Jebel Sasan ( ar, جبل ساسان,چياى ساسان) is a large hill in the

Tel Afar District , settlement_type = District , image_skyline = File:Ninevehdistricts.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Tel Afar (orange) in Ninawa governorate , pushpin_map = , pushpin_label_position = right , pus ...

Nineveh Province Nineveh Governorate ( ar, محافظة نينوى, syr, ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ, Hoparkiya d’Ninwe, ckb, پارێزگای نەینەوا, Parêzgeha Neynewa), also known as Ninawa Governorate, is a Governorates of Iraq, governorate in nor ...

of northern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. The name may also be rendered as Jabal Sasan.

Geology

Jebel Sasan is in a transitional folded zone between an alpinotype area to the northeast and the

Arabian Shield The Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) is an exposure of Precambrian crystalline rocks on the flanks of the Red Sea. The crystalline rocks are mostly Neoproterozoic in age. Geographically - and from north to south - the ANS includes parts of Israel, Jor ...

to the southwest. Tectonic movements in the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

caused formation of a rapidly subsiding trough aligned east-west passing below Jabal Sinjar and Jabal Sasan into the Butmah area. Open-sea

globigerina ''Globigerina'' () is a genus of planktonic Foraminifera, in the order of Rotaliida.Glo ...

sedimentation filled the trough at about the same rate as subsidence throughout the Late Cretaceous. The crystalline basement in the Jebel Sasan area is at a depth of about .

Geography

The region includes the anticlines of Jebel Sinjar, Jebel Sinu, Jebel Sasan, Jebel Zambar, Jebel Sheik Ibrahim and Jebel Adaiya. The Jebels Zambar and Ibrahim are sometimes treated as one structure. The Sanjar-Zambar mountain range includes the Teymurlenk (

Tamerlane Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

) hills, which contain the

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

city of

Tal Afar Tal Afar ( ar, تَلْعَفَر, Talʿafar, ) is a city in the Nineveh Governorate of northwestern Iraq, located 63 km (39 mi) west of Mosul, 52 km (32 mi) east of Sinjar Hassuna Tell Hassuna is a tell, or settlement mound, in the Nineveh Province (Iraq), about 35km south-west of Nineveh. It is the type site for the Hassuna culture (early sixth millennium BCE). History of archaeological research Tell Hassuna was found ...

pottery makers, dating to around 6000 BC. These villages are most concentrated in the northern Jazira plains to the north and south of Jebels Sinjar and Ishkaft, to the west and north of Jebel Sasan. Average annual rainfall is about , enough to support dry farming. Jebel Sasan is part of an arc of hills that includes Jebel Abd el-Aziz and Jebel Sinjar to the west, and Jebel Ishkaft, Jebel Ibrahim and Jebel Maqlub to the east. As moist air travels up the valleys of the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

and

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

it deposits moisture on the southern slopes of these hills, creating a more fertile zone to the south of the dry farming area. To the south of Tel Afar in the gap between Jebel Sasan and Jebel Ibrahim there is lower rainfall than to the north, but more groundwater, with many springs along the southern edge of the hills behind Tel Afar. In ancient times this zone contained significant kingdoms. Of these Karana may lie below Tel Afar.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sasan, Jebel Mountains of Iraq Nineveh Governorate