Geography of Morocco. Morocco is located in the northwest corner of Africa and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and by the Mediterranean Sea on the north. The eastern border is with Algeria while the southern one is with the Western Sahara, though de facto Morocco controls the western part of this region up to the Mauritanian border. Along the northern coast there are three Spanish enclaves: Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón xx Xxxxx de la Gomera. Morocco has four distinct geographic regions: a fertile coastal plain between the Mediterranean Sea and the Rif mountains in the north, the Atlas Mountains, extending across the country from southwest to northeast and into Algeria, a wide area of coastal plains lining the country's western seaboard, and the semiarid grasslands that merge with the Sahara Desert along the southeastern borders. (Nations Encyclopedia 2018). The Atlas Mountains run down the backbone of the country, from the northeast to the south west and are divided into several sub-ranges: Middle Atlas, High Atlas and Anti- Atlas; they separate the mild coastline from the harsh Sahara. Most of the southeast portion of the country is in the Sahara Desert and as such is generally sparsely populated and unproductive economically since life is only possible within the sanctuary of the oases. Among different major agro-ecological zones proposed for Morocco (Berkat & Tazi, 2004) on the basis of homogeneity in terms of landform/substrate-soil, rainfall and growing season (bioclimates and their thermal subdivisions), those of main interest for this study are: - The Presaharan zone which is characterized by a very low (100 to 200 mm) and variable rainfall. Crops occupy only two percent of the land as they are mostly in valleys and oases. Most of the land is used for grazing sheep, goats, and some camels. Cropping is based on cereals, fallow, orchards (olive trees, date palms, fig trees, apple trees), forages and vegetables. Two irrigated perimeters are in this zone: the Ouarzazate perimeter and the Tafilalet perimeter. In the Presaharan Zone lithosols and regosols dominate, in association with sierozems and regs. In the valleys, saline soils are frequent; - The Saharan zone which is characterized by a very low (less than 100 mm) and erratic rainfall. Thus, cropping is limited to irrigated areas, or areas receiving runoff. Main crops are cereals, forages and vegetables. However, the most important activity is extensive livestock production (goats, sheep, camels). Soils are mos...
