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Grain size, sorting, skewness, and kurtosis studies are of great importance in order to texturally characterize the sedimentary environments. These parameters are useful in order to characterize the dynamic beach environment, which is of potential interest for research on natural resources and to interpret analogous ancient sedimentary environments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the characteristics and distribution of sediments along Kenitra coast (Morocco) for first time using size grain analysis. Grain size analysis aims to determine physical properties and textural parameters such as mean, sorting, skewness and kurtosis. Samplings were done at different locations on the beaches, which represent low tide line, high tide line, foot dune and dune areas. The observation from this study shows an abundance of the medium sand to fine sand which indicates the prevalence of comparatively moderate-to low-energy condition in the Kenitra area. Linear Discriminant function (LDA) analysis of the samples indicates an aeolian, shallow marine deposition environment and less influence of fluvial (7%) process. Analysis of sediments using Passega's C-M diagram (C = one percentile in microns and M = medium in microns) of the Kenitra coast suggests that sediment deposition is mainly by rolling and graded suspension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estuaries, which are coastal bodies of water connecting the riverine and marine environment, are among the most important ecosystems in the world. Saltwater intrusion is the movement of coastal saline water into an estuary, which makes up estuary water, becomes salty due to the mixing of freshwater with saltwater. It has become a serious environmental problem in the Sebou estuary (Morocco) during wet and dry seasons, which has a considerable impact on residential water supply, agricultural water supply as well as urban industrial production. The aim of this paper is to study longitudinal salinity and the vertical salinity stratification under different hydraulic conditions in the Sebou estuary. Field observations were done during May 2014 and February 2016 and were interpolated using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Measurements results show that the vertically averaged salinity during spring tide is higher than that during neap tide. Also, the stratification increases a larger during the low-flow periods than during the high-flow periods in the Sebou estuary. Based on results of the longitudinal and vertical salinity observations and historical data, empirical equations were obtained for estimation of the intrusion length as a function (1) of upstream freshwater discharge and (2) tidal range in the Sebou estuary. Additionally, a correlation equation between the surface salinity and the vertical average salinity in estuary (at Kenitra station) was proposed. Finally, this paper provides simple equations that are useful to provide first estimates of intrusion length and vertical average salinity in the Sebou estuary, which can be obtained by a simple desk study without the use of every measurements day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]