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Assessment of the sustainability of aggregate quarrying practices in northern Morocco: a case regarding the eastern provinces of the Tangier Peninsula

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Abstract

Quarries are very abundant in Tetouan and Fahs-Anjra provinces as well as in the M’diq-Fnideq prefecture of Northern Morocco. Their growth is proportional to that of the economic development of the region, which has accelerated during the last two decades. However, quarrying practices are largely uninvestigated and their future is still uncertain, especially concerning their environmental sustainability and economic profitability. Therefore, we followed an integrated approach using field investigations and a multicriteria decision-making technique to propose a quarry suitability map of the study area. Unlike some previous research, the weighing of factors and criteria was established through deterministic approaches and field investigations, which include both the quality of the exploitable materials and the environmental impact of quarries into the suitability index formula. Our findings show that only an area equivalent to 1.6 km2 is suitable for an environmentally friendly, economically profitable, and high-quality aggregate quarry. A larger segment of 54 km2 could also be the subject of limited and careful exploitation practices, with more pronounced but manageable environmental impacts. The poor management of current quarrying sites is also discussed, which shows that unless some poor practices are avoided, the performance of the suitability index proposed in this research will not be as forecasted by the authors. In fact, for the suitability index to accurately predict the environmental and economic sustainability of future pits, quarry companies must respect the current laws and guidelines, and be willing to interact and participate in the sustainability of geomaterial exploitations for future generations.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Change history

  • 15 June 2023

    An orcid ID has been added to the author Younes El Kharim.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank editor and all reviewers for their valuable advised remarks, comments, and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GERN/FS/Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tetouan, Morocco

    Kamal Agharroud, Ali Bounab, Tarik El Maftouhi, Samira Kaddouri, Hatim Dellero, Abdel-Ilah Mihraje & Younes El Kharim

  2. GEOTECHMED Sarl, Lotissement Prévention N 256, 7426, Tetouan, Morocco

    Mohamed Ahniche

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  1. Kamal Agharroud
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  2. Ali Bounab
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  3. Tarik El Maftouhi
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Contributions

Agharroud Kamal: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, supervision, validation, visualization, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. Bounab Ali: data curation, formal analysis, investigation, validation, visualization, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. El Maftouhi Tarik: investigation, resources, writing—original draft. Kaddouri Samira: investigation, visualization. Dellero Hatim: investigation, resources. Mihraje Abdel-Ilah: writing—review and editing. Ahniche Mohamed: investigation, resources. El Kharim Younes: resources, supervision, validation, visualization, writing—original draft and writing—review and editing

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Correspondence to Younes El Kharim.

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Agharroud, K., Bounab, A., El Maftouhi, T. et al. Assessment of the sustainability of aggregate quarrying practices in northern Morocco: a case regarding the eastern provinces of the Tangier Peninsula. Bull Eng Geol Environ 82, 247 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03252-x

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