MOROCCO (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 – Geography)

Context: The Moroccan media reported damage in many parts of Morocco including the city of Marrakesh due to the recent Earthquake.

Morocco

• Location: Western North Africa.
• Boundary: Algeria to the east and southeast, Western Sahara to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north.

oIt is the only African country with coastal exposure to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

• Strait: It lies directly across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain.
• Climate: Mediterranean climate, with mild wet winters and hot dry summers.
• Mountain Ranges: The Atlas Mountains dominate the central part of the country, while the Rif Mountains make up the northern edge.

oJebel Toubkal is the highest point in Morocco at 13,664 ft (4,165 m) and is also the highest peak of the Atlas Mountains.

Earthquake

• An earthquake refers to a strong trembling of the Earth's surface.
• Causes of earthquake: Tectonic plate movement and faults within earth crust, volcanism, man-made seismicity like- nuclear explosion, landslide and glacier meting etc.
• Earth's Composition: The Earth consists of four fundamental layers: a solid crust, a hot and mostly solid mantle, a liquid outer core, and a solid inner core.
• Lithosphere Formation: The solid crust and the upper, rigid portion of the mantle together constitute a zone known as the lithosphere.
• Tectonic Plate Structure: The lithosphere comprises tectonic plates, which are in constant motion as they drift atop the slowly flowing mantle layer beneath