The Geochemical Variation of Trace Elements in Basrah City, South of Iraq

31 surface samples were collected from 15 sites distributed in various industrial, agricultural and residential areas in Basrah governorate to study the mineralogical and geochemical properties as well as study the grain size distribution of the recent sediments that cover the study area. The results of grain size analysis shows high percentage of sand in the western and southern part of Basrah while the northern and eastern parts composed of clays. The mineralogical study showed the predominant minerals in the area were quartz, calcite, gypsum, feldspar, dolomite, and halite while kaolinite, palygorskite, Illite, Chlorite, montmorillonite, and Montmorillonite- Chlorite were the major clay minerals that diagnosed in the study area. The geochemical study of the trace elements shows that the increasing of trace elements concentrations were in the northern and western part of the governorate due to the presence of different industries, while the geochemical study of the rare earth elements shows that the source rocks of the study area sediments was andesite rocks that derived from the igneous rocks in the north and north east of Iraq.