TY - JOUR AU - El Mandour, A. AU - El Yaouti, F. AU - Fakir, Y. AU - Zarhloule, Y. AU - Benavente, J. PY - 2007// TI - Evolution of groundwater salinity in the unconfined aquifer of Bou-Areg, Northeastern Mediterranean coast, Morocco JO - Environmental Geology SP - 491 EP - 503 VL - 54 IS - 3 PB - Springer KW - Unconfined aquifer KW - Groundwater salinity KW - Seawater intrusion KW - Nitrate pollution KW - Lagoon KW - Morocco  Bou-Areg N2 - The Bou-Areg plain in the Mediterranean coast at the North-eastern of Morocco is characterized by a semiarid climate. The aquifer consists of two sedimentary formations of Plio-quaternary age: the upper formation of fine silts and the lower one of coarse silts with sand and gravels. The aquifer is underlain by marly bedrock of Miocene age that dips toward the coastal lagoon of Bou-Areg. Thehydrodynamic characteristics vary between 10–4 and 10–3 m/s; and transmissivities range between 10–4 and 10–1 m2 /s. The general direction of flow is SW to NE, toward the lagoon. The aquifer is crossed by the river Selouane, which also ends in the lagoon. The groundwater is characterized by a high salinity that can reach 7.5 g/l. The highest values are observed in the upstream and in the downstream sectors of the aquifer. The temporal evolution of the physicochemical parameters depends on the climatic conditions andpiezometric variations. The analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of the physico-chemical parameters suggests different sources of groundwater salinization: the seawater intrusion, the influence of marly gypsum-bearing terrains, and the influence of anthropogenic products as the agricultural fertilizers, which cause great nitrate concentrations that vary between 80 and 140 mg/l. SN - 0943-0105 UR - sci-hub.si/10.1007/s00254-007-0842-3 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0842-3 N1 - exported from refbase (http://www.uhydro.de/refbase/show.php?record=44), last updated on Tue, 17 Mar 2020 15:53:53 +0100 ID - ElMandour_etal2007 ER -