title: Monitoring of Nitrate and Pesticide Pollution in Mnasra, Morocco Soil and Groundwater.
abstract: This study evaluates the levels of nitrates and pesticides occurring in groundwater and agricultural soil in the Mnasra, Morocco area, a zone with intensive agricultural activity. A set of 108 water samples and 68 soil samples were collected from ten selected sites in the area during agricultural seasons, from May 2010 to September 2012. The results reveal that 89.7% of water samples exceeded the standard limit of nitrate concentrations for groundwater (50 mg/L). These results can be explained by the prevailing sandy nature of the soil in the area, the frequency of fertilizer usage, and the shallow level of the water table, which favors the leaching of nitrate from field to groundwater. In contrast, the selected pesticide molecules were not detected in the analysed soil and water samples; levels were below the quantification limit in all samples. This situation could be explained by the probable partial or total transformation of the molecules in soil.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Spectroscopie, Modélisation moléculaire, Matériaux et Environnement, Groupe Physico-chimie des Matériaux et Environnement, Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohamed V, Av Ibn Battouta, Rabat 10000, Morocco.
authors.forename: Bouchra
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marouane
authors.forename: Abdelmalek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dahchour
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dousset
authors.forename: Souad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: El Hajjaji
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D009018:Morocco; D009566:Nitrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009566:Nitrates; D010575:Pesticides; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical