TY - JOUR ID - TI - Depositional Conditions and Nature of Source Rocks of the Upper Part of the Balambo Formation in Northeastern Iraq Based on Rare Earth Elements Data AU - Falah Abed Al-Miamary AU - Safwan Fathi Al-Lhaebi AU - Ali Ismail Al-Juboury AU - Rudy Swennen PY - 2022 VL - 63 IS - 9 SP - 3804 EP - 3816 JO - Iraqi Journal of Science المجلة العراقية للعلوم SN - 00672904 23121637 AB - The sequence in the upper part of the Balambo Formation is composed mainly oflimestone alternating with marly limestones and dark grey shale in the Bosheensection (eastern Sulaymaniyah, northeastern Iraq) and has been studied in terms ofits rare earth element (REE) content. The REEs are very low compared to modernmarine sediments. They are depletion in LREEs, and enrichment in HREEs and(La/Yb)N in the studied rocks, indicating that these sediments retained the REEspattern of marine waters. The negative Ce anomaly reflects direct sedimentationfrom marine waters under anoxic conditions with the contribution of terrigenousclays. The positive correlation of ΣREEs with Al, Ti, and Y, and the negativecorrelation of ΣREEs with CaO, in addition to the variation in Y/Ho ratio, all mayindicate the presence of terrigenous fractions as the main source for REEs in thestudied strata. The REEs pattern of the upper part of the Balambo Formation mostlyshows original characteristics, some of which were modified by detrital input.According to (La/Yb)N ratios, the sedimentation rate varied during the deposition ofthe Balambo Formation in the function of its position along the continental margin.

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