Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
DOI 10.1007/s12665-016-5613-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Identification of potential areas hosting aggregate resources using
GIS method: a case study of Tadla-Azilal Region, Morocco
Ahmed Barakat1 • Zainabe Ouargaf1 • Fatima Touhami2
Received: 5 January 2016 / Accepted: 6 April 2016 / Published online: 25 April 2016
 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to assess the
aggregate rocks in Tadla-Azilal region and to delineate the
areas with aggregate resources. The suitable site selection
is performed using the GIS approach with weighted overlay
analysis. Many environmental, social and economical fac-
tors including rock lithology, land use, distance to cities
and to roads, elevation, and slope, are considered in order
to prevent conflicts between land users. These factors are
mapped using the GIS technique and weighted by com-
paring them with each other according to their importance.
The spatial correlation between all thematic data allowed
us to prepare the final suitability map. Based on the results
of this study, various aggregate potential areas in the
Tadla-Azilal region have been selected and each one has
been assigned three categories (suitable, moderately suit-
able and unsuitable) representing their suitability levels for
future development in terms of the environmental con-
straints, availability of transport networks, current land use,
and availability of mineral reserves. This analysis and
classification provide important information for policy
makers to decide effective land and resource management
plan, and also for regional authorities in the process of
granting licenses to operate a material quarry.
Keywords Aggregate resources
Suitability maps
GIS

Overlay analysis
& Ahmed Barakat
a.barakat@usms.ma
1 dictive model based on the regional spatial features, in
Georesources and Environment Laboratory, Faculty of
Sciences and Techniques, Béni-Mellal, Morocco
2 taking into account both land management, environmental
Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Research in Sciences and
Technologies, Polydisciplinary Faculty, Béni-Mellal,
Morocco
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Introduction
The building and construction industries which are of vital
importance for the development of any modern society,
make extensive use of raw materials that are mined and
quarried, such as gravel, sands and gravels (aggregates)
(Tepordei 2001; Langer 1988; Langer and Glanzman
1993). Natural aggregates are quantitatively the third most
consumed resource after air and water, and are the most
valuable non-fuel mineral commodity in the world (Lüttig
1994). The growth in demand for these resources requires
further exploration in regions abundant in rock minerals to
identify new potential source rocks. Nevertheless, this
activity as with all industrial operations, can have an
environmental impact that is mainly related to biodiversity,
ecosystem and landscape. Thus, exploration shall be con-
ducted in an environmentally responsible manner because
aggregate quarry activities, by their very nature, constitutes
a hazard to the landscape and to the environment (Langer
2001; Langer and Arbogast 2002). Also, prospecting of
new deposits requires, among other things, information on
the demand, production, land use, transport network, and
geological nature of rocks (Stanley et al. 2000; Miko et al.
2008; Blachowski 2014; Karakas 2014; Barakat et al.
2015). Several authors addressed this issue of sustainable
management of quarry material resources (i.e. Velegrakis
et al. 2010; Careddu and Siotto 2011; Dahl et al. 2012;
Šolar et al. 2012; Engidasew and Barbieri 2014; Podimata
and Yannopoulos 2016; Danielsen and Kuznetsova 2015).
Some of them have used a GIS method to develop a pre-
order to define the suitable areas for stone production
and marketplace restrictions (Karakas and Turner 2004;
Robinson et al. 2004; Blachowski 2014; Karakas 2014).
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774 Page 2 of 16
In Tadla-Azilal region, growing urbanization, reinforce-
ment of urban and rural road infrastructure by new main roads,
highways and motorable tracks, and booming real estate
sector in recent years, have led to a growing demand for
building materials. Much of the demand for aggregates in the
region has traditionally been met with supplies of alluvial
aggregate. However, the aggregate needs grew remarkably,
and alluvial reserves are depleted and not enough to meet the
market. Consequently, in recent years, alluvial resource
depletion and a desire for consistent supplies have resulted in
changes to the pattern of supply of aggregates, with increased
contributions of crushed carbonate rock aggregate (limestone
and dolomite) quarried from numerous quarries. These quar-
ries located close to the major urban and rural agglomerations,
are sometimes a source of conflicts with spatial planning
(Langer and Glanzman 1993).
While the Tadla-Azilal region is characterized by large
and diversified resources of rock minerals as this region
may be the reservoir of aggregate resources for other, less
abundantly endowed, areas, aggregate producers observe in
places that it becomes ever more difficult to prolong life of
an aggregate quarry. This is due, besides the depletion of
alluvial reserves, to the multiple restrictions (i.e., envi-
ronmental, urban, landuse). These growing constraints for
access to quarry materials make it essential to establish a
strategy to ensure the security of supply of these materials,
but while responding to all development challenges of the
territory. It is in this approach that this work was per-
formed; it aims to identify and propose areas with crushed
rock aggregate potential and favorable for the quarry
opening while taking into account the different environ-
mental and economic issues (landuse, transport network,
market…). This multiple factor approach that has become a
valuable and increasingly widely-used tool where an
interconnected range of economic and environmental
issues must be taken into consideration, was achieved by
using GIS techniques. The obtained results and proposed
maps could be used as a tool for operators and decision
makers to decide about the implementation of appropriate
aggregate strategy for spatial planning and management
guaranteeing the availability of aggregates for present and
future generations while reconciling aggregate extraction
activities with environmental interest.
Description of the study area
The study area corresponds to the Tadla-Azilal region that
was one of the administrative regions of Morocco before
the territorial division of 2015. It was integrated with the
provinces of Khenifra and Khouribga in the new region of
Beni-Mellal—Khénifra. Located in the center of the
country (Fig. 1), the Tadla-Azilal region has an area of
123
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Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
about 17,125 km2 and a population of 1,607,506 according
to 2014 census (DRP-TA 2015). It is composed of three
provinces, Beni Mellal, Fquih Ben Salah and Azilal
(Fig. 1). Its administrative center is Beni-Mellal city. The
region stretches over three different geographical forma-
tions: (1) the fertile Tadla plain, (2) the piedmont (Dir)
which is abundant in mineral and forest resources and
favorable to stock breeding, and (3) the wonderful moun-
tain rooted in the chain of the Medium and High Atlas
ranges. The climate is Mediterranean with a rainy season
lasting from November to March and a dry season from
April to October. The average annual precipitation, mostly
irregular, varies between 170 and 540 mm with an average
of 280 mm. The average annual temperature is 18 C (with
peak periods of 38 to 40 C in August and 3 to 4 C in
January).
By its central geographical location, its natural resources
especially agricultural, and its proximity to the major
economic urban centers (Casablanca, Marrakech, Rabat,
Fez), this region is gradually becoming one of the essential
administrative and economic hotspots of the country. In an
attempt to promote the economic attractiveness of the
region, number of major projects reinforcing infrastructure
have been conducted and others are under development
such as projects of expressways connecting Beni-Mellal to
Marrakech and Beni-Mellal to Fez and railway between
Khouribga and Beni-Mellal. To address the needs of these
construction projects, and more to the housing boom, in
construction materials, aggregate, cement, research and
promotion of new mineral resources has become a partic-
ularly well developed activity. The region has also a rich
geodiversity, making it a zone with large and diversified
resources of rock minerals as this region often is the
reservoir of aggregate resources for other, less abundantly
endowed, areas. Together, it is characterized by fertile land
and high biodiversity that is a result of the variable land-
scape included within its boundaries. These fragile
ecosystems seem increasingly threatened by, in addition to
climate change, human activities, in particular because of
the density of human populations that continue to increase,
and urbanization that has developed over the last two
decades without territorial planning concerning environ-
mental limitations. This can be sometimes the source of
land-use conflicts which can reduce the ability of natural
human resources valorization systems to effectively
respond to human needs.
Geology setting
Geologically, the Tadla-Azilal region encompasses the
Tadla basin and the Atlas of Beni-Mellal, belonging to the
Atlas Mountains (Central High Atlas) of Morocco. The
Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
Fig. 1 Location of the Tadla-Azilal region
Tadla basin with Haouz and Ouarzazate plains basins
constituted the shelf/platform margin areas of the paleo-
Atlas rift. The Atlas Mountains representing the highest
chain of Morocco and crossing the country along the SW–
NE direction, forms part of the the High Atlas intraconti-
nental Cenozoic fold belt extending from western Morocco
to Tunisia. It formed coevally with Late Permian-Early
Jurassic Central Atlantic Ocean opening within a large-
scale left-lateral transtensive rift system (Piqué et al.
2000a, b).
Geology of the study region has been studied by a
variety of authors (e.g., Jenny et al. 1981; Monbaron 1981,
1982, 1988; Haddoumi 1988; Monbaron et al. 1990; Ait
Addi 1994; Chafiki 1994; Souhel 1996; Haddoumi et al.
2010; El Bchari and Souhel 2008; Löwner 2009; Gouiza
et al. 2010; Bensalah et al. 2013; Guezal et al. 2015). It can
be outlined as follows (Fig. 2).
Situated to the south of the occidental Moroccan
Meseta, the studied areas is bounded by the northern
boundary of the West African Craton (Anti-Atlas belt) to
the south, and the Plateau of Phosphates to the north. Their
geological setting is connected to the building of High-
Atlas belt of which the structuring is the result of the tec-
tonic evolution following the Hercynian orogeny that is
marked by (Michard et al. 2008), firstly (1) the opening of
elongated NE–SW to ENE–WSW rift-basins developed
within the North African plate during the Late Triassic to
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Page 3 of 16 774
Early Jurassic continental rifting (Manspeizer 1988; Med-
ina 1995; Ellouz et al. 2003; Zühlke et al. 2004), and then
by (2) the formation of Atlas Mountains during the con-
vergence of the African and European plates during the
Cenozoic (Gomez et al. 2000; Teixell et al. 2003).
Resulting from the structural inversion of a mainly Jurassic
basin (Laville 1985; Laville et al. 2004), this chain is
composed of a series of synclinal basins subsiding on
sinistral strike-slip (Piqué et al. 2000a, b; Teixell et al.
2003).
The region is made up of thick sequence of Mesozoic to
quaternary sedimentary rocks that showed some interrup-
tions in deposition at some localities. The Mesozoic suc-
cession of the High Atlas belt started with the Late
Permian-Triassic red beds (conglomerates, sandstones,
siltstones and mudstones, evaporite-bearing shales),
unconformably resting on the schistoquartzitic Paleozoic
bedrock and Precambrian basement (Mattauer et al. 1977;
El Harfi et al. 2006). These continental detrital deposits
reaching a probable thickness of more than 1 km, are only
present in localized, possibly fault-controlled, outcrops.
These deposits were unconformably overlain by Upper
Triassic to lowermost Jurassic tholeiitic basalts of the
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (Marzoli et al. 2004).
During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, post-rift
relaxation associated to sea-level allowed rise in the
deposition of carbonate platforms. The Lower Liassic
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774 Page 4 of 16
Fig. 2 Geology map of study
zone based on age
facies association is represented by significant transgres-
sive deposition of limestones and dolomites sealed the
Triassic rift basins (Laville et al. 1995; Piqué et al. 2000a,
b). Within the Liassic, the progressive drowning and dis-
ruption of the platform is responsible for the accumulation
of thick series of massive carbonates and layered marls and
limestones (Jossen and Filali-Moutei 1992).
In the Upper Lias, a thick sequence of marls, calcitur-
bidites and limestones is accumulated as a result of sub-
siding basins. These sediments are overlain by up to
5000 m of shallowing upwards succession, from oolitic
limestones and corals to continental red beds, deposited
across the Atlas basin from Dogger (Bouchouata et al.
1995; Fadile 2003). The Upper-Jurassic to early Cretaceous
are argillaceous sandstone ‘‘red beds’’ which are charac-
terized by a purely continental sedimentation and are
classically subdivided into three units: Guettioua Forma-
tion, Iouaridène Formation and Jbel Sidal Formation. This
strata are absent along the southern (i.e. Ouarzazate basin)
and northern borders (i.e. Tadla basin) of the Atlas ranges,
and Upper-Cretaceous beds are in direct contact with the
Liassic.
The Middle to Late-Jurassic to Early-Cretaceous mag-
matic formations that are contemporaneous with the main
post-rift phase (Bensalah et al. 2013), is represented by
multiple intrusive, subvolcanic and volcanic rocks across
the siliciclastic red beds (Rahimi et al. 1997; Lhachmi et al.
123
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Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
2001; Zayane et al. 2002; Bensalah et al. 2013; Haddoumi
et al. 2010). The Middle-Cretaceous is characterized by
platform limestones which mark a global transgression to
the scale of the entire Atlas domain (Ettachfini and Andreu,
2004). Upper-Cretaceous is made up of shallow water
limestones and phosphatic layers showing local evidence
of growth folding, indicating to some authors the early
stages of the Alpine compression in the Atlas domain
(Froitzheim et al. 1988; Amrhar 1995).
During the Paleogene the sedimentation is mainly con-
tinental and lacustrine with minor marine bioclastic lime-
stones of Eocene age (Marzoqi and Pascal 2000).
Continental deposits of Neogene to Quaternary age, com-
prising alluvial conglomerates and lacustrine limestones,
are contemporaneous with the main compressional defor-
mation and uplift (i.e. Monbaron 1982; Görler et al. 1988;
Fraissinet et al. 1988; Morel et al. 2000). As mentioned by
Arboleya et al. (2004), they are found in some of the plains
bordering the Atlas Mountains such as Tadla plain, and in
some small synclinal outcrops.
Material quarrying in the region
Aggregates are quarried in the Tadla-Azilal region at 88
quarries. This makes the region the most important pro-
ducer area in the country. There are a number of 64 surface
Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
quarries operated in Beni-Mellal province, 16 quarries
located in Fquih Ben Salah province, and 8 quarries located
in Azilal province. Most aggregate producers in the study
area are located in municipalities with high population
densities (Fig. 3). Making reference to information on
aggregate mining production published by Ministry of
Equipment, Transport and Logistics of Morocco (2012),
the average annual aggregate production in Tadla-Azilal
region is around 2,265,186 m3, of which almost 60 % is
supplied by the quarries located in Béni-Mellal province,
37 % comes from the quarries located in Fquih Ben Salah
province, and 3 % comes from the quarries located in
Azilal province. Most of the quarries in the region are
mainly situated on private land (approximately 63 quar-
ries), nearly 19 quarries are situated in hydraulic domain
(rivers and riverbed), and 5 quarries are situated on com-
munal land and one quarry located on forest zone.
The sources of aggregate are the alluvial deposits and
dolomite and limestone stone quarries (Barakat et al.
2015). Alluvial mining represented a major source of best
quality aggregates of construction materials, with enor-
mous resources and easy extraction and treatment. It
excavates an unconsolidated alluvial formation (sand,
gravel, pebbles) along riverbeds, alluvial plains and terrace
from Oum er Rbia and Oued Derna Rivers, principally.
Nevertheless, in last decade, resource and quality depletion
associated with land-use conflicts and environmental
restrictions have resulted in changes to the source of supply
of aggregates, with increased contributions of crushed
carbonate stone aggregate. Most of these quarries exploit-
ing dolomite and limestone rocks of Lias age are widely
distributed along the piedmont, throughout the North Atlas
fault where the rocks are intensely brecciated (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3 Lithological map with
townships and aggregate quarry
location
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Page 5 of 16 774
Their close location from the rural and urban centres to
limit freight costs and since the public in nearby commu-
nities believes aggregate carrying harms the environment,
limit resource development.
Materials and methodology
Information about potential sources of crushed stone and
landuse in Tadla-Azilal region is important for the man-
agement and planning, and can be used in spatial planning
decision-making. GIS techniques are being recently rec-
ognized as an important tool for managing and analyzing
spatial data, which allows the production of potential and
predictive maps for a given commodity (i.e. material
quarry). GIS techniques allow a synoptic viewing of large
regions, thus providing the potential for a geologically and
lithologically detailed assessment of outcrops and land-use.
The capability of geographic information systems (GIS) in
sustainable management of mineral resources has enhanced
its use in the criteria-based evaluation for selection of
potential mineral reserve areas. Our study employed this
technology to identify the locations of significant and
nonsignificant crushed stone resources by using con-
frontation between environmental and economic factors.
All the factors have been evaluated using GIS, and are
listed in Table 1.
The analyses of areas crushed rock aggregate potential
were carried out following the methodology proposed by
Karakas (2014) which selected some factors (e.g., geology
(bedrock potential), distances to county centers, land use,
distances to main roads and highways) and used a weighted
overlay various thematic maps in GIS to derive useful
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774 Page 6 of 16 Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774

Table 1 Classification scores of each sub-factor and weight of fac- • Digital road network maps 1:250,000 (Ministry of
tors used to select potential aggregate rock sites Equipment, Transport and Logistics) are used to create
Factors Sub-factors Classification Weight road network layer and buffers;
scores (%) • Aggregate quarry data sources provided by Regional
Delegation of Energy and Mining and Regional Del-
Lithology High 3 40
potential egation of Equipment of Beni-Mellal, Transport and
Medium 2
Logistics and collected at the field were used to create
Low 1
material quarrying maps;
Other 0
• The municipal boundary as well as the information
Land use Low potential 4 30
agricultural, forest and
regarding the population was procured from website of
urban High Commission for Planning.
Lands with dense forests 3 Preparation of GIS thematic layers of these variables
Agricultural and rural 2 involves digitizing existing maps, and integration of field
areas
data. All thematic layers prepared above were overlaid using
High urban and 1
industrial potential
weighted overlay analysis approach in order to evaluate the
Distances from \10 3 15
areas with potential aggregate resources. The thematic maps
centers (km) 10–20 2
that are vector were converted into raster format for further
analysis because in raster data format computation is less
[20 1
complicated than vector data format (Chang 2006). The
Distance from \5 4 15
roads (km) Raster Conversion Tool in ArcGIS 10.22 version was used
5–10 3
to convert all vector datasets into raster files. Based on the
10–15 2
research objectives, all of the obtained raster maps were first
[15 1
ranked into common suitability scores, with higher scores
Elevation (m) 334–790 5 10
being the more suitable attributes and low score is unsuit-
790–1333 4
able, using ‘‘Reclassify’’ option in spatial analyst tool in
1333–1870 3
ArcGIS software. After reclassification, these raster layers
1870–467 2
generated were weighted and integrated in raster calculator
2467–3804 1
of ArcGIS in order to prepare the final suitability map.
Slope () \6 4 10
Different weighting scenarios according the level of
6–15 3 importance for each factor were applied and assessed in
15–25 2 order to select the best and more realistic one. The more
25–69 1 realistic scenario proposes 0.3, 0.2, 0.15, 0.15, 0.1 and 0.1
weight values for the high like lithology, high suitable land
results on locations of new aggregate potential areas. The use area, proximity to major roads, proximity to the town-
detailed modeling steps to produce the final map for the ships, lower elevation, and gentle slope, respectively.
new potential areas of crushed stone are shown in Fig. 4. In Table 1 shows the weight in percentage of each factor layer,
this study, rock lithology, elevation, slope, distance to total weight is 100 %.
cities and to roads, land use and user activities within the
area have be taken into account in order to prevent conflicts
between users and the environment. For this to happen, the Results and discussion
following datasets were prepared:
Analysis of thematic layers
• Ten geology maps 1:50,000 (Geological Survey of
Ministry of Energy and Mining) are used to investigate
Lithology
the surfacial geology and lithological units at the
studied zone;
To predict the areas which are most likely to contain
• Landsat 8 satellite images with 10 m spatial resolution
aggregate rocks, detailed surface lithological information
were used to derive land use through image classifica-
and history of the regional sources of aggregate stone
tion techniques and visual interpretation;
across the whole of the study area are useful and necessary
• Aster Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 90-m
to localize rock units which serve as the principal source of
resolution, downloaded in May (2015) from ASTER
aggregate materials. Generally sedimentary, metamorphic
GDEM (https://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/gdem.asp), is
and igneous rocks are evaluated for aggregate potential.
used to extract Elevation and slope.

123

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Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
Fig. 4 Flowchart showing the Geological
steps followed to produce the Road maps
maps
final suitability map
Georeferencing, digitalization
and classification
Distance to
Lithology
roads
Rasterization and reclassification
In Tadla-Azilal Region, as alluvial deposits are growing
increasingly scarce, quarried and crushed stone have
become an alternate source of aggregate, therefore, bed-
rock geology of the study area has been included in the
evaluation of aggregate potential. The identification of
potential rock aggregate resources is based on the distri-
bution of all geological formations that are potentially
suitable for use as aggregates. For this, geologic maps are
served as a primary source of information on rock
lithologies necessary for determining the location and
distribution of potential sources of aggregate. The lithology
spatial layer is created by a compilation of some bedrock
geologic maps that are similar in type and scale (1/
100,000), namely Afourer, Azilal, Beni-Mellal, Demnat, El
Borouj, Imlchil, Oued Zem, Qasbat Tadla, Tinghir, and
Zawiyat-Ahançal maps which were published by the
Division of Geology of Ministry of Energy and Mining
(1964, 1972, 1977, 1985a, b, c, d, 1990, 1997, 2003). Rock
unities boundaries were digitized in GIS environment with
Geographic Coordinate System and further projected to
Merchich/Lambert Maroc Nord and then the area of each
rock unit were calculated using Calculate geometry option
in ArcMap. Lithological map used to interpret rock units
suitable for aggregate resources is shown in Fig. 3. As
described above in Geology setting, the Tadla-Azilal
region encompasses a very wide range of geological for-
mations, from Permo-Triassic to quaternary age, and an
equally wide range of sedimentary rock types, from lime-
stones of various types through to mudstones, clays, shales,
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Page 7 of 16 774
Satellite
DEM
images
Correction, digitalization Correction
and classification and classification
Distance to
Lande use Elevation Slope
centers
Reclassification
Overlay
Weight assignment
Final map of potential
aggregate areas
coal seams, siltstones, sandstones and conglomerates. Of
the sedimentary rocks, hard and dense limestone and
dolomite generally make good sources of crushed stone.
Conglomerate, breccia, and sandstone, are used for natural
and crushed stone. There are alkaline multiple intrusive,
subvolcanic and volcanic rocks, and rarely metamorphic
rocks within the area.
The delineation of aggregate potential areas based on
the nature of rock outcrops in the region has been carried
out using Arcgis 10.2 GIS software. To the mapped units,
were assigned one of four potential classifications, high,
medium, low, or none suitability, based on exposed bed-
rock nature and information on aggregate quarries and pits
in the region (Fig. 5). These classes have values of 3, 2, 1,
and 0, respectively, in the attribute table of the bedrock
potential map (Table 1). High crushed stone potential
includes limestone, dolomitic limestone and dolomite
exposed at the land surface or buried by a thin overburden.
Within many parts of the study area, these solid rocks are
overlain by a relatively thin cover of superficial Quaternary
deposits. Limestone and other carbonates account for a
major part of the rocks used for crushed stone, with detrital
rocks making up the bulk of the remainder. Limestone
deposits are widespread throughout the region, especially
in the Beni-Mellal Atlas, indicating that the study region
have a high potential of large aggregate sources. These
about 55 % of the total surface region. Moderate crushed
stone potential includes igneous and metamorphic rocks,
outcropping or under a low overburden. They are
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774 Page 8 of 16
concentrated in a few isolated localities totaling about
426 km2, up 2.9 % of the total surface area. Sandstones
and conglomerates comprised the low bedrock potential
category. Of these detrital rocks, conglomerates are most
commonly used for crushed stone and are an important
source of aggregate in some areas. Sand and gravel
deposits that commonly are the results of the weathering of
bedrock and subsequent transportation and deposition of
the material by water, are exposed along the rivers and
streams and in terraces and alluvial fans where these nat-
ural aggregates represent the main source of open cast
quarries in the plain and piedmont zones. They are widely
distributed throughout the region, and constitute about
2695.6 km2, i.e. 18.2 % of the total area. Low crushed
stone potential includes landforms with the deposits that
contain clay and/or silt. Other unit’s class without suit-
ability corresponds to areas where the soil profile is well
developed and consists of many heterogeneous layers.
Land use
Aggregate mining may cause some environmental distur-
bance such as the conversion of land use, most likely from
undeveloped or agricultural land use, to a hole in the
ground. This major impact may be accompanied by loss of
habitat, noise, dust, vibrations, chemical spills, erosion,
sedimentation, changes to the visual scene, and dereliction
of the quarried site. Hence, in regard to sustainable
aggregate resources management in the Tadla-Azilal
region, the land use assessment was carried out using to
define the occurrence of suitable aggregate resources.
Two free Landsat-8 ETM? images for July 4th 2014,
are used to produce the land use and topographic elevation
and slope maps. There are a multi band satellite images
with a resolution of 1000 meters, a large cover of space,
and the coordinates of Path/Row: 201/38 and 201/37;
Long./Lat.: 31.7/6.3 and 33.2/5. These two source images
are being merged to the final image used for GIS processed
land use classification. With supervised classification using
ENVI software, the visual interpretation has been also used
to interpret spatial attributes on the final image and gave a
general idea about the forms of land use.
The region image was classified into four main land use
classes that are: areas with high urban and industrial
potential (1 %), agricultural and rural areas (24.4 %), lands
with dense forests (4.8 %), and low potential agricultural,
forest and urban lands (68.7 %) (Fig. 6). These land use
classes are ranked based on suitability for quarry activities
as unsuitable, low suitability, moderate, and high suitability
by assigning values 1 and 4 respectively (Table 1; Fig. 6).
The unsuitable class corresponds to urban and rural centers
where the opening of quarries is difficult, if not impossible,
due to their negative impact including noise, dust, blasting
123
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Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
effects, and changes to the visual scene. The high suit-
able class corresponds to areas with scarcely populated
urban, less dense forest and agriculture, and pasturage.
Topographic elevation and slope
The Tadla-Azilal region elevation ranges between 334 and
3804 m. This is a factor of relatively high importance,
given that a majority of crushed potential rocks occur at the
Atlas Mountain having high elevations with numerous
rugged terrains. This factor acquires slightly more signifi-
cance, in that occasionally quarries are opened at rather
elevated sites.
The downloaded ASTER digital elevation model (DEM)
produced by US Geological Survey (USGS), was processed
to get the extracted DEM and then to extract elevation.
Elevation map was prepared in GIS and then reclassified by
dividing it into 5 interval classes that are shown in Table 1
and Fig. 7. Rocks at higher elevations are less desirable
because of transportation costs and road quality, and hence
receive lower scores.
Slope is an important criterion in mountainous terrain
for finding suitable sites for opening the quarries. Topog-
raphy with steep slopes is generally regarded as disad-
vantageous for transportation (roads, highways and rail
tracks). The slope layer was also derived from the Digital
Elevation Model (DEM), and was classified into four cat-
egories described in degrees: slope less than 6 that is
considered gentle slope having the highest intensity of
importance; 6–\15 slope is moderate, 15–\25 slope is
very steep, and slope greater than 25 has been classified as
unsuitable because it is very steep for aggregate transport
trucks (Table 1). Figure 8 and Table 1 show respectively
the classified slope map and the corresponding rates. The
classified slope map (Fig. 8) shows 43.7 % gentle
(6476.95 km2), 27.2 % moderate (4032.6 km2), 19.9 %
very steep (2950.7 km2), and 91 % extremely steep
(1354.3 km2) slopes.
The elevation and slope maps show that the topography
in the Tadla-Azilal region is mountainous in the south-
eastern part, much of that area being in steep slopes,
requiring tortuous roads. Population density in that area is
low, much of it having low dense forest and agriculture.
The northwestern part of the region corresponds to flat
plain with a smooth topography. It is mostly an important
agricultural zone, but some urbanization is occurring.
Distance from centers
The proximity of quarry activities to centers could be a
source of environmental problems associated with the
extraction of aggregates, namely visual impact, noise, dust
and vibration (Smith and Collis 2001). Nevertheless,
Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774 Page 9 of 16 774

Fig. 5 Lithological suitability

map

Fig. 6 Land use map

123

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774 Page 10 of 16
aggregate is a low-value commodity that derives much of
its value from being located near the market. Thus, trans-
porting aggregate long distances can add significantly to
the overall price of the product (Leighton 1991). Therefore,
it is preferable that aggregate operations are located near
population centers and other market areas in order to
minimize transportation distances between pits and end-
users.
Thus, the thematic map was generated using a buffer
with isopleth line distances of 10 km, in this case around
the point urban and suburban population centers repre-
senting the major users of aggregates. The closest buffer to
center points is the most important feature, while the far-
thest buffer indicates the less important areas. In the
reclassification procedure, the ranking values of 3, 2 and 1
are assigned to the buffer classes in descending order by
their averaged distances from the centers (Table 1).
The thematic map represented in Fig. 9, shows that all
of the population of the region resides in the urban and sub-
rural areas. The pattern of population distribution in the
country mostly corresponds to the factors governing agri-
cultural practices. The population distribution in the region
has been traditionally determined by the availability of land
for cultivation, availability of economic (service, indus-
trial, …) activities, availability of water resources. For this,
the main concentration of the population occurs in the
Fig. 7 Elevation map
123
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Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
Tadla plain and Atlas piedmont. However, by contrast, the
mountain part is characterized by sparse population.
Distance from roads
The proximity of aggregate resources to the major roads is
generally regarded as more suitable, because it allows easy
access to the road network for the delivery of finished
products, and helps reduce the cost of the construction and
maintenance of access to the necessary rock and quarries.
Therefore, an effort was made to locate the site nearer to
existing roads. Road data were derived from the Béni-
Mellal and Azilal road maps (Cartes et plan des villes
Marocaines 2010). The source maps were converted to
digital mode using scanning, and then were georeferenced
with longitude and latitudes using the ArcGIS software and
spatial analyst tools and finally the road network was
manually created using polylines.
The road layer shows that the study region has a well
developed road network facilitating displacement between
the municipalities (Fig. 10). The road network that is
comprised of highway, national, regional and provincial
roads extends over a length of 2432 km, of which 87 % is
covered. This situation is expected to improve through the
achievement of the second national program of rural roads
operations launched by the Ministry of Equipment and
Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
Fig. 8 Slope map
Transport (Ministry of Equipment and Transport 2015).
Typically, dense road networks are within the plain zone
indicating thus that the concentration of the roads network
depicts the concentration of human settlements outside the
towns (Fig. 10).
In order to show the importance for road proximity
criteria, the thematic map was made by applying a buffer to
the road network, and was classified into four equal ranges
of 5 km (Table 1; Fig. 10). Theses buffer zone datasets
were reclassified and assigned the values of 3, 2 and 1,
respectively (Table 1). The highest value was given to the
closest buffer of a location to indicate greater suitability for
locating aggregate resources quarry.
Aggregate resource potential map
To get the suitability maps for aggregate resource areas, the
classified maps produced separately for all the factors
described above have been combined. The suitable areas
were obtained as a result of overlaying suitable classes of
bedrock, land use (land use (forest, meadow, pasture), close
to the county centres (\10 km) and main roads and high-
ways (\5 km), elevation (\790 m) and slope (\6) layers.
This is done in GIS by using weighted overlay analysis
based on rates for the classes in a layer and weight of
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Page 11 of 16 774
thematic layers according to their importance. Neverthe-
less, this method presents a disadvantage linked to the
selection of the suitable zone that is dependent on the
judgments of the assessors and can be sensitive to changes
in the decision weights associated with factors. That is
why, more scenarios to weight different factors by modi-
fying their weight coefficients were assigned differently by
considering regional and specific importance of each layer
in defining aggregate potential, and their results were
evaluated in order to select the most likely scenario. The
order of importance assigned to the factors in defining
suitable aggregate source areas was geology, land-use,
distance from centers and from main roads, elevation and
slope. The final site suitability map is prepared by simple
attribute maths considering the weight of each layer,
according the following formula: Suitability map = R
[criteria map 9 weight], and with the aid of raster calcu-
lator tool in ArcGIS.
The best scenario selected by varying weight value of
each layer which yielded realistic results confirmed with
field checks, included a 0.4 weight value for geology, a 0.3
weight value for land-use, a 0.15 weight value for distances
to county centers, a 0.15 weight value for distances to main
roads and highways, a 0.1 weight value for elevation and a
0.1 weight value for slope layers (Table 1). The suitability
123
774 Page 12 of 16 Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774

Fig. 9 Map of the distance

from centers

Fig. 10 Map of the distance

from roads

123

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Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
Fig. 11 Final map of potential
aggregate areas
map resulting from this weighting scenario is shown in
Fig. 11. This final map had values between 1.30 and 3.95,
reclassified automatically by the natural breaks (Jenks)
classification method, into three class schemes, i.e.
unsuitable (1.30–2.7), moderately suitable (2.8–3.2), and
most suitable areas (3.3–3.95). The areas calculated show
that 27.8 % of the study region is highly suitable, 35.9 % is
moderately suitable, and 36.3 % is unsuitable for aggregate
resources. Most unsuitable areas are generally located in
the Tadla plain where the population is dense and the
surface is land with better soils that are suitable for culti-
vation. Other unsuitable areas are in the southeastern edge
where all the factors except the lithology and land use, are
against it. Generally, the two categories highly suitable and
moderately suitable that make up 63.7 % of the total area,
are found mainly on the Atlas mountain. This mountain
constitutes the particularly favorable geological context
which conceals in its basement several aggregates resour-
ces of regional or interregional importance. These resour-
ces suitable for producing aggregates consist of magmatic
rocks in a limited range, and very important in alluvial and
carbonate sedimentary rocks. Alluvial resource areas
coincide with the alluvial terraces of high and low levels
and alluvial floodplains of different rivers that cross the
regional territory. These sedimentary carbonate rocks are
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Page 13 of 16 774
relatively large, and are present especially in the moun-
tainous part. This high regional potential of aggregate
resources is so large but that does not mean aggregate
resources can indiscriminately be exploited. Aggregate
resources should be carefully managed. Furthermore,
development of aggregate resources must not endanger the
environment. The obtained suitable areas in this study are
an inferred mineral resource highlighted by a multi-criteria
analysis taking into account socio-economic and environ-
mental parameters, but without considering the geotech-
nical criterion which is required to evaluate the real quality
of potential rock for the aggregates production. The eval-
uation of market potential was only made on the basis of
the nature of the geological formations subject to an
exploitation of aggregates. The detailed reconnaissance
field work and analysis of geotechnical parameters of
favorable geological formations are needed to properly
define favorable aggregate source areas. Nevertheless, this
investigation remains very interesting, and has produced a
wide range of data providing valuable information that
could serve as decision support to manage access to
resources of aggregate rocks according to the different
constraints such as environmental, socio-economic and
technical. Similar and much further works are needed for
all regions of the country and require the intervention of
123
774 Page 14 of 16
government, regional and local authorities. They must
integrate into a Geographic Information System (GIS) all
existing information on the favorable geological forma-
tions to establish a synthesis document that will inventory
the national mineral resources, and identify the areas more
favorable to the operation of deposits that meet the envi-
ronmental requirements.
Conclusions
Identification of potential sites for the opening of aggregate
quarries in our developing country, is very important both
for the best and sustainable use of available mineral
aggregate resources, the protection of natural resources and
the reduction of environmental impact. Site suitability
analysis has become widely used for finding appropriate
site for various developmental initiatives, especially in the
aggregates production sector. GIS techniques are becoming
unavoidable tools for such evaluation studies because it’s
very simple and able to manage many spatial data from
various sources and especially less expensive.
Current research is focused to allocate the potential
aggregate resource sites in Tadla-Azilal region with the use
of GIS overlay analysis methodology. The suitable site
locations are assessed considering different socio-eco-
nomic and environmental factors that are lithology, land
use, distance to centers and to roads, elevation, and slope.
All the factor maps were prepared from the various oper-
ations in ArcGIS software, such as scanning, digitizing,
buffer zoning, rasterization, and reclassification. The final
suitability map is performed using weighted raster overlay
function. As an outcome of this study, different suit-
able locations for potential aggregate resource in the study
region are determined and are classified as unsuit-
able (1.30–2.7), moderately suitable (2.8–3.2), and most
suitable areas (2.8–3.2). Approximately 36.3 % of the
region’s surface falls under the categories of non suit-
able areas, and 63.7 % falls under moderately and suit-
able categories. This indicates a high potential for
aggregate rock resources in the region that need best
management by regulation of aggregate industry and con-
trol of environmental impacts. Furthermore, these resource
areas assessed require detailed field investigation, geolog-
ical exploration and laboratory testing in order to evaluate
the reserve and quality of aggregate resources within these
sites determined as suitable.
We concluded that the GIS overlay approach used give
interesting results for aggregate source site selection map
that can assist various planners and authorities to formulate
suitable plan for sustained development of the region. We
also suggest that this using approach is so easier and
123
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Environ Earth Sci (2016) 75:774
flexible tah it can be applied to all practical land use
management issues with greater success.
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