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Recent hydrological variability of the Moroccan Middle Atlas Mountains inferred from microscale sedimentological and geochemical analyses of lake sediments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2018

Guillaume Jouve ,
Laurence Vidal ,
Rachid Adallal ,
Ali Rhoujjati ,
Abdelfattah Benkaddour ,
Emmanuel Chapron ,
Kazuyo Tachikawa ,
Edouard Bard ,
Thierry Courp  and
Laurent Dezileau
...Show all authors
Guillaume Jouve*
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement en Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Aix-en-Provence, France
Laurence Vidal
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement en Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Aix-en-Provence, France
Rachid Adallal
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement en Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Aix-en-Provence, France Laboratoire de Géoressources-Unité, Unité de Recherche Associée au Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (CNRST, URAC 42), Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco
Ali Rhoujjati
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géoressources-Unité, Unité de Recherche Associée au Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (CNRST, URAC 42), Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco
Abdelfattah Benkaddour
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géoressources-Unité, Unité de Recherche Associée au Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (CNRST, URAC 42), Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco
Emmanuel Chapron
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géographie de l’Environnement (GEODE UMR 5602), Université Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France
Kazuyo Tachikawa
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement en Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Aix-en-Provence, France
Edouard Bard
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement en Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Aix-en-Provence, France
Thierry Courp
Affiliation:
CEntre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens (CEFREM UMR5110), Université de Perpignan, Perpignan, France
Laurent Dezileau
Affiliation:
Géosciences Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Bertil Hebert
Affiliation:
CEntre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens (CEFREM UMR5110), Université de Perpignan, Perpignan, France
William Rapuc
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement en Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Aix-en-Provence, France
Anaëlle Simonneau
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de la Terre d’Orléans, ISTO, CNRS UMR 7327, Université d’Orléans, Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), Orléans, France
Corinne Sonzogni
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement en Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Aix-en-Provence, France
Florence Sylvestre
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement en Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Aix-en-Provence, France
*
*Corresponding author at: Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Coll France, CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence, France. E-mail address: jouve@cerege.fr (G. Jouve).
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Abstract

Study of the hydro-sedimentary dynamics of lakes provides key information on hydrological changes. In this work, we investigate Lake Azigza in the Moroccan Middle Atlas, a region that suffers from a scarcity of observational hydrological data necessary for a coherent management of water resources. Sedimentary deposits of Lake Azigza (32°58′N, 5°26′W, 1,550 m above sea level) were dated and analyzed by combining geochemical and mineralogical measurements coupled with microfacies characterization for the last 134 yr. The detrital component derived from X-ray fluorescence elemental composition and microstructures analysis of the lake sediments provided proxies of runoff activity and lake-level changes, respectively. These proxies were calibrated with regional hydro-climatic and instrumental measurements available over the last 50 yr and used to reconstruct past hydrological changes on inter-annual to decadal time scales between 1879 and 2013. Since 1879, lake level and runoff proxies responded in phase to regional inter-annual precipitation variations. We also show that after the major lake-level drop observed in 2008, the response of the runoff proxy to variable precipitation regime is enhanced. Such an approach emphasizes the potential of these hydro-climate-sensitive sedimentary archives to assess the impact of climate change in the Mediterranean region.

Keywords

North Africa hydrologyMoroccan Middle AtlasLake sedimentsMicrofaciesXRFRunoffLake level
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 414 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018. 

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