International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—The main objective of this study is to evaluate the degree of pollution of Wadi Ykem through a geochemical study allowing highlighting the physicochemical characteristics as well, the evaluation and the distribution of the heavy metal contents in the sediments. For the environmental assessment of its sediments, a study was carried out to determine the concentrations of major elements and trace elements (Cd, Cr, Al, Pb, Zn, Cu and Ni) during two different hydrological seasons: in summer (June 2017) and in winter (April 2018). In the two campaigns 20 sediment samples were collected in 10 sampling sites. The various sampling sites were distributed upstream and downstream of the Ykem river. These metals were analyzed at CNESTEN using the ICP MS technique. The geo-accumulation index, the Enrichment Factor (EF) and the Pollution Load Index (PLI) were used for the assessment of metallic contamination of the sediments. The results of this study show a homogeneous distribution of the contents of major elements with a dominance of the elements SiO2 and TiO2 in the two campaigns. High Cd contents which exceed the contents of geochemical backgrounds. High levels of Cd, Pb and Al. And low concentrations for (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn) for the two campaigns. The PLI variations show that all the stations have PLI values greater than 1. The Enrichment Factor does not show contamination at all sampling stations. The values of Igeo show levels which vary from uncontaminated to moderately contaminated.

Index Terms—Heavy metals, major elements, Morocco, sediment, Ykem watershed, pollution.

Mohameden Aoufa, Noureddine Chahid, and Saïd Chakiri are with the Laboratory of Geosciences, Faculty of Sciences of Kénitra, Ibn Tofail University, Morocco (e-mail: mouradbakkah@gmail.com, moulayracid97@mail.com, sdchakiri@gmail.com).
Bouamar Baghdad is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Agronomic Institute and Veterinarian Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco (e-mail: bouamar.baghdad@gmail.com).
Hassan EL Hadi is with the Geosciences and Applications Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences Ben M'sik, Hassan II University of Casablanca,Morocco (e-mail: elhadihas@gmail.com).
Zahry Fatiha is with the Elementary Analysis Laboratory, National Center for Energy, Nuclear Sciences and Techniques (CNESTEN), BP 1382 R.P. 10001 Rabat, Morocco (e-mail: fzfatihazahry2@gmail.com).

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Cite: Mohameden Aoufa, Noureddine Chahid, Bouamar Baghdad, Saïd Chakiri, Hassan EL Hadi, and Zahry Fatiha, "Contamination Assessment by Heavy Metals of the Ykem River Sediments (Coastal Meseta, Morocco)," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 150-157, 2022.

Copyright © 2022 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).