Synopsis of the genus "Teucrium" L. (Lamiaceae) in Morocco

Sinopsis del género Teucrium (Lamiaceae) en Marruecos. Para el género Teucrium en Marruecos, se reconocen 60 taxa distribuidos en 52 especies ordenadas en 8 secciones. La nomenclatura correcta ha sido establecida en base a las sinonimias principales y designación de tipos en la mayoría de los casos. Se proponen tres nuevas combinaciones para el género Teucrium en Marruecos: T. rifanum (Maire & Sennen) T. Navarro & El Oualidi, T. joannis (Sauvage & Vindt) El Oualidi, T. Navarro & A. Martin y T. embergeri (Sauvage & Vindt) El Oualidi, T. Navarro & A. Martin

Structural and hydrogeological features of a Lias carbonate aquifer in the Triffa Plain, NE Morocco

The rising demand for water and the contamination of shallow water table aquifers has led authorities in NE Morocco to look for deeper groundwater resources in the Triffa Plain, namely in Lower Jurassic (Lias) dolomitic limestones. The liassic aquifer is of strategic importance for the development of the region, however, its hydrodynamic behaviour is poorly understood due to lack of hydrogeological data and block structure. This article presents a first effort towards understanding the structure and hydraulic behaviour of the aquifer. Exploration borehole data and results from geophysical campaigns were integrated into a GIS environment to build a preliminary model of the aquifer structure. The aquifer behaves as an unconfined aquifer in the northern part of the Béni Snassen Mountains (the recharge area), but as it dips to the north, it becomes confined by marls and shales of the Middle/Upper Jurassic. Even though piezometric level data are scarce, a tentative piezometric map was produced. Three blocks separated by NW–SE trending faults in a horst and graben structure, with distinct flow behaviours were identified: Berkane, Fezouane and Sidi Rahmoun blocks. Those blocks also show differences in hydraulic conductivity distribution. As a result of the reaction with the dolomitic limestones, the groundwater is of calcium-magnesium bicarbonate type. Groundwater temperature as measured in springs ranges from 29 C to 37 C in springs and constitutes a potential low enthalpy geothermal resource

Labiatae checklist for Andalusia (Southern Spain) and Rif (Northern Morocco)

. Labiatae checklist for Andalusia (Southern Spain) and the Rif (Northern Morocco). The taxa of Labiatae from Andalusia (Southern Iberian Peninsula) and the Rif (Northern Morocco) are included in a checklist, which has about 262 taxa, belonging to 28 genera and 5 subfamilies, representing almost 25% of total Mediterranean Labiatae taxa and c. 70% of total strict Labiatae Mediterranean genera. Nepetoideae with 17 genera is the richest subfamily; Ajugoideae (Ajuga genus), Teucrioideae (Teucrium genus) and Scutellarioideae (Scutellaria genus) are monogenerics. In this biogeographical region, 23 genera and about 70 species are common to both Andalusia and the Rif (about 88% of all genera and 30% of all taxa). Teucrium, Sideritis Satureja and allied genera, Salvia and Mentha, are the most widespread, representing almost 50% of the total taxa. The importance of the Labiatae family in the Andalusia and the Rif regions is reflected by the fact that they make up c. 20% of all taxa, while 25 of the total number of genera are distributed in the Betic-Rif Mountains. In addition, these mountains, are themselves the richest and best endowed regions of the Andalusia and the Rif, with the greatest concentration of endemic species (c. 65% of total endemisms)

Inventaire bibliographique des algues benthiques du littoral marocain. I. Chlorophyceae et Phaeophyceae

nventaire préliminaire des algues benthiques du littoral marocain. I. Chlorophyceae et Phaeophyceae. L'inventaire bibliographique des Chlorophyceae et Phaeophyceae marines benthiques du littoral marocain a révélé 213 espèces dont 93 Chlorophyceae (6 ordres, 15 familles et 31 genres) et 110 Phaeophyceae (11 ordres, 20 familles et 50 genres

New Geothermal Prospect in North-Eastern Morocco

Geothermal data has been indicating promising potentialities in the north-eastern Morocco. This paperpresents new temperature data, recently recorded in water borehole located in the Berkane and Oujda areas. Generally, the observed temperature gradients are rather high. One hole near Berkane, revealed an average geothermal gradient of more than 110 ºC/km at depths greater than 300 m. This result confirms the geothermal gradient estimated in a mining borehole located about 30 km west of the Berkane borehole, in which water temperatures of 96 ºC are reached at a depth of about 700 m. Such a high geothermal gradient, exceeding by far the ones already determined for northeastern Morocco, could act as a stimulus to programs aimed at the geothermal exploitation of high temperature aquifers

Sedimentary provenance of siliciclastic rocks from the Lalla Mouchaa Calcschists Formation (Coastal Block, Western Rehamna): Evidence of denudation of ca. 2 Ga basement in the Moroccan Meseta.

Paleoproterozoic basement rocks (ca. 2Ga) are scarce along the European and North African Paleozoic mountain chains (Fig.1a). In Morocco, ca. 2.2-2Ga granitic rocks (Gasquet et al., 2008; Kouyaté et al., 2013) have been exclusively reported in the Western Anti-Atlas at southwest of the Anti-Atlas Major Fault, (Choubert, 1963). In Eastern and Central Anti-Atlas and in the Moroccan Meseta, the existence of a Paleoproterozoic basement has only been recognized through indirect evidence (Gasquet et al., 2008; Michard et al., 2010). In the Anti- Atlas belt, ca. 2Ga detrital zircon grains are found in the Ediacaran siliciclastic rocks of the Bou Salda, Saghro and Taghdout groups (Abati et al., 2010). In the Moroccan Meseta, Paleoproterozoic (ca. 2Ga) zircon grains were extracted from gneiss and granitic xenoliths found in Triassic lamprophyre dykes, and from Carboniferous granophyric microgranite intrusions of central Jebilet (Dostal et al., 2005, Essaifi et al., 2003). Recently, a porphyritic rhyolite from the Rehamna Massif was dated at ca. 2.05Ga (Pereira et al., 2015), demonstrating for the first time, the exposure of the Eburnian basement in the Western Meseta. These Eburnian arc-related magmatic rocks, which are exposed to the south of the Permian Sebt Brikiyine granite in the core of anticlines from the Lalla Mouchaa Anticlinorium, are allegedly unconformably overlained by transgressive siliciclastic and carbonate beds (Corsini, 1988; Pereira et al., 2015). At north of the Sebt Brikiyine granite the probable Lower Cambrian sequence (Lalla Mouchaa Calcschists Formation; Guezou & Michard, 1976; Corsini, 1988) comprises a basal unit of microbreccias, arkosic sandstones and siltstones (lower member) that pass towards the top to centimeter-thick beds of calcschists interbedded with limestones and dolomites (upper member) that are conformably overlain by the “Paradoxides Shale Formation” composed of siltstone, greywacke and sandstone with Middle Cambrian fauna. In order to study the potential sources of the Lalla Mouchaa Calcschists Formation (probable Lower Cambrian), we have sampled a microbreccia at the Koudiat El Hamra region, for U-Pb geochronology on detrital zircon. This foliated microbreccia is composed of elongated Kfeldspar and quartz phenocrysts surrounded by a fine-grained matrix. Detrital zircon grains gave 206Pb/238Ub ages that in the Probability density plot curve are distributed by two main age peaks at ca. 2.05Ga and ca. 2.03Ga (Fig.1b), yielding a 206Pb/238U age-weighted mean of ca. 2.04Ga (El Houicha et al., 2018). The obtained U-Pb results point to a provenance from a Paleoproterozoic source, suggesting a possible contribution from rocks of the same age of the 2Ga porphyritic rhyolite exposed at south of the Sebt Brikiyine granite. Thus, there is a possibility that the Paleoproterozoic basement extends bellow the Paleozoic and Neoproterozoic sequences of the Rehamna massif

Pleistocene hominins as a resource for carnivores. A c. 500,000-year-old human femur bearing tooth-marks in North Africa (Thomas Quarry I, Morocco)

In many Middle Pleistocene sites, the co-occurrence of hominins with carnivores, who both contributed to faunal accumulations, suggests competition for resources as well as for living spaces. Despite this, there is very little evidence of direct interaction between them to-date. Recently, a human femoral diaphysis has been recognized in South-West of Casablanca (Morocco), in the locality called Thomas Quarry I. This site is famous for its Middle Pleistocene fossil hominins considered representatives of Homo rhodesiensis. The bone was discovered in Unit 4 of the Grotte à Hominidés (GH), dated to c. 500 ky and was associated with Acheulean artefacts and a rich mammalian fauna. Anatomically, it fits well within the group of known early Middle Pleistocene Homo, but its chief point of interest is that the diaphyseal ends display numerous tooth marks showing that it had been consumed shortly after death by a large carnivore, probably a hyena. This bone represents the first evidence of consumption of human remains by carnivores in the cave. Whether predated or scavenged, this chewed femur indicates that humans were a resource for carnivores, underlining their close relationships during the Middle Pleistocene in Atlantic Morocco