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Expressions used to evaluate the concentration time (T) of the ''Wadi des Argan'' hydrological basin
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Medieval fortified granaries known as “agadirs” are very common in southern Morocco, being catalogued as world cultural heritage by United Nations. These Berber buildings (made of stones and tree trunks) usually located on rocky promontories, constitute historical testimonials related to the origin of Morocco, and, as tourist attractions, have a po...
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This study concerns the Franciscan monastery, situated in the historic centre of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy). It was founded in the 13th century, and transformed up to the present day. Its historical-stratigraphical complexity and the lack of data about its evolution led us to carry out an interdisciplinary inquiry. The investigation began with the...
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... The study area (Fig. 1b) belongs to the western segment of the Anti-Atlas Chain from the West-African Craton (Burkhard et al., 2006). In the Wadi des Argan basin, the Anti-Atlas belt outcrops as buckle folding of the contact between Precambrian basement and Palaeozoic sedimentary cover, with the following synthetic succession from bottom to top: (1) a Precambrian basement composed by a complex of 2070 Ma metasediments intruded by 2050-2032 Ma granitoids attributed to the Eburnean orogeny (Walsh et al., 2002); (2) a coarse siliciclastic conglomerate linked to the pan-African rifting unconformably deposited over folded Precambrian assemblages at around 680 Ma (Inglis et al., 2004); (3) an Early Cambrian metasedimentary formation composed of schists and slates, massive dolostones, and marls; and (4) a Middle Cambrian metasedimentary formation composed of limestones and dolostones, archaeocyate bioherms, and schists and slates (Walsh et al., 2002;Burkhard et al., 2006;Robles-Marín et al., 2015). Late Quaternary alluvial deposits fill the valleys. ...
... Besides the ecological interest, the Amtoudi Oasis also hosts one of the best-conserved medieval fortified granaries or 'agadirs' of southern Morocco (Fig. 1f). This is one of the main tourist attractions of the area for its architectural and historic value (Naji, 2003;Robles-Marín et al., 2015;Raffaelli et al., 2015). The Amtoudi Agadir was constructed around the 12th century by the Berber Iznaguen tribe to store resources. ...
... The frequency of groundwater data monitoring was based on a preliminary evaluation of G T around 0.5 years after the alluvial aquifer geometry was defined by Robles-Marín et al. (2015). Average g K = 33 m day − 1 and g S = 0.11 were deduced after two pumping tests performed in pumping wells W1 (29°14′28″N, 9°11′46″W, 851 m a.s.l.) and W2 (29°14′25″N, 9°10′49″W, 865 m a.s.l.). ...
A hydrological-economic model is introduced to describe the dynamics of groundwater-dependent economics (agriculture and tourism) for sustainable use in sparse-data drylands. The Amtoudi Oasis, a remote area in southern Morocco, in the northern Sahara attractive for tourism and with evidence of groundwater degradation, was chosen to show the model operation. Governing system variables were identified and put into action through System Dynamics (SD) modeling causal diagrams to program basic formulations into a model having two modules coupled by the nexus 'pumping': (1) the hydrological module represents the net groundwater balance (G) dynamics; and (2) the economic module reproduces the variation in the consumers of water, both the population and tourists. The model was operated under similar influx of tourists and different scenarios of water availability, such as the wet 2009-2010 and the average 2010-2011 hydrological years. The rise in international tourism is identified as the main driving force reducing emigration and introducing new social habits in the population, in particular concerning water consumption. Urban water allotment (PU) was doubled for less than a 100-inhabitant net increase in recent decades. The water allocation for agriculture (PI), the largest consumer of water, had remained constant for decades. Despite that the 2-year monitoring period is not long enough to draw long-term conclusions, groundwater imbalance was reflected by net aquifer recharge (R) less than PI+PU (G<0) in the average year 2010-2011, with net lateral inflow from adjacent Cambrian formations being the largest recharge component. R is expected to be much less than PI+PU in recurrent dry spells. Some low-technology actions are tentatively proposed to mitigate groundwater degradation, such as: wastewater capture, treatment, and reuse for irrigation; storm-water harvesting for irrigation; and active maintenance of the irrigation system to improve its efficiency.
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An interdisciplinary archaeometric study concerning the
Amtoudi Agadir, declared World Cultural Heritage (northern border
of the Sahara Desert, southern Morocco), was performed consisting
in lithostratigraphic reconstruction of the bedrock, diagnosis of constitutivematerials (stones, mortars, and wooden elements), and
analyses of constructive techniques and architectonic elements
(load-bearing and supported structural elements). The medieval
agadir (fortified granary) was built directly on a rocky piton with
rocks of the substratum with traditional materials and ancestral
techniques. The stones have been identified and classified into four
petrofacies. Degradation such as biological attacks, chromatic alteration, erosion, exfoliation, and fissuration on the stones have been
characterized. Recommendations for conservation and maintenance
of the rocks have been proposed in compatibility with the environment. Load-bearing (masonry walls) and supported structural elements (ceiling structures) have also been studied in order to define
their stability. Worst cases of 1- and 2-height walls, together with
worst cases of the wooden or stone ceiling structures have been
analyzed. Materials, techniques, and dimensions have been characterizedfor possible failures to shearing, bending, and flexural buckling as guide for maintenance of the agadir. The main problems of the walls derive from excessively thin construction with a lack of interlockingof the rocks and a diminished proportion or quality of
mortar joining the rocks due to washing. It has been recommended
to avoid thicknesses lower than 0.4 m for 2-height walls and lower
than 0.3 m for 1-height walls. A nominal load has been estimated
in the worst case (with wooden elements) for the ceiling structures
of about 7.0 KN/m2. The calculations have indicated that a 25%
increase over the nominal load would imply a risk of failure, the use
of stone elements being preferable over wooden ones. With these
propositions for the Amtoudi Agadir, new management and prospects
for cultural tourism are feasible.