekhme Formation within the Korek anticline and the last one was collected from the top of the formation; at systematic intervals. The collected samples were dried, crushed and ground to powder and were subjected to a XRF test. Upon receiving the chemical composition of the analyzed rocks, it was found that the rocks are very suitable for cement production and could be used in other industries such as paper, paint and sugar with little modification. Accordingly, the weighted averages were calculated to estimate the geological reserve in the studied site.