Isotopic Characterization of Rainwater for the Development of a Local Meteoric Water Line in an Arid Climate: The Case of the Wadi Ziz Watershed (South-Eastern Morocco)
Anas El Ouali,
Allal Roubil,
Abderrahim Lahrach,
Jacques Mudry,
Tibari El Ghali,
Mohamed Qurtobi,
Mohammed El Hafyani,
Abdennabi Alitane,
Abdellah El Hmaidi,
Ali Essahlaoui,
Anton Van Rompaey
Affiliations
Anas El Ouali
Functional Ecology and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, BP Imouzer Road, Fez 30500, Morocco
Allal Roubil
Research Group “Water Sciences and Environment Engineering”, Laboratory of Geoengineering and Environment, Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Moulay Ismail University, B.P. 11201 Zitoune, Meknes 50000, Morocco
Abderrahim Lahrach
Functional Ecology and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, BP Imouzer Road, Fez 30500, Morocco
Jacques Mudry
UMR 6249 Chrono-Environment, University of Burgundy-Franche-Comté, 16 Route de Gray, 25030 Besançon, France
Tibari El Ghali
Laboratory of Structural and Isotopic Analyzes, National Center for Energy, Science and Nuclear Techniques, Rabat 10001, Morocco
Mohamed Qurtobi
Laboratory of Structural and Isotopic Analyzes, National Center for Energy, Science and Nuclear Techniques, Rabat 10001, Morocco
Mohammed El Hafyani
Research Group “Water Sciences and Environment Engineering”, Laboratory of Geoengineering and Environment, Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Moulay Ismail University, B.P. 11201 Zitoune, Meknes 50000, Morocco
Abdennabi Alitane
Research Group “Water Sciences and Environment Engineering”, Laboratory of Geoengineering and Environment, Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Moulay Ismail University, B.P. 11201 Zitoune, Meknes 50000, Morocco
Abdellah El Hmaidi
Research Group “Water Sciences and Environment Engineering”, Laboratory of Geoengineering and Environment, Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Moulay Ismail University, B.P. 11201 Zitoune, Meknes 50000, Morocco
Ali Essahlaoui
Research Group “Water Sciences and Environment Engineering”, Laboratory of Geoengineering and Environment, Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Moulay Ismail University, B.P. 11201 Zitoune, Meknes 50000, Morocco
Anton Van Rompaey
Geography and Tourism Research Group, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
For any hydrological or hydrogeological system, the arrival of new rains is the input signal to the system. This isotopic signature of precipitation is of major interest in understanding the recharge processes of the aquifer system. On the scale of a given basin, staged stations at different altitudes and spread out in space allow this input signal to be well characterized and to draw the local meteoric water line. In south-eastern Morocco, specifically, in the Errachidia region, several chemical and isotopic studies of the waters of the various aquifers have been carried out. In the absence of a local meteoric water line, these studies were based on the use of the global meteoric water line (GMWL). Thus, the objective of this work is the isotopic characterization and the elaboration of the local meteoric water line of the rainwater of the Ziz watershed. This characterization of the input signal in the study area is based on 41 measurements of stable isotopes (δ18O and δ2H) relating to the precipitations collected during the period from December 2019 to November 2020 in four staged stations at different altitudes and spread over the space from upstream to downstream of the watershed. The linear relationship of δ2H as a function of δ18O describes the local meteoric water line (LMWL) by equation δ2H = 7.5 ± 0.3 δ18O + 4.6 ± 1.7; R2 = 0.93. This equation displays evaporation confirmed by the arrival of continental currents in an arid environment. The variation in precipitation δ18O as a function of the sampling altitudes for the rains highlighted the relationship δ18O = −0.0026 ∗ Z − 1.67, with R2 = 0.93, which means an altitudinal gradient of −0.26‰ per 100 m of altitude. In this regard, the development of the local meteoric water line and the determination of the altitudinal gradient for the first time in this arid to semi-arid region of the watershed will be of great use to researchers and water resource managers; for example, to help determine the groundwater recharge areas, determine the exchanges between surface water and groundwater, and analyze many other hydrological problems.
