Arab J Geosci

DOI 10.1007/s12517-009-0102-9

ORIGINAL PAPER

Environmental changes in the wetlands of Southern Iraq

based on palynological studies
Thamer Khazal Al-Ameri & Sahar Y. Jassim

Received: 19 February 2009 / Accepted: 21 October 2009

# Saudi Society for Geosciences 2009

Abstract Palynological techniques are useful in reconstructing past environments, especially when other sources
of information are lacking. We have embarked on a
palynological study of the wetlands in Southern Iraq in an
attempt to determine the nature and extent of past plant
communities and other conditions prior to the drying of the
wetland in the 1990s. Ten 1-m depth cores were collected
from selected locations in marshes and shallow open water
wetlands in Mesopotamian wetlands of Southern Iraq.
Pollen diagrams from three short cores from the Hawizeh
wetlands serve as a reference because this site has not been
drained. The palynomorphs in these cores were Gramineae,
Chenopodiaceae, Typha, Isonandra lanceolata, Bursarea,
Artocarpus, Ireantea, Arenga, Crinum, Palmae, Navia,
Tofieldia, Ipomorea, Xyris, and Morus. Fungal spores
including Polyporisporites, Pluricellaesporites palyadosporites, Fusiformisporites, Spegazzinites indicus, Diporisporites, Plochmopellinites, Lycoperdon, Miliolinites,
Dryadosporites constrictus, and Trichothyrites padapakarensis were noteworthy. Charcoal was scattered through the
cores and indicate activities associated with human settlements. Many other forms of cuticles, filaments, insects,
algae, and foraminifera test linings were also recorded. A
second set of pollen samples were analyzed from 160 soil
samples from eight cores collected from the wetland area
which was dried during the 1990s. These data show a
T. K. Al-Ameri (*) : S. Y. Jassim
Department of Geology, College of Science,
University of Baghdad,
Baghdad, Iraq
e-mail: thamer_alameri@yahoo.com

mixture of pollen and spores that could be used to evaluate

past vegetation, climatic, and ecological changes. Preliminary results indicated that chenopodiaceous have increased
while germinate types have declined which probably
reflected desertification and a trend towards a more aeolian
landscape during the 1990s. It is hoped that these studies
will be useful in establishing conditions of the wetlands
prior to destruction and will assist in setting restoration
goals in the future. Case studies of one deep borehole
(153 m) near Amara city for evaluating late Quaternary
history and dig of 3 m depth to evaluate ancient
desertification by wetland dryness were taken for correlation and connection with this recent sediment.
Keywords Ahwar . Wetland . Southern Iraq . Pollen .
Fungi . Paleoenviroments

Introduction
Palynological studies for soil samples are well established
to evaluate environmental changes and paleovegetation
(Zonneveld 1996; Traverse 1988; Horn 1994; Wicander
and Monroe 2004), human impact and adaptation (Eriksen
and Straus 1998; Yasuda et al. 2000), sea level changes and
the flood catastrophe (Al-Ameri et al. 2000; RossignolMartine 1995), rise and demise of human culture (Robert
1998; Leroi-Gourhan 1981), and many other disciplines all
coupled with a science called Quaternary Palynology that
deals with natural events during human life on earth.
In this scenario, studies based on pollen diagram are
done on the wetland area in Southern Iraq, Ahwar in local

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terminology for wetland areas and special type of living for

their environmental changes especially the plant communities and local climatic equilibrium in this area as part of the
global model prior to and after the wetland dryness in
1990s as well as the Holocene history of the nature and
human settlements and evolution in Southern Mesopotamia.
Historically, Southern Mesopotamian peoples developed
the earliest civilization of the world.
The wetland (Ahwar) area have been formed since the
deluge time of the main post global glacial melt
10,000 years ago that raised oceanic water level to 70 m
(the last and the more active successive rise during the ice
melting 18,000 to 10,000 years ago) and hence oceanic
water from the Arabian sea were pushed in transgression to
the greater Mesopotamian valley and formed the Arabian
Gulf since the early Holocene (Purser 1973; Uchupi et al.
1996; Al-Ameri et al. 2000). This scenario was proven in
the global context by Larcomb et al. (1995) based on coral
reef changes in the Great Barrier Reef of the East
Australian shelf and by Rossignol-Martine (1995) on the
basis of pollen records in the Eastern Mediterranean for the
glacialinterglacial transitions. Retreat of this transgressed
oceanic water 6,000 years ago (Al-Ameri 2000; Aqrawi
2001) have formed the theme for the water fill in the
depressions of Southern Iraq while continued water supply
from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have formed this
continued ecosystem of the wetland in Southern Iraq. This
wetland ecosystem could be represented as part of the
cyclic successive stages of geographic development of past,
present, and future in Mesopotamia (Al-Ameri et al. 2000)
as a response to transgressions and regressions of the latest
glacial epoch on earth.
Accumulated sediments in this wetland area are fluvial
clay and sand during the Pleistocene while the Holocene
sediments are of fluvial sand, marsh organic sediment,
marine sand and silt, peat and fluvial clay and silt.
Ahwar region of Southern Mesopotamia represent today
the locally semiarid region bound by temperate region in
the north and arid region in the south, between these is
vegetated area and well-adapted human life throughout
history. Hence, any environmental change could disturb this
equilibrium and desertification will happen as well as soil
destruction. (Monroe et al. 2007). The present global
warming could accelerate this scenario. But keeping the
water cover of the Ahwar could keep this equilibrium in
stable position, otherwise catastrophe could happen.
Accordingly, this study is aimed for the clarification of
environmental and climatic changes, involving Ahwar
dryness in South Iraq to predict solutions for preventing
present and future catastrophe of desertification, food
resources shortage, and local people suffering. For this
goal, studies will be performed for the historic development
of this wetland and case studies of this phenomenon during

the late Quaternary history of the Mesopotamia in South

Iraq as well as present changes.

Materials and methods

For the fulfillment of this study, soil samples were collected
from localities illustrated in Fig. 1 with latitude and
longitude values. They are of the following types:
1. Eight hand cores of 1 m depth. They are surface cores
collected from marshes (Ahwar) and wetland areas
(Fig. 2) of Al-Athem (3142/4745), Ummulnaage
(3136/4734) and (3135/4740), AlBaghdadia (3102/4702), Al-Mashab (3040/
4745), Al-Kurmashya (3049/4634), and Abo
Zarak (3109/4638) and (3105/4637). Fourteen to 18 soil samples were collected from each of
these cores.
2. Dig hole of 3 m depth in the archeological site of
Ummulakareb area, 25 km west of Al-Rifae city of AlNasiriyah region with location of (4548/3135).
Seventeen samples were collected systematically from
this dig hole as well as five samples from the royal
house of the same archeological site.
3. Drilling cores of deep boreholes were performed
according the following:
(a) Borehole 18 drilled by the Metallurgical and Geological
Survey Company located between the cities of Qurna and
Amarah within (4725/3125) and of 152 m depth.
Sixty soil samples were collected systematically.
(b) Borehole Abo-Zarak of 33 m depth located in Ahwar
Abo-Zarak, 25 km northeast of the city of Nasiriyah.
One hundred twenty soil samples were collected
systematically.
Palynological preparations are performed by standard
maceration techniques of HCl and HF treatment, acetolysis,
sieving with 16 m nylon mesh, stained with safranin, and
slicked on slide by glycerin oil and/or celusize. They have
been stored in the Department of Geology, College of
Science, University of Baghdad.

Late Quaternary history

It is evident from the pollen diagram (Fig. 3) of deep
borehole no. 18 40 km south of the city of Amarah (AlAmeri et al. 2000) that this succession could be correlated
with the late Quaternary period of the last 50,000 years of
earth history in this locality and could be subdivided into
three main stratigraphic intervals of historic events on
Mesopotamian peoples. These are:

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Fig. 1 Location map of the studied sections in Southern Mesopotamia

Latest Pleistocene nature

This constitutes the interval of deeper than 62 m and
characterized by no marine-inhabited palynomorph, abundant
chenopodiaceous and Artemisia pollen with few palmate,
poaceae, and fungi. These characteristics could indicate land
area with no marine influence and cold arid to humid
paleoclimate according to the comparison with environmental
significance of major pollen producers of the last 40,000 years
in earth history of the Middle East (El-Muslimani 1987 and
Zeist and Bottema 1977) and their habitat (Barnet 1989). The
age interval of this succession is 11,00050,000 years before
present by comparison with the global interval of Traverse
(1988) and sealand correlation of pollen records in the
Eastern Mediterranean for the glacialinterglacial transition
(Rossignol-Martine 1995) and palaeolithic landscape of
Europe (Van Andel and Tzedakis 1996).
Accordingly, this interval is equivalent to the late glacial
age of the Quaternary that stored 70 km3 of ice on land
which affected the sea level to stabilize with 130 m below
the present sea level (Wicander and Monroe 2004). The
effect of this natural phenomenon in the Middle East is the

extension of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in a valley

represented today by the Arabian Gulf to make their input
to the Arabian Ocean in the Hormuz Strait (Fig. 4) with
some tributaries within the valley to form delta. This delta
is evident by microtopography provinces of the Arabian
Gulf (Uchupi et al. 1996) based on data from 3.5 kHz
recording obtained during Atlantis II cruise 93 leg 18
supplemented with data obtained during leg 17. That valley
with its river tributaries, lakes, water falls from mountains
of the present location of the Arabian Gulf Island such as
Bahrain, and the temperate climate (Servant et al. 1993;
Starkel 1993) could have attracted human settlements that
cultivated the area and domesticated some animals. Probably, they used woody boats of the ancient time for their
aquatic transport in a Paleolithic culture (Al-Ameri 2001).
Anthropological studies, viz Wicander and Monroe (2004)
and Stanley (1989), have gathered evidences that CroMagnon humans closely resemble European and Middle
Eastern today man who had evolved since 35,000 years ago.
He characterized by brain volume of about 1,6001,900 cm3
and 170220 m tall while modern man have brain volume of
1,4001,800 cm3 and of 160190 m tall. They have been

Arab J Geosci

characterized by brain volume 1,4001,600 cm3 and

<170 cm tall with muscles have settled in caves of high
mountains such as Northern Iraqi caves such as Shanidar
Cave (Solecki 1957; Braidwood and Bruce 1960), as well as
caves of Northern Spain, Northern France, and Germany to
avoid ice storms and the very cold climate.
With the appearance of Cro-Magnons, human's evolution
has become almost entirely cultural rather than biological,
their culture was the Paleolithic. They were mainly hunters
who used a variety of specialized tools in their hunts,
including perhaps the bow and arrow. They were also
skilled in drawing, painting, and making rock art.
Early Holocene environments

Fig. 2 Selected photographs of 1-m depth cores in the soil of Ahwar

of Southern Iraq

recorded in Southern France and the Middle East mainly in

the coasts of the Mediterranean ocean and lowest Mesopotamia in the valley of what we call today the Arabian Gulf.
But communities of that humans have retreated during the
last cold glacial period (22,00010,000 years ago) to the low
valleys of warm climate which was probably the lowest
Mesopotamian area of the Arabian Gulf region before its
filled with oceanic water while the Neanderthal man who
Fig. 3 Pollen diagram of the
deep borehole no. 18 30 km
south of Amara city showing
climatic changes and oceanic
transgression time during the
late Quaternary history of
Southern Mesopotamia, modified after Al-Ameri et al. (2000)

This constitutes the depth interval in borehole 18 of 62 up

to 13 m with time interval of 10,5007,500 years before
present. Sediments of this interval is of mainly clay and
characterized by occurrence of the marine inhibitors
dinoflagellate cysts, aquatic fungi, foraminifera test lining
(FTL), and fossils gastropods and pelecypods with terrestrial pollen to indicate marine influence by comparison with
studies of the marine-inhabited palynomorph by Barnet
(1989) and Tyson (1995). On the other hand, spores and
pollen of land plant in these sediments have shown high
occurrences of poaceae (Graminidites and Graminea
cerealea) that could indicate summer rainfalls and irrigation
as well as winter rainfall to that formed in humid air (ElMuslimani 1987). The presence of palms, indicated by the
records of Pinanga and Iriatria (Fig. 5), could indicate high
temperature while chenopodiaceous and Artemisia have
decreased to confirm changes equivalent to global ice melt
with the end of the last glacial age of Europe and North

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Fig. 4 Successive stages of geographic developments of past, present, and future events in Mesopotamia during the late Quaternary

America and hence the Holocene stage influencing the

earth to mark its start at 10,500 years before present
(Traverse 1988; Wicander and Monroe 2004). Ice melt were
charged to the sea water and hence raised the global sea
level to 70 m (Larcomb et al. 1995). Rising sea level and
rainfalls have forced sea water to be transgressed on
lowlands around the Mediterranean and hence all CroMagnon people sink in the oceanic water. On the other
hand, Arabian Sea water forced to flow on the lowlands of
the Yemeni coasts and pushed toward the valley of
Southern Mesopotamia between Hormes Strait and Southern Iraq (Fig. 4) and formed the present Arabian Gulf.
Transgressed water had covered most parts of Iraq as
evidenced by the records of dinoflagellate cysts in
Euphrates River upstream near the cities of Ramadi and
Qaem. These cysts are recorded also in South Iraq with
equivalent carbon isotopes dating (C12 and C13) of
10,000 years ago. It have been retreated to form coasts
near the present locations of Amara and Nasiriyah cities
with formation of the Tigris and Euphrates delta in
Southern Iraq instead of Hormes Strait locality (Aqrawi
and Evans 1994; Al-Ameri et al. 2000).
That transgressed oceanic water and the heavy rainfall
have covered the lowlands and killed their Cro-Magnon
occupants around the Mediterranean Ocean, while such
deluge in the Arabian Gulf site and Mesopotamia was also
catastrophic as it said in the Holy Bible and Holy Qur'an.
Those who lived in that valley sunk below the deluged
water and hence killed the occupants. Excepted from that
catastrophe was God's messenger Noh who built a ship
made of wood and floated with his followers in the northern

direction of oceanic water currents to a safe place, probably

stopped by the Northern Iraq mountains where there was no
evidence of marine influence 10,500 years ago. The ocean
water currents and climate stabilized after their long
journey and the ship settled at last in the retreated
transgressed water and evolved coast of the Northern
Amara and Nasiriya localities where the birds inhabited in
the Ahwar (wetland) region. That transgressed water could
have filled the depressed areas in the middle and Southern
Iraq during its retreat (Fig. 3) with passage connections to
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and good soil to be ready for
cultivation and domestication. Hence, Noh's followers
might have dispersed in the localities of the ancient cities,
Ur, Arido, and Legash, to initiate the first known world
civilization of the Sumerian's. That deluge time ranged in
time before, during, and after shipment and might had
spanned between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago. It was
called the Nohian Time in this study to characterize the
earliest known civilized culture in Southern Mesopotamia.
The subsequent culture in Mesopotamia during that warm
and humid climate was Ubaid culture which is equivalent to
Neolithic and Chalcolithic terms used in Europe. The Ubaid
culture involved evolution of highly civilized culture in
ancient cities like (Al-Ubaid), Ur, and Legash. An equivalent culture was Halaf and Hassuna on Tigris River
between the present locations of Mosul and Baghdad cities.
Environmental and cultural changes toward present time
This constitutes the depth interval in borehole 18 of 13 m
up to the surface with time interval of 7,500 years B.P. up

Arab J Geosci
Fig. 5 Pollen records and their
plant affinity of Ahwar soil
cores of <1 m depth in Southern
Mesopotamia: 1 Graminidites
(Poacea), 2 Graminea cerealea
(Corn), 3 Tricalysia (Rubiacea),
4 Typha (Typhacea), 5 Isonandra (Sapotacea), 6 Campanula
(Campanulacea), 7 Alnus (Betulacea-Alder), 8 Bursera (Burseracea), 9 Artocarpus
(Moracea), 10 Pinanga (Palmae), 11 Iriatria (palmae), 12
Crinum (Liliacea), 13 Navia
(Bromeliacea), 14 Tofieldia (lilliacea), 15 Nuphar (Numphacea), 16 Chnopodium
(Chenopodacea), 17 Moras
(Moracea). Scale bar=20 m

to present time. Sediment of this interval is mainly clay and

sand and characterized by slow progradation of shore line
and gradual changes in climate in South and Southwestern
Iraq by slight increase in temperate and increase of average
annual evaporation rates to more than rainfall precipitation
rate (Starkel 1993) and the formation of evaporates bed. In
general, the paleoclimate was semiarid warm. Within this
climate cycle, there were time intervals where increasing
rainfall precipitation and decreasing temperate which
adapted vegetation cover of palms, poaceae, Artemisia,
and Graminea cerealia. Climatic interruption includes
events of arid cold that produced Artemisia shrubs. Climatic
change and vegetation collapse and shortage of food were
equivalent to short ice age in the northern hemisphere and

volcanic activity in the Jordanian Desert, while an event of

increased rainfall precipitation with increased poaceae and
cultivated plants was during the Sumerian and Babylonian
cultures. On the other hand, many sea level oscillations
(Larcomb et al. 1995) have caused many floods such as
floods of Ur (5,400 years B.P.) and Kish (4,850 years B.P.)
evident by flood plain deposits (Yacoub et al. 1985) and the
archeological records reported from Sumerian mud plate
scripts. During that flood time, the Atonabishtem legend
has been written. It said that he is the immortal who
voyaged through the flood and floated with his group in a
ship that saved them from the flood.
Succeeded that climatic cycle is the last 3,000 years
where the shore line regressed to its present location in the

Arab J Geosci

city of Fao (Fig. 4) and evidenced by the disappearance of

marine inhibitors such as dinoflagellate cysts in the
sediments of Southern Iraq. That was due to sediment
accumulation and gradual isostasy affect after the main
transgression of 10,500 years B.P. The main result was
changing location of ocean and land stabilization of Ahwar
to force the Euphrates and Tigris rivers to unite in Qurna
city and flow together in shatt Al-Arab which discharges
their water in the Arabian Gulf in Fao city while climates of
semiarid warm continued till the present except the time
equivalent to the little ice age which spanned 950200 years
before present and expressed semiarid and cold climate
with abundant Artemisia up to 79% in a depth of 0.60.8 m
with decrease in poaceae down to 3%.

Palynomorph records of recent soil

Many organic matters are recorded through microscopic
studies of the prepared slides from the studied sediments
(refer to Figs. 1 and 2) of 1 m cores (2, 1A, 11A, 8C, 11C,
K6A, AZ5, and AZ11) within the wetland locality of
Ahwar of Southern Iraq (Athem and Uummilnaage in
Ahwar Al-Hwaiza, Al-Baghdadia, Al-Mashab, AlKurmashiya, and Abo Zarak). These are mainly taxa of
pollen and fungi with some occurrences of many others
dispersed organic matter that have hard carotene parts such
as algae, FTL, plant cuticle and tracheids, algal filament,
and merostome arthropods (Figs. 5, 6, and 7). These
organic matters are mainly preserved in this study as peat
layer and formed high plant fragments within the load of
the flood to this wetland as well as the aquatic inhibitors of
the fungi in Ahwar stagnant basin within sand and clay.
Other deposits of this studied area is either brownish gray
sandy clay, greenish gray or black silty clay, brown or black
clay, or brown or black peat that formed from successive
flooding to the Ahwar. The deepest layer is fossiliferous
(with mainly small gastropods) greenish gray marl and clay.
Pollen and mainly fungi are not transported far from
their source and hence deposited within one specific
wetland area called hoar (singular of Ahwar in local
language) and could be grouped into a statistical community for each specific hoar. Finding their affinities could
help in the clarification of contemporaneous vegetation and
hence the responses to environmental changes leading to
reconstructing the paleoecological framework for each time
interval. These analysis relay on accurate identification by
comparison with palynomorph records from Amazon sediments (Horn 1994; Absy 1979; Rull 2003), wetland of
southwest India (Tissot et al. 1994; Ramanujam and Rao
1978; Keddy et al. 1982; Patil and Ramanujam 1988), river
deposit of Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik 1986), Florida Everglades (Willard et al. 2004), Eastern Mediterranean and

Arabian sea sediments (Zonneveld 1996; D'Albore 1998),

Weavermille Formation from Northwestern California
(Barnet 1989), and pollen analysis of Northwest Europe
(Moore and Webb 1978).
Accordingly, the recorded palynomorphs are the following:
Pollen types
These are reproductive grains of land and aquatic vascular
plant. They are listed below with general description and
affinities for each genus (Fig. 5).
Alnus They are tetrazonoporate with shallow pores
connected within each two pores in a line. They are of
Betulacean affinity of alder trees and hence their presence is
an indication that they are wind derived, especially if we
know their rare records in Mashab locality only (Fig. 5, 7).
Artocarpus They are trizonoporate with thick wall and of
punctuate sculptures. They belong to Moracea of large trees
cultivated in Southwest India (Tissot et al. 1994) and are
present in this study in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Atheim and
Ummulnaage; Fig. 5, 9).
Brocchinia They are ellipsoidal-shaped monocolpate with
large colpus, thin exine, and reticulate sculpture. They
belong to Bromeliaceae of tubular herb that grow in
meadows and shrubs lands in Eastern Venezuelan Guyana
(Rull 2003). They are present in this study in Ahwar of
Baghdadia and Abo Zarak (Fig. 5, 10).
Bursera They are tetrazonoporate with thick wall and high
structure elevation of each pore. They have affinity to
Burseracea and with wind transport and records in Ahwar
of Baghdadia (Fig. 5, 8).
Campanula They are spherical tetrazonoporate with echinate sculpture. The pore is located in the slightly sunken
area of the exines. Their affinities are Campanulaceae and
are recorded in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 5, 6).
Chenopodium They are spherical polypantaporate and used
as index for desertification (El-Muslimani 1987) with
affinities to chenopodacea (Fig. 5, 16; Barnet 1989).
Crinum Oval forms of monosulcate and with echinate
sculpture. They have affinity to lilliacean flowers (Willard
et al. 2004) and are of aquatic habit. They mainly occur in
Ahwar Al-Hawiza (Fig. 5, 12).
Graminidites Spherical forms of thin exine, crumbled wall,
and one pore. They are an index of rainfall and wettability.
Their affinity is poaceae (grass; Fig. 5, 1).

Arab J Geosci
Fig. 6 Fungi records of Ahwar
soil cores of <1 m depth in
Southern Mesopotamia: 1 Glomus, 2 Polyadosporites, 3 Trichothyrites 4 Involutisporites, 5
Fusiformisporites, 6 Ostiole of
Plochmopellinites, 7 Spegazzinites, 8 Diporisporites, 9 Dyadosporites, 10 Plochmopellinites,
11 Lycoperodon, 12 Pluricellaesporites, 13 Ascus for sexual
reproduction, 14 Miliolinites, 15
Diporisporites. Scale bar=
20 m

Graminidites cerealia Spherical forms of thick exine and

clear one pore. They have affinity to poaceae and mainly
are cultivates for food (Fig. 5, 2).
Iriantea They are spherical to oval shaped with one sulcus
and clavate sculpture. They have affinity to the tribe
Irianteaceae of the palmae (Fig. 5, 11).

Isonandra Ovoid form with tetrazonocolporate and scabrate

exine. They have affinity to sapotaceae with marsh habit. Previous
records are from wetlands of Southwest India (Tissot et al. 1994)
and the present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 5, 5).
Morus Spherical form of diporate and psilate exine. They have
affinity with Moracea. Previous occurrence is in the wetlands of

Arab J Geosci
Fig. 7 Dispersed organic matters of Ahwar soil cores <1 m
depths in Southern Mesopotamia: 1 Pediastrum simplex
(Chlorococale algae), 2 and 3
tracheid of plant branches, 4
spine detached from an insect, 5
plant cuticle, 6 piece of Limulus
wing, 7 aquatic merostomes
Limulus, 8 termination of the
appendices of Limulus, 9 band
of fungal filaments, 10 chitinous
part of an insect carapace, 11
and 12 FTL of Trochoapiral and
Planispiral. Scale bar=20 m

Florida Everglades (Willard et al. 2004), while its present

occurrence is mainly in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 5, 17).
Navia They are heteropolar of bilateral symmetry with
monocolpate of long colpus up to equatorial diameter and
tectateperforate exine. They have affinities with Bromeliaceae. Previous records are lowland shrubs or tree savannas of
Eastern Venzuelan Guayana (Rull 2003), while present
occurrences are mainly in Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 5, 13).

Nuphar Ovoidal grain, monosulcate, and echinate sculpture. They have affinity with Nymphaceae of palm.
Previous occurrence is in wet prairies of Florida Everglades
(Willard et al. 2004), while present occurrence is in Ahwar
Al-Hwaiza and Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 5, 15).
Toffildia They are subprolate, dicolpate with very long
colpi, and reticulate sculpture. Their affinities is liliaceous
of meadow habit (Rull 2003; Willard et al. 2004), while

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present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza and AlBaghdadia (Fig. 5, 1418).

Typha Circular forms mainly in tetrads with monoulcerate
and reticulate sculpture. Previous occurrence is in the
wetlands of Florida Everglades (Willard et al. 2004), while
its present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza and Abo
Zarak. Their affinity is typhaceae of aquatic habit of mainly
marshes (Fig. 5, 4).

Fungal spores
They are spore grains of the reproductive stage of the
multicellular, nonvascular, heterotrophic organisms belong
to the kingdom Fungi. They could adapt to wet and aquatic
media (Ramanujam and Rao 1971 and Rao and Ramanujam
1976). In the studied area, a wide variety is recorded
(Fig. 6) and forms local communities to make them an
index for environmental assessment.
Ascus It is sag for sexual reproduction and dispersal of
fungal spores (Elsik 1983). They are recorded from Ahwar
of Al-Hwaiza and Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 6, 13).
Diporisporites conspicua Oval, aseptate, and finely granulate
spore with two pores truncated at their ends. Previous records
were river deposits from Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik 1986) while
its present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 6, 815).
Dyadosporonites Fungal spore with two cells, single septa, and
two apertures of one at each end. Previous records were from
Neogene of Southern India (Ramanujam and Rao 1978), while
its present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 6, 9).
Fusiforma sp. nov. Oval grain with one cell having one pore
at one end and rounded at the others with striated sculpture.
They are endemic taxa to Ahwar of Southern Mesopotamia
and recorded from Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 6, 7).
Glomus Fungal chlamydospore aseptate and inapeturate.
The subspherical vesicle is a woolen hyphal tip and retains
a short segment of hypha. Previous records were river
deposits from Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik 1986), while its
present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 6, 1).
Involutisporites sp. nov. Fungal spore of nine-celled,
monoporate, trochospiral, individual cell, subspherical to
cuneate, scabrate sculpture, and some cells with large
germination. Recorded from Ahwar of Abo zarak (Fig. 6, 4).
Lycoperodon Fungal spore aseptate, aporate, shape spherical with elongate and sinuous spines. A previous record

was in Lake Tanganyika in Kenya (Rouse 1962) and in the

river deposit in Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik 1986), while its
present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 6, 11).
Miliolinites nivalis Circular shield-shaped fruit body with
circular detached area at the center and hyphen pseudopodia arise from the outer circle to form connections. Exine is
of fine granulate sculpture. Their affinity is family
Meliolaceae, order Miliolatles. They are highly distributed
in Ahwar such as southwest India (Ramanujam and Rao
1978). Its present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza, AlBaghdadia, and Abo-Zarak (Fig. 6, 14).
Plochmopellinites Circular shield-shaped fruit body with
circular detached central body to form circular cross striate
(Fig. 6, 6) and reticulate sculpture. They have affinity with
Microthyriaceae. Previous occurrence is in the wetlands of
southwest India (Patil and Ramanujam 1988), while its
present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza (Fig. 6, 6 and 10).
Pluricellaesporites Four- to six-celled fungal spore, cells
linear along axis, monoapeturate at one end of long axis,
and spore surface psilate. This specimen is possibly a
germinating case in which the septa are very faint. Previous
occurrence is in river deposits of Zambia (Jarzen and Elsik
1986), while its present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza
(Fig. 6, 12).
Polyadosporits Fungal spore colony composed of numerous individual subspherical cells, colonies generally globosely; cells 815 m diameter, psilate sculpture,
inaperturate, diameter of colonies up to 100 m. Previous
records were from river deposits of Zambia, while a present
record is Ahwar of South Mesopotamia (Fig. 6, 2).
Spegazzinites indicus Spore of inaperturate, 823 m in
diameter, crucially septet to form four subcircular cells, and
sharp-pointed spines. Previous records were from wetlands
of Southwest India (Ramanujam and Rao 1978), while its
present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (Fig. 6, 7).
Trichothyrites Ascomata of flattened, rounded, prominent
ostiole, and radiating hyphae interconnected cells squarish
toward ostiole. Previous records were from wetlands of
Southwest India (Ramanujam and Rao 1978), while its
present occurrence is in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza, Al-Baghdadia,
and Abo Zarak (Fig. 6, 3).

Miscellaneous organic matters

There are other dispersed organic matters excepted from
pollen and fungi; these are:

Arab J Geosci

Pediastrum simplex They are multicellular algae of chlorococcale affinity which are recorded in this study from
Ahwar Abo Zarak and Kurmashiya (Fig. 7, 1).
Trachied Fragments of plant branches with a variety of
surface spines (Fig. 7, 2 and 3).
Cuticle Fragments of plant surfaces that show polygonal
interconnected (Fig. 7, 5).
Arthropod pieces Some of the chitinous parts of phylum
arthropods are hard enough and hence preserved and resist
palynological preparations They could have affinities to
probably merostome arthropods of the limuloid forms (e.g.,
limulus) and crustaceous forms of the worms and gastropods (Tash 1973; Clarkson 1979) These are detached spine,
pieces of limulus wing, aquatic merostomes limulus of
complete view, termination of appendices of limulus, and
carapace of limuloids (Fig. 7, 4, 68, and 10).
Foraminifera test lining There are inner lining of the
calcareous test of benthic foraminifera. Recorded forms
are from Ahwar Al-Baghdadia of specimens' morphtypes
trochospiral (Fig. 7, 11) and planispiral (Fig. 7, 12).
Charcoal They are dark (black) plant pieces that are mainly
indicators of fire and human settlement.

Present climatological and environmental changes

Ahwar of Southern Iraq is a continuity of the Southern
Mesopotamian wetland since 10,000 years ago, i.e., since
the historic deluge time, after which this region became
warm and humid within a semiarid region and hence any
aerial change in this water surfaces will lead to desertification of the same locality. Furthermore, the aquatic
ecosystem of this wetland posses food chain that produce
high quantity and quality of food for humans. This food
could be based on the Ahwar primary producers, mainly of
fungi who make their foods from dissolved mineral
substances. These fungi could form the food for omnivorous and deposit feeders' invertebrates that consequently
form food for predator feeder fishes within the water and
birds on the water surface (Wicander and Monroe 2004),
while plants could grow as aquatic and land plants nearby
the wetland.
Accordingly, the main bases for environmental and
climatic changes are (1) water cover, (2) fungal growth,
and (3) aquatic and land plants. Hence, changes in water
cover either natural or human effect will change the
ecosystem stability, decrease the humidity of the air and,
hence, destroy the primary food producers of the fungi.
Accordingly, collapse of all the food chain in this
ecosystem will lead to death of fish while birds escape to
other places for survival. On the other hand, aquatic and

Fig. 8 Pollen diagram of 1-m depth in Ahwar Al-Hwaiza in the localities of Al-Athem (cores 2 and 1A) and Ummulnaage (core 11A)

Arab J Geosci

land plants will change from humid-adaptive plants to more

arid-adapted plants.
Based on this scenario, our wetland area could be
classified into two main environments during the 1990s,
which is the time of dryness activity. The first case is
Ahwar with continuous aquatic submergence (Ahwar AlHwaiza), while the second case is partial dryness (Ahwar
Al-Baghdadia and Al-Kurmashia) by irrigation plan performed during the 1990s of this century. These differences
might be stored in the sediments as fossil records of the
contemporaneously deposited pollen and other disseminated organic matters with each sediment layer. Pollen
diagram is constructed in Fig. 8 for the first case and
Fig. 9 for the second case. From these pollen diagrams, it

appears that aquatic assemblages of fungi and land plant

with poaceae and palmae is predominant in all the cases but
the generic form will be changed as controlled by the newly
evolved limiting factors of the ecosystem, e.g., salinity and
temperature changes. Other palynomorphs could be used as
index of environmental changes according to the following:
1. Stable aquatic submergence: The indicator forms for
such case could be taken from Ahwar Al-Hwaiza
(Fig. 8) where there are excellent preservation of the
fungal genera: Plochmopellenites, Pluricellaesporites
and the aquatic plants of typhaceae (genus Typha), the
floating lilliacean flowers (genera Crinum and Toffieldia), and the sapotacean marsh plant (genus Isonandra;

Fig. 9 Two pollen diagrams of 1-m cores of Ahwar Baghdadia (core 8C; a) and Kurmashia (core K6A; b)

Arab J Geosci

Fig. 8). Another indicator, but for oceanic influence, is

the FTL, which have been recorded from depths of
more than 40 cm in the substrates of Ahwar AlBaghdadia (Fig. 9). This ecosystem is predominantly
associated with continuous deposition of peat and clay
or clay with high total organic carbon.
2. Desertification indicators: The indicator forms for this
case could be taken from substrates of Ahwar AlBaghdadia and Al-Kurmashiya (Fig. 9) where there
was partial dryness on them during the 1990s. Aquatic
ecosystem changes to indicate that this dryness is the
disappearance of the FTL and the fungal genera
Plochmopellinites and Pluricellaesporites and the evolution of the adaptive fungi of the striate forms
Fusiforma and the echinate form Spegazzinites, while
the land indicator is overwhelming of the desert plant
pollen chenopodiaceous between depths of 5 and 20 cm
(Fig. 9) in the substrate. More sand deposits will be of
equivalent lithology. Such desertification in the land
area could destroy the shrubs and hence domesticated
animals will die by hunger and cultivated plants will
diminish. Accordingly, loss in the human food resources will occur. Furthermore, typhacean aquatic plants
(genus Typha) will be missed (Figs. 5 and 9) and hence
affected local people because they used these woody
tubes in building their accommodation, which have
local term Chbisha and in constructing their boat,
which have extended anterior and have local term
Mashhoof.
3. Human settlement indicators: Charcoals have been
considered as settlement indicators resulting from fire
and cooking processes (Jacobs et al. 1985). Although
people settled there all the time, there is a clear
settlement phase before dryness of the 1990s in Ahwar
Al-Baghdadia as a special case. These settlements
decreased with increase desertification, i.e., peoples
migrated from this locality, while settlement in Ahwar
Al-Hwaiza is sporadic but continuous with time
because water supply is continued.
4. Aquatic ecosystem collapse: The main cause for the
aquatic ecosystem collapse is the food web (Stanley
1989; Raup and Stanley 1978; Al-Ameri 2000). In
Ahwar of Southern Iraq, the main base as primary
producers is the fungi as well as algae and detritus of
land plants. This first level in the food web builds their
biologic body from dissolved mineral materials. The
second level in this food web is limulid merostome,
crustacean arthropods, and zooplankton who consume
their food from the first level, i.e., mainly from fungi.
This second level of the food web contain intermediate
organisms that transfer food to the fishes and birds and
hence played the role as a factory for producing human
food resources of fishes and birds (Fig. 13). Therefore,

any dryness that change the environmental limiting

factors, viz temperature, salinity, and water holding the
dissolved substances, will harm the fungi and force
them to die as it may happen to the Plochmopellinites,
and lilliacea (Crinum and Toffieldia) in Ahoar AlHwaiza (Fig. 8) or adapt themselves to evolve different
species and hence become hard to eat as it has
happened to the Fusiforma and Spegazzinite in Ahwar
Al-Baghdadia and Al-Kurmashiya (Fig. 9). This last
case could destroy the first level of nutrition or the
primary food producers and hence collapsing all the
food chain with decreases of the human food resources
of fishes and birds.

Case study of ancient wetland destruction

To assess the relation of ecologic and climatic changes with
the dawn and demise of cultural development in Sumerian
and Babylonia cities, especially related with Ahwar dryness
and wetland destruction, a palynological study was developed on the archeological site of Tel Ummulakareb 25 km
west of Al-Riffaee city within Al-Nasiriyah region and
within location 4548 to 3125 (Fig. 2).
Our astonishing observation is that the desert area and
sand dunes creep around this archeological site although it
is in the middle of river tributaries within Mesopotamia,
Ahwar, and lakes (Fig. 10). Hence, soil samples from the
vertical section of 3 m depth in an ancient river channel
passing through the ancient city and soil samples from the
walls and the ground of the royal house of the same city are
subjected to this study.
Palynological analysis for these samples based on pollen
analysis taking into consideration the environmentally index
pollen of the terrestrial plants and dinoflagellate cysts of
marine inhibitors (Fig. 11) as well as archeological drawings
carved on clay plates for Ahwar ancient settlement live near

Fig. 10 Desertification and sand dunes creep on beni rchap villagers

near Tel Ummulakareb archeological site

Arab J Geosci
Fig. 11 Environmental index
palynomorphs of the Holocene,
Tel Ummulakareb archeological
site between Diwania and
Nasiriyah cities: 1 Escalonia, 2
Pinus, 3 palmae of Retimonocolpites, 4 Graminidites, 5 Chenopodium, 6 Typha, 7
Lingulodinium, 8 Selenopemphix, 9 FTL. Scale bar=20 m

that ancient city. These drawings showed hunting, collecting

foods within Ahwar, and using boats similar to the present
woody boat, locally called Mashhoof.
Pollen count of the environmentally index palynomorphs
are presented in a pollen diagram of percentages of each
taxa from the total palynomorphs to show changing
abundances through time (Fig. 12). Comparison with
present analogs of their plant affinities; the changes of
environmental habitat, paleoclimates, plant community
during the time of evolution (4,900 years before present),
city development (4,9004,100 years B.P.), and the demise
(4,100 years B.P.) could be evaluated and hence tabulated
in Table 1. Age assignments of the samples are calculated
from sedimentation rates, carbon 14 dating, and the
documented words on clay tablets. To confirm settlement
and cultural development of that city, remote sensing
techniques have showed main ancient rivers were flowing
within the city and around. On the other hand, the tools,
pottery, and jewelers of gold, copper, gems, and shells
stored in the Iraqi Museum of Mesopotamian history were
also recorded as well as the high architecture quality of the

royal house within that ancient city. Palynological evidences are the dominance of cultivated plant pollen such palms
(Palmidites, Phoenix, and Retimonocalpites), wheat (Graminia cereala), and zinnia flower (Escalonia) during the
time interval 2,9002,100 years B.P. (Table 1)
Dinoflagellate cysts occurrences are used to indicate
shore line proximity of that city which was during the
interval 3,5002,200 years B.P. while shore line retreat is
an evidence for dryness of that wetland area. The charcoal
presences of 100% dominance is evidence for fire in
2,100 years B.P. and have added more evidence for dryness
and soil destruction.
Ahwar dryness and/or major fire have collapsed the food
chain resources to that ancient city and destroyed their soil
and hence sand dunes crept on it. That environment had
made very difficult, or no, chances for their plant to grow
again or it may take a longer time than ordinary for growing
again. Palynological evidence for desertification is increasing dominance of chenopodacean pollen because their
mother plants could adapt to very low moisture in the
present time according to El-Muslimani (1987).

Arab J Geosci
Fig. 12 Pollen diagram of 3
1/2 m depth in the flank of an
ancient river within the Tel
Ummulakareb archeological site

Conclusion and suggestions

Analysis of this study have indicated that Ahwar were
formed during deluge time 10,500 years B.P. which
attracted nice qualities of birds and formed an ecosystem
of vegetative area with fishes and different types of aquatic
inhibitors to form foods for human settlement. In such area,
a bird appeared to God's messenger Noh in his voyage on
his ship with his followers to inform him that this place is
good for settlement, and hence, he anchored his ship and
started to rebuild the civilized culture of this new world
following the deluge time.
Wetlands of Ahwar have best soil for food cultivation
and animal domestications through the Mesopotamian

cultures in semiarid area in between oak forest in the north,

palm forest in Southern Mesopotamia, and pine forest in the
northwest with deserts toward Saudi Arabia in the south
and Jordon in the west.
Accordingly, any misused land or Ahwar dryness could
change the climate to arid with sand dunes creep to destroy
this nature as it have happened on Sumerian people of Tel
Ummulakareb ancient city where it had been destroyed by
dryness of their river and hoar by foreigner invaders in
about <2,100 years B.C.
Palynological studies of organic matters in Ahwar's
recent soil have clarified that Ahwar area have stabilized
ecosystem especially in Hoar Al-Hwaiza with continuity of
growing plants in the soil and many phytoplanktons and

Table 1 Case study of an ancient city (Tel Ummulakareb), evolution, development, and demise according to natural environmental changes that
ended with fire and sand dune creep
Dating years B.C.

Habitat

Paleoclimate

Plant community

Human settlements

3,5002,900
2,9002,100

Near shore with wetland

Near share with wetland
and river channel

Cold
Temperate

Human gathering
City evolution

~2,100
>2,100

Share retreat with wetland

Land become dry and
progressed desertification

Temperate
Temperate

Present

Sand dunes

Warm and dry

Wild and some cultivated plants

Dominance of cultivated plants such as palms
(Palmidites, Phoenix, Retimonocalpites),
corn (Cerialia), and Zinia flowers (Escalonia)
Continuous dominance of cultivated plants
100% charcoal in the royal house showing
burning phenomena that indicate probable
historic fire that destroyed all the community
Rare shrub vegetation of mainly chenopodacea

Town development
The demise

Few settlement

Arab J Geosci

fungi made their fertilization from the soil. The fungi

formed the main base as primary food producers for the
food web that produced the human food resources in Ahwar
region (Fig. 13). Limuloids and crustacean arthropods are
the intermediate organisms in the food chain that transfer
food to the human food resources of fishes and birds. On
the other hand, the wetlands of Mashab, Baghdadia,
Kurmashyia, and Abo Zarak were subjected to dryness
during the 1990s and hence have a nonstable ecosystem.
Accordingly, their fungal constituents changed to more
adaptive forms for more aridity and, hence, the food chain
have collapsed and caused decreases in the human food
resources of fishes and birds.
In land plants, extinction of the aquatic and humid forms
was performed with evolution or increased percentages of the
more arid plants, viz chenopodacean. This desertification
phase could destroy the cultivated plants, harm domesticated
animals, and remove agricultural soil into dunes within many
decades as it have happened to Tel Ummulakareb ancient city.
For these reasons, human settlements are forced to immigrate
away from their land (Fig. 12).
Accordingly, we could suggest the following:
1. Reactivation of the Ahwar regions by water from Tigris
and Euphrates rivers to give wettability to the soil and
hence stacked against the wind dunes. Water cover
could rejuvenate the ecosystem and the return to the
initial food chain before dryness. Ten years of dryness
might be very short and hence the Ahwar situation
could be returned by getting more water.
2. Cultivate the area with shrubs, vegetable, and palm in
order to rebuild the agricultural soil, improve the
climate, and get fruits and vegetable out of it, as well
as animal domestication on these vegetation to increase
food resources

Fig. 14 Dreamland of Ahwar region with mini-multi-islands, Chbishas accommodation sites, and Mashhoof boat for transport

3. Reconstruct accommodation sites from the typhacean

tubes abundantly present in this wetland to build
Chbishas for the local human settlements and living on
the dispersed mini-island in the Ahwar region (Fig. 14).
4. Develop the transportation media between these multiislands by improving the local boat (Al-Mashhoof) as
well as different types of ridges.
Acknowledgements This study is performed in cooperation with
Nature Iraq Institute by getting their help with the field work and
using their laboratory facilities. Accordingly, we gratefully acknowledge and thank them.

Appendix
Locations and statistical count of the pollen analysis for the
studied sections (Tables 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6).

Table 2 Drill core locations of the studied section in Southern

Mesopotamia (ex. Fig. 1)
Core number

Fig. 13 Food web for the production of human food resources in

Ahwar region

Core 2
Core 1A
Core 11A
Core 8C
Core 11C
K6A
AZ5
AZ11
Deep borehole 18
Tel Ummulaqareb

Location

Hwaiza-Udaem
Hwaiza-Ummulnaage
Hwaiza-Ummulnaage
Al-Baghdadia
Al-Mashab
Al-Kurmashiya
Abu Zarak
Abu Zarak
West of Qul'at Saleh
West of Al-Rifae

Coordinates
Latitudes

Longitudes

314253
313653
313526
310209
304004
304947
3109
3105
3102
3135

474529
473422
474002
470208
473825
463433
4638
4637
4725
4548

5960
6667
7071
7780

9
10
11
12

Greenish gray silty clay

Greenish gray silty clay
Greenish gray silty clay
Green marl and gastropods

Brownish gray sandy clay

Brownish gray sandy clay
Peat in brownish gray sandy clay
Peat in brownish gray sandy clay
Black peat
Brown peat
Brown peat
Greenish gray silty clay
7
8
3
12

9
12
7
8
3
52
9
5
30
8
70
29

8
12
15
18
10
5
22
15
40
5
5
8

12
12
28
22
15
10
15
18
8

2
5
13

02
67
1112
1617
2223
2930

3536
4041
4546
5051
5758

7
8
9
10
11

Depth (cm)

1
2
3
4
5
6

Sample no.

Gray silty clay

Black silty clay
Black silty clay
Greenish gray marl and gastropods
Greenish gray marl and gastropods

Gray silt
Gray silt
Brownish gray silt
Brownish gray silt
Brownish gray silt
Gray silty clay

Lithology

26
12
18
12
15

34
28
18
15
38
24

Graminae

18
15
9
9
10

18
18
10
8
18
28

Fungi

23
8
12
5

20
12
7
10
15
25

Cuticle

4
6
6

4
7

Fusiforma

7
10
11
6

Chenopodacea

3
2

12

Palmae

Charcoal

7
2

7
6

3
3
29

FTL

4
8

8
8

Spegazzinites

4
33
3

7
6

3
9
8
12
12
12

Lycopodium

18

20

15
6
14

Graminae Fungi Cuticle Charcoal FTL Chenopodacea Plochmopelinites Palmae Typha Isonandra Lilliacea Lycopods

Table 4 Pollen counts in number of specimens for Ahwar Al-Baghdadia (core 8C; ex. Fig. 9a)

56
1011
1920
2930
3334
3940
4546
5051

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Sample no. Depth (cm) Lithology

Table 3 Pollen counts in number of specimens for Ahwar Al-Hwaiza Ummulnaag (cores 11A and 2; ex. Fig. 8)

Arab J Geosci

Arab J Geosci
Table 5 Pollen counts in number of specimens for Ahwar Al-Khurmashiya (K6A; ex. Fig. 9b)
Sample no.

Depth (cm)

Lithology

Graminae

Fungi

Cuticle

Chenopodacea

Charcoal

Algae

Palmae

Typha

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

Black peat with sand

Black peat with sand
Black peat with sand
Greenish silty clay
Brownish gray silt
Brownish gray silt
Brownish gray silt
Light and dark gray clay silt

12
7
6
7
2
6

20
40
12
15
10
35

12

18
6
5

10

2
2

2
2
2

2
9
10
2

18
20
15

9
10
11

45
50
60

Greenish clay and marl

Greenish clay and marl
Brown and gray clay

2
2
2

8
12
2

Table 6 Pollen count of 3-m depth sediments in the flank of Ancient River with Tel Ummulakareb archeological site (ex. Fig. 12)
Sample Depth Typha Palm Phoinex Carpinus Chenopod Graminea Escallonia Ambrosia Fungi Bisaccatepollen Dinoflagellate
no.
(m)
(%)
(%) (%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.5
2.7
2.9
3.1

15
18
20
20
22
17
16
20
24
25
25
22
25
20
28

5
9
10
8
4
6
5
3
5
8
5
4
0
3
6

7
8
6
10
15
20
15
18
21
23
23
28
30
32
22

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
9
6
8
5
2
0

9
10
7
2
3
5
2
5
0
2
0
1
2
1
2

32
15
11
24
22
31
26
27
22
29
25
26
23
22
22

10
16
20
18
12
18
14
19
13
14
11
12
7
6
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7
2
6
9

12
10
14
15
12
8
14
9
11
6
4
5
3
7
6

9
6
4
3
10
5
6
0
4
3
1
2
1
2
3

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
3
2
0
4
2

16
17

3.3
3.5

25
23

8
1

25
27

0
0

0
0

25
27

5
0

8
15

2
5

2
1

0
3

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