TITLE:
Abandoned Quarries in the Akreuch Area (Western Morocco): Inventory of Flora for a Rehabilitation Strategy
AUTHORS:
Meryem Taoufik, Bouamar Baghdad, Hassan El Hadi, Abdelkader Taleb, Meriem Laghlimi
KEYWORDS:
Akreuch, Bouregreg, Flora, Quarries, Rehabilitation, Restoration
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.5 No.8,
August
17,
2015
ABSTRACT: Quarrying is an activity contributing to the vitality of the Moroccan
economy. However, most of these quarries were abandoned at the end of
extraction and became dump and later a place of uncontrolled landfills. The
number of restored or rehabilitated quarries is limited and this threatens
several aspects of the environment, especially, the quality of surface and
ground water, landscape, forests, etc. This also gives rise to increased
erosion risk. The study identifies plant species covering 10 abandoned quarries
in the region of Rabat, especially the Bouregreg River and its affluent Akreuch
in order to define a strategy for their restoration or rehabilitation. Field
surveys were led to locate and map 10 abandoned quarries and to sample plant
species. Herbaria were established and species were identified and classified. The
results of the study distinguished 46 different plant species spread over 45
genera and 27 botanical families. The most dominant family in the quarries
visited is Asteraceae. These results will allow us to study the
vegetation dynamics in these abandoned lands and serve as a basis, in the selection
of appropriate species in eventual restoration or rehabilitation projects.