Haouz plain – Wikipedia

The Haouz plain is an alluvial plain located in the South Center in Morocco, between Haut-Atlas in the south and the small massif des Jbilet to the north. The region is chief town Marrakech and its main river is the Tensift.

The term haouz designates in Arabic an enclosure, and by extension a space exploited for the benefit of someone or something, typically of a city city. Historically, all the cities of Morocco guess their “haouz”, that is to say their hinterland. This name was ultimately only preserved for the Marrakech basin, irrigated by the Tensift and its tributaries ^{[ first ]} .

Contemporary period [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

At the end of XIX ^{It is} century, under the reign of Moulay Hassan, agricultural and hydraulic modernization projects are envisaged in Haouz but never emerged. It is under the protectorate that the first efforts of “modernization” take place (which in reality overlap modern infrastructure to traditional social structures). Inspiration is sought in California. The colonial authorities push Moroccan colonists and farmers to move towards the production of citrus fruits and market gardening. The perimeter of N’Fis, at the western end of Haouz, is the first concerned by modernization with the inauguration in 1935 from the Lalla Takerkoust dam (then called Cavagnac dam) ^{[ first ]} .

From 1961 , Haouz is the subject of a large -scale agricultural development under the aegis of the National Office for Agricultural Development of Haouz (Ormvah) and its director, Paul Pascon ^{[ first ]} . In 1970 , King Hassan II kicks off the roadblocks, announced two years earlier in the five -year plan of 1968 . In Haouz, three sectors are programmed: the perimeter of the central hauz ( 70 000 hectares) which corresponds to the Tensift basin, the perimeter of Tassaout-Amont ( 52 000  hectares dont 30 000 Modern hectares), in Piedmont zone, and that of Tassaout-Aval ( 44 000 hectares), in the plain. In 1970 , the Moulay Youssef dam is built Tassaout, irrigating the Tassaout-Aval perimeter and produces 60 mkwh/year for Marrakech. In 1987 The Hassan 1st – Sidi Driss damper is built on the Oued Lakhdar. The same year was inaugurated the Rocade Canal, which connects the Sidi Driss dam, which was inaugurated at Lac Lalla Takerkoust, 118 km long, bringing 260 mm3 of water per year to the perimeter of Haouz Central ^{[ first ]} .

In Haouz as elsewhere in Morocco, the policy of building hydroelectric dams continued in the 2000s. In 2008 A second dam on the N’Fis is inaugurated near Ouirgane.

Climate [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The rainfall is low, less than 300 mm/year everywhere in the central hauz, as well as atmospheric humidity and nebulity also. The climate is hot, continental, marked by strong temperature contrasts. Only the hydrographic network of Tensift, Tassaout and Oued Lakhdar, of Pluvio-Nival diet, allows to irrigate the plain and recharge the tablecloths.

Topography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The altitude of the Haouz plain is between 1000m, altitude in Amizmiz or Demnate for example (two agglomerations located on the Haut-Atlas foothills) and 300m, up to the Tensift course.

The Haouz plain is delimited to the north by the course of the Tensift wadi and the low altitude massif of the Jbilet, which separate the Haouz from the Rehamna region. In the south, the Haouz limit is formed by the mountainous barrier of Haut-Atlas, which culminates at the Toubkal level, at 4,167 meters above sea level. To the west, the limit of Haouz is located roughly at the limit of the Basins of the Nfiss and the Assif El Mel, at the level of the hills of Mzoudia and Guemassa. Beyond this rainfall, the weakness of the hydrographic network and the quality of the soils no longer make it possible to meet agricultural needs. At XIX ^{It is} A century and during the colonial period, the Haouz de Marrakech was limited to the Tensift basin. Since the hydraulic arrangements of the 1960s, geographers include the Tassaout-Aval basin, irrigated by the Rocade Canal and whose main agglomeration is Lâattaouia.

Geology [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

During the secondary, the primary base was leveled and deformed by the first atlastic movements between the Atlas and the Jbilets ^{[ 2 ]} . Tectonic tertiary movements caused a gap between the Atlas and the Jbilet as a result of a game of fractures and flexors caused a gap between these two massifs. During the Oligo-Miocene and the Pliocene, period of atlas’ overwhelming, the rivers of Oueds picked up the debris of the nascent chain, debris of composition similar to that of the mountains from which the wadis came from the nascent chain ^{[ 2 ]} . The lateral displacement of the river course, a recurring phenomenon in the Haouz, caused a spread of alluvium throughout the extent of the basin. Atlasic folds and successive embankments ended with the Upper Pliocene. Since then, Haouz has witnessed a succession of river erosion cycles ^{[ 2 ]} . The atlas wadis remained the training of the upper Pliocene, stirring them with new contributions. They have, during the wet periods, spread out in the pebble and pebble plain, forming the cones of excrement that we currently know. Downstream, they placed pink silts in the swamps.

References [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• (FR+AR) Paul Pascon , The Haouz of Marrakech , Tangier, Moroccan and International Editions, 1983 , 2 volumes, 693 p. + 165

Related articles [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

external links [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

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