Problèmes d'ensablement des ports marocains sur la façade atlantique. Leur impact sédimentologique sur le littoral

Problems of silting in Moroccan ports on the Atlantic side. The sedimentological impact on the coast

Ingénieur des Ponts et Chaussées, Direction des Ports marocains

Abstract

Moroccan ports on the Atlantic side and especially those to the South of Cap Cantin where the coast passage orientated North South varies from 250 000 to 800 000 m³/year are having especially difficult silting and sand problems. Most of these works have been experimented on reduced physical models with mobile bottoms and have also monitored the sediment trends in the natural setting. After summing up the natural morphological, meteorological, oceanographie and sedimentological phenomena along the coast, this article compares forecasts from models with observations after the event in the natural settings and thus helps to illustrate the different perturbations that port works may cause to the sediment equilibrium of the coast.