Discussion of a paper by Tamar Agha et al. (2016) entitled “A comparative study between the depositional environments and provenance of the Hussainiyat (Lower Jurassic) and the Rutbah (Upper Cretaceous) Formations, Western Desert of Iraq” (Arabian Journal of Geosciences v.9, Article No. 444)

In their article on the Rutbah and the Hussainiyat Formations, Tamar Agha et al. (2016) interpreted the depositional environments of the Cenomanian Rutbah Formation of the Western Desert of Iraq as that of continental meandering fluvial setting. On a recent study of the same outcrops by the present authors, we could not find a single evidence to support a continental, fluvial deposition interpretation. Instead, all available evidence (both physical and biogenic sedimentary structures) seen in the sandstones outcropped in these locations overwhelmingly suggests deposition in shallow marine transgressive shelf, dominated by tidal currents. Below, we will describe our field observations in detail and advance a radically different interpretation to that of Tamar Agha et al. (2016).