Journal of Environmental Solutions Volume 2 (Issue 1) (2013): 1-8 Journal of Environmental Solutions Averroes Publisher METALLIC CONTAMINATION OF THE OCCIDENTAL MEDITERRANEAN COASTS OF MOROCCO (COASTAL FRINGE “KABILA - OUED LAOU”), USING Callista chione KHANNOUS SOUMAYA1; BOUZID SAIDA1; BENOMAR MOSTAPHA2; ER-RAIOUI HASSAN 1* 1Geosciences and Environment team - Department of Earth Sciences - Faculty of Sciences and techniques, Tangier, Morocco 2 Laboratory of Chemical Micropollutants, National Institute of Halieutic Research, Tangier, Morocco * Corresponding author. Er-raioui Hassan E-mail:
[email protected] Tel: +212 5 39 39 39 54 A B S T R A C T Keywords: In order to study the metallic contamination of the western Mediterranean coasts of Morocco, bivalve samples metallic contamination (Callista chione) were collected during the pluvial period from five sites (Kabila, Cabo Negro, Oued Malleh, Oued Occidental Moroccan Mediterrane- Laou and Oued Laou River's mouth) and were analyzed for 6 elements (Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, Cr and Cd) by ACP-AES. an coasts The average of metallic concentrations found (62.52 mg/kg for Zn, 16.23 mg/kg for Ni, 5.57 mg/kg for Cu, 2.21 Callista chione mg/kg for Pb, 1.50 mg/kg for Cr and 0.28 mg/kg for Cd) are far away from being considered as negligible even though industrial and harbor activities are less developed in this region compared to industrial countries. The concentrations show significant spatial variations. It seems that these variations are related to urban dis- missals from close agglomerations and from the washing of the geological formations of the back-country.