The Ajeel oil field in central Iraq was selected to conduct a study on soil contaminated with crude oil. The site was divided into two areas: Area 1 and area 2. Four samples were studied for each region, and concentrations of 11 toxic elements were studied. The results showed that cadmium Cd+2 and arsenic As+3, significantly exceeded permissible limits, reflecting a significant environmental risk to soil and water. While the level of contamination with lead elements Pb+2, chromium Cr+3, zinc+2, Zn+2, nickel Ni+2, copper Cu+2, lead Fe+3, manganese Mn+2, cobalt Co+2 and molybdenum Mo+6, was moderate. Contamination models and indicators were used to evaluate the level of contamination that occurred. PRI results showed that zone 2 had severe and widespread contamination, especially in samples 5, 7, and 8, which recorded very high PRI values up to 1800.36, indicating very high contamination. While the results of the Nemerow Pollution Index model indicate a serious exceedance of the limits. Zone 2 was recorded as the most polluted zone according to the Nemerow Pollution Index PN, with the highest value of 40.72, followed by Zone 1 in terms of pollution intensity.

Black-sand mining is an under-studied anthropogenic pressure on arid coastal environments, where sparse vegetation and slow natural recovery limit conventional impact assessment. Despite the recent expansion of heavy-mineral extraction along the Mauritanian coast, no spatio-temporal analysis has quantified its effects on land cover and surface-water dynamics in the N’Diago region. We analysed the N’Diago–LGUWYCHICH coastal sector (south-western Mauritania) using three Landsat scenes (2014, 2020, and 2026) in QGIS (free and open-source Geographic Information System), four spectral indices (NDVI-Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDWI-Normalized Difference Water Index, BSI- Bare Soil Index, and CI -Coloration Index), supervised Support Vector Machine classification and a 30 m SRTM Digital Elevation Model over a 97.82 ha area of interest. Bare soil dominated the landscape at every date (92.6–95.7%) and vegetation stayed below 7%, indicating that canopy-based metrics underestimate disturbance in this setting. The clearest change was hydrological: an inland water body shrank from 1.02 ha in 2020 to 0.40 ha in 2026, a 60.6% loss. This individual inland water body, measured directly and independently from the NDWI index, is our primary hydrological observation: the wet feature was smaller in the 2026 image than in the 2020 image and was located near the mapped concession areas, but the available data do not establish the cause of this change. Similar bare-soil and colour index values (BSI ≈ 0.23, CI ≈ 0.79–0.80) were observed in the processed images, while residual seasonal and radiometric differences between the Landsat 8 and DOS-corrected Landsat 9 products cannot be excluded; BSI and CI are treated only as candidate or contextual spectral patterns, so any delineation of the disturbed footprint is provisional and requires confirmation from independent field data. This study illustrates a low-cost exploratory workflow that may support preliminary monitoring in data-scarce arid coastal settings, pending validation with denser time series and field observations.

Predicting the dispersion of pollutants is essential for environmental assessment, especially near industrial sites, as outdoor pollution is currently a major environmental problem. This study aims to evaluate the behaviour of pollutants emitted from Mellitah in western Libya by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. The prediction of pollutant dispersion and emission behaviours was examined using ANSYS CFX V19. The simulation was performed under different conditions of atmospheric stability conditions and wind velocity. Emissions were found to be effected by changes in atmospheric stability, velocity and wind direction. When wind velocity dominates exhaust emissions from the stack, the wake zone immediately behind the stack becomes a key area for pollutant accumulation. Furthermore, unstable atmospheric conditions worsen the problem by restricting pollutant dispersion, leading to higher concentrations in certain areas and increasing the risk of environmental and health impacts. Another potential source of pollution may arise in the event of storage tank fire accidents. Another potential source of pollution may arise in the event of storage tank fire accidents. In such cases, the CO₂ critical concentration region presents a significant risk of pollution, especially under high wind speeds and neutral to slightly unstable atmospheric conditions. This risk extends from a height of 16 m above the ground and within a radius of approximately 200 m around the emission sources, and can spread up to 500 m downstream.

Air pollution from industrial areas has become really worrying especially for city dwellers. The plume dispersion emitted from industrial sources is subject to several factors: temperature and emission rate velocity, wind speed and direction, source height, and atmospheric stability. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of the dispersion coefficients correlated within a Gaussian plume approach to an industrial source in Libya (Mellitah Gas Complex) under low and moderate wind speeds. To this end, we have developed a specific code based on the Gaussian method to study the dispersion of (1) Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from oil storage tanks and condensate storage tanks, and (2) sulfur oxides (SO x ) and nitrogen oxides (NO x ) emitted by the flaring process through three stacks of 80 m height. The emissions from multisource points and their dispersion have been predicted at calm wind conditions and the flammability and danger-prone toxic zones have been delimited around the studied site. The obtained results reveal that the emissions, particularly generated at low and moderate wind speeds, induce a dispersion with high concentration levels in the area surrounding the industrial site. The VOCs critical concentration region indicates a real risk of flammability at low-speed wind and stable atmospheric condition, from a height of 5 m above the ground. In fact, the VOCs concentration reach the Flammability Inferior Limit value of 0.018 m 3 VOCs/m 3 and these concentrations, appearing in the form of a plume, extend downstream to approximately 1000 m. The dispersion of NO x and SO x emissions downwind from the stacks are enhanced by wind speed; nevertheless, at 2 m height from the ground, the levels could exceed the limit value of 0.125 mg/m 3 , especially under the condition of unstable and very unstable atmospheric classes. From our findings, we recommend continuous monitoring campaigns inside and around the complex of Mellitah to ensure an environmentally secure zone that respects safety and health guidelines. Furthermore, enhanced simulations based on hourly weather conditions for extended area would be of great interest to accurately assess the air quality index in the region.

Disposal of olive mill wastes presents a major threat to the environment due to the extremely high level of polyphenols unsuitable for plants and soil organisms. Data about the impact of wastes coming from the olive oil industry on non-target organisms are still scarce. Nevertheless, recently, we started paying attention to study the effect of olive mill waste liquid and solid fraction on soil organisms such as earthworms. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effects of the leachable fraction extracted from an olive mill waste contaminated soil (OMWCS) on neurotoxicity (Acetylcholinesterase activity, AChE) and oxidative stress (Catalase activity, CAT) in the earthworm Dendrobaena veneta obtained from a laboratory culture at the department of biology (Osijek, Croatia). Moreover, the treatment of OMWCS by adding diatomaceous earth (D) or clay (C) at different rates has been investigated. Incubation of OMWCS with D (at 15 and 30

Coastal areas are at constant risk of coastal erosion exacerbated by anthropogenic activities and coastal infrastructure. The objective of our study is to identify the most dynamic areas on the Mauritanian coast and particularly those most affected by erosion and possibly determine the factors responsible for the degradation. We used remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems (GIS) through the processing of high and medium resolution satellite images. We used the DSAS method to compare and update the work done by DELFT University which ended in 2016. We integrated images from 2005, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2021 on the area of interest at the port of Tanit in combination with the detailed analysis, conducted by the University of Delft that brings out the basic data from an analysis of coastal dynamics in Sandy beaches around the world. It emerges that the Mauritanian coast, mostly a sandy beach, is very dynamic with three trends characterizing the coastline from north to south. The first sector is dominated by the North and North-East trade winds, although there are small pockets of erosion around the islands of the Banc d'Arguin National Park, which are very low and exposed to ocean waves. The second sector that has a clear erosion profile is the one located between the village of Mamghar and PK28 south of the city of Nouakchott. Finally, the southern zone of the coastline up to the border with Senegal does not show a clear trend of accretion or erosion and can be described as stable with changes from one period to another according to the different cycles of the tide and wind dynamics which is the main source of sediment. It turns out that the port facilities were at the origin of coastal erosion. These results draw attention on the need to adopt effective adaptation mechanisms against coastal erosion to protect coastal communities and secure economic investment, especially in the tourism and fish sectors.

Posidonia oceanica (PO) fibers were used as biodegradable solid waste material in the removal of oil spills from seawater. In the present study, PO fibers were chemically treated using H3PO4, KOH, ZnCl2 and H2O2. The Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to compare and to determine the structure of the raw and the chemically-treated PO fibers. The main parameters studied in the two systems, a mixture system of oil and water and a system with only oil or only water, were the chemical solutions concentrations, initial oil concentration and time contact. The results revealed that PO fibers treated with phosphoric acid (H3PO4) showed an enhancement of oil sorption of 12% in oil/water layer, compared to raw PO fibers. An increase of hydrophobicity was also observed with treated fibers as revealed by the 50% decrease in water sorption capacity. The isotherm and kinetic models were determined to reveal the nature and the mechanism of the sorption. Langmuir isotherm appeared to be the best fitting model showing a one-layer oil sorption onto PO fibers. In addition, the results fitted well with the pseudo second order kinetic model compared to pseudo-first order representing the chemical sorption of oil. The results indicated that the treated biosorbent could be used as biodegradable material to clean-up oil spills in aqueous solution.

Soil salinity is considered one of the biggest constraints to crop production, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions affected by recurrent and long periods of drought, where high salinity levels severely impact plant stress and consequently agricultural production. Climate change accelerates soil salinization, driven by factors such as soil conditions, land use/land cover changes, and water deficits, over extensive spatial and temporal scales. Continuous monitoring of areas at risk of salinization plays a critical role in supporting effective land management and enhancing agricultural production. For these purposes, this work aims to propose a spatiotemporal method for monitoring soil salinization using spectral indices derived from Earth observation data. The proposed approach was tested in the Zaghouan Region in northeastern Tunisia, a region where soils are characterized by alarming levels of salinization. To address this concern, remote sensing techniques were applied for the analysis of satellite imagery generated from Landsat 5, Landsat 8, and Landsat 9 missions. A comprehensive field survey complemented this approach, involving the collection of 229 geo-referenced soil samples. These samples were representative of distinct soil salinity classes, including non-saline, slightly saline, moderately saline, strongly saline, and very strongly saline soils. Soil salinity modeling using Landsat-8 OLI data revealed that the SI-5 index provided the most accurate predictions, with an R2 of 0.67 and an RMSE of 0.12 dS/m. By 2023, 42.3% of the study area was classified as strongly or very strongly saline, indicating a significant increase in salinity over time. This rise in salinity corresponds to notable land use and land cover (LULC) changes, as 55.9% of the study area experienced LULC shifts between 2000 and 2023. A decline in vegetation cover coincided with increasing salinity, showing an inverse relationship between these factors. Additionally, the results highlight the complex interplay among these variables demonstrating that soil salinity levels are significantly impacted by climate change indicators, with a negative correlation between precipitation and salinity (r = −0.85, p < 0.001). Recognizing the interconnections between soil salinity, LULC changes, and climate variables is essential for developing comprehensive strategies, such as targeted irrigation practices and land suitability assessments. Earth observation and remote sensing play a critical role in enabling more sustainable and effective soil management in response to both human activities and climate-induced changes.

This framework aims to monitor the sediment dynamic evolution and land use occupation of the coastal salt-lake system—Sabkha of Ariana—extended in semi-arid region in the gulf of Tunis in Tunisia. We adopted a sedimentary analysis of the sediment crust from the landward to the coastal ridge in winter 2020. Land cover/land use (LCLU) assessment was based on different Remote Sensing (RS) data-scenes of Landsat 5 and 8 for the years 1972–1984–1985–1994–2010 and 2020, completed by the aerial scenes (1974s) and the K-means clustering. In coastal area, grain size distributions show medium to fine sand, well-sorted and which are mostly unimodal. The sabkha crust distribution reveals silty-clay logarithmic-shaped facies of turbidite channel deposit in shallow-water calm environment. The change detection of LC between 1985 and 2020 reveals a decrease of vegetation classes by 27

Over the last few decades, the use of olive oil has been one of the world's most popular dietary trends, especially in the Mediterranean region. Nevertheless, the olive oil production sector causes serious environmental problems because of the high levels of phenolic compounds in the waste it produces. Managing this olive mill wastewater (OMWW) has always been a challenge. One cost-effective disposal method for such wastewater involves using open evaporation ponds. However, these basins have prompted environmental concerns due to the possibility of leaks and OMWW infiltrating the soil, resulting in the contamination of both soil and groundwater. Remarkably, limited attention has been given to the management of soil contaminated by OMWW. In order to address this environmental issue and conserve soil quality, this study focuses foremost on an examination of the potential benefits of using diatomaceous earth, gypsum and lime as soil additives to remediate the contaminated soil and to reduce environmental harm stemming from uncontrolled OMWW disposal. Additives were applied at various percentages (0, 7.5, 15, 30 w/w) to olive mill waste-contaminated soil collected from the evaporation pond in Agareb, Sfax, Tunisia. Several soil parameters, including electrical conductivity, pH, water-soluble potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, copper, chloride, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and polyphenols, were measured in leachates from the contaminated soil and after mixing this soil with additives. Results showed that olive mill waste-contaminated soil displayed elevated levels of these parameters, including rises in pH, electrical conductivity, potassium, iron, COD and polyphenols such that they often surpassed acceptable limits. However, after applying additives, particularly lime at a ratio of 15

Abstract This review explores the hidden hazards associated with the reuse of treated wastewater and sewage sludge in agriculture while proposing mitigation strategies. It examines the origins and pathways of microplastics (MPs) in wastewater treatment plants and how these pollutants infiltrate agricultural ecosystems. The review assesses the effectiveness of MP removal from wastewater and its fate in soil after reuse, highlighting contamination dynamics and the need for proactive measures. Introducing soil remediation methods is crucial for addressing this issue. Alarming evidence of MPs in human blood, testis, semen, and placenta underscores the urgency for solutions, revealing significant threats to human health, particularly reproductive health. The review advocates for sustainable agricultural practices and effective soil remediation strategies to mitigate MP contamination, promoting environmental preservation, food safety, and human health protection. Graphical Abstract

This research paper addresses essentially a numerical simulation of a hydraulic jump in a rectangular channel. The hydraulic jump properties were determined as the length, height, position, and produced energy dissipation. Such characteristics are vital to the study and dimensioning of hydraulic systems in open channel flows. The Shallow Water Equations, named 1D Saint–Venant (continuity equation and motion quantity equation), were used in matrix form in the application of the discretization technique by finite elements in combination with the weighted residual method. The corresponding 1D mathematical model was applied to compute a shockwave referring to the simplifying hypotheses (dynamic calculation of the shockwave under certain practical simplifying hypotheses). The finite element method and the channel boundary characteristics method were used to obtain a numerical solution of the pair of hyperbolic partial derivative equations. The finite element model was then developed using mixed elements with two and three nodes, taking into account the nature and type of the field. One-dimensional model was obtained for each field, based on average speeds on the vertical. The position of the free surface is obtained from a given configuration of rectangular channel (slope condition, upstream, etc.). The results allowed the prediction of the dynamic profile of the free water surface following downstream flow monitoring and the steady state of the channel jump. A very good agreement was found compared to experimental and numerical measurements of other researchers. Interestingly, the hydraulic jump dissipated approximately 10.84

Flood hazard mapping is a fundamental tool for estimating vulnerability in flood-prone areas and assessing flood risk in arid areas, enabling better management. This study specifically focuses on analyzing flood risk in the Gabes catchment, South-Tunisia, which is marked by exceptional flash floods attributed to climate change, notably in the past fifty years. For this aim, a combination of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) coupled to Remote Sensing Techniques and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was applied in this work to identify flood-prone regions within the Gabes catchment. The selected physical parameters are rainfall, slope, slope curvature, elevation, land cover, distance from river, drainage density, and soil type. The relative significance of each parameter was analyzed within a pairwise matrix. Eventually, a regional flood risk map was performed that shows the global susceptibility index classification of various areas within the catchment. Notably, flood risk zones were predominantly concentrated in the coastal areas, accounting for 57.54% of Gabes catchment. The major findings of this study, focusing on potential flood risks in arid regions, offer crucial insights for decision-makers, providing essential data for flood preparedness and mitigation strategies. Nevertheless, it is still required to validate the obtained results with field records and flood inventory maps.

Wadi El Hamma Catchment, located in South-Eastern Tunisia, extends over 800 km2. Topographically, the altitudes range from 50 to 530 m in the northern plain and Matmatas Mountainous. The mean annual rainfall over the study basin is ~120 mm, and the corresponding surface runoff is estimated to be around 7 mm per year. The study catchment is subjected to hazardous flash floods. In Wadi El Hamma Catchment, floods are usually violent; they are characterized by short response time and relatively high peak discharge. Generally, the damage is, in most cases, concentrated upstream of the catchment. The soil loss is noticed higher in the South, especially in the mountainous areas of Matamata. The mountainous part of the Matmatas produces most of the flood runoff. In this context, the Wadi El Hamma Basin was subjected to the exceptional floods of December 1973. Daily rainfall reached 256 mm. As a result, two successive floods were observed, with peak flow rates of 84 and 131 m3/s, respectively. Faced with the recurrence of these catastrophic events, the urgent need to understand and identify hydrological processes involved in the transition from normal to extreme is a strategic axis of prevention against floods. This study is devoted to a modeling approach of historical flash floods (1973 and 1990) in Wadi El Hamma Catchment. Several hydrological models obtained via ATHYS model were selected. The results of hydrological modeling obtained via ATHYS are consistent. The calibration of the GA-LR model adjusted well to the majority of flood episodes (1 and 3), with high Nash values varying between 0.61 and 0.82.

Spent coffee ground (SCG) consists of the remainder left after brewing the coffee grounds. Due to its valuable composition, SCG can provide sufficient nutrients and support plant growth, particularly in arid agricultural lands where soil fertility needs to be improved. However, the effects of SCG are highly dependent on their nature (raw or treated) and the application rate. SCG treatments namely composting and vermi-composting or pyrolysis could result in a more useful product for agricultural use, making it easy to overcome the SCG phytotoxic effect. In this paper a critical review of the researches on SCG was presented. The aim of this review was (1) to highlight the difference between the characteristics of composted, vermi-composted and pyrolyzed SCG with respect to the raw one, and (2) to outline their impacts on both of the physico-chemical properties of the soil as well as the growth of plant. In summary, adding raw SCG may have benefits for physical chemical properties of the soil but not for plant growth, because of the phytotoxic components including polyphenols. Therefore, the application of raw SCG for plant production purposes, even at low rates (equivalent to 2.5

This study presents paleoenvironmental results from three radiocarbon-dated lagoonal sedimentary sequences from the Thapsus lagoon in the southern Gulf of Monastir (Tunisia). Variations in major and trace element concentrations and foraminifera associations coupled with measurements of grain size, total nitrogen (TN), total organic carbon (TOC), total inorganic carbon (TIC), and atomic TOC/TN ratios (C/N) were conducted to reconstruct the climate since 3900 cal yr BP. In addition to a regional drying trend in the late Holocene, five distinct climatic and environmental stages were recorded: (i) between 120.000 and 3993 cal yr BP, after the deposition of the marine carbonate sandstones in an open marine embayment (Upper Pleistocene, marine isotopic substage 5e), the Rass Dimasse coast continued to emerge as a result of reactivated border faults and tectonic uplift; (ii) Toward 3993 cal yr PB, a first marine transgression was detected across the emerged landscape as evidenced by the dominance of the marginal/marine (50

Olive mill waste water (OMWW) represents a major threat to the environment due to its high levels of polyphenols. The aim of this study was to investigate the toxicological effect of OMWW contaminated soil on a bio-indicator namely Eisenia andrei using the reproduction test approach. Soil from OMWW evaporation ponds and artificially contaminated soil were tested. The samples collected from the evaporation ponds were found to be extremely toxic to earthworms leading to their total mortality. However, earthworms exposed to artificially contaminated soil using OMWW at a ratio of 16% survived nonetheless their reproduction cycle was disturbed by a decrease of the juvenile number. Furthermore, gypsum was added into the contaminated soil and its efficiency on the depletion of the toxic effect of OMWW was assessed. It was found that gypsum could be effective for the remediation of the contaminated soil as the juvenile number increased even with OMWW at a ratio of 50% w:w.

Landfill leachate (LFL) is a very complex effluent that poses considerable threats to humans and to the environment. Selecting the appropriate process for leachate treatment still poses potential concern and challenge for the operation in municipal landfills. The current study aims to assess stabilized leachate degradation through coagulation by using different chemicals (Al-2(SO4)(3), FeCl3, FeSO4). Thereafter, a complementary process using two Candida strains (Candida kefyr and Candida glabrata) is investigated as a biological treatment of treated LFL. Furthermore, the phytotoxicity of treated LFL is examined by seed germination/root elongation tests using barley and tomato seeds. Upon experimentation and research, the results reveal that the optimum removal efficiency for chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonium (NH4+-N) is 73.3% and 53.5%, respectively, when using the combined process. The removal efficiency of toxic metal elements (Fe, Pb, and Zn) is improved significantly (up to 80%). In addition, physiological and biochemical analyses confirm that the combined process allows a significant toxicity reduction. The obtained outcome is encouraging and supports the possible use of the treated LFL as a fertilizer for plant growth.

Contaminated soil with olive mill wastewater (OMWW) was subject to a remediation treatment in the purpose of finding the most suitable and cost-effective procedure to revive such a degraded area. We conducted batch experiments in order to investigate the efficiency of natural diatomaceous earth (DE) and lime on limiting environmental degradation caused by the uncontrolled disposal OMWW. We added both additives at various ratios (0, 7.5, 15 and 30%w/w) to contaminated soil samples, which were collected from an evaporation basin located in the region of Agareb, Sfax, Tunisia. pH, Conductivity, water-soluble polyphenols, and COD were measured in leachates after treating the soil samples with additives. We perceived that water-soluble polyphenols and COD drop substantially with an increase in DE percentage. Besides, the use of lime as an additive was not practical for the reduction of COD compared to the control. However, it was a useful additive in the reduction of polyphenols with a reduction of up to 70%.

Air pollution is one of the most harmful phenomena in the current context. In this regard, forecasting of air quality helps the appropriate authorities to air pollution management with an adequate measure. Recently, machine learning algorithms have been widely used as a tool to predict the concentration of variables based on available databases. This study evaluates the performance of three multi-target regression approaches in tandem with different data mining techniques, namely random forest, decision tree, k-nearest neighbours and support vector regression, to forecast concentration of multiple air pollutants (simultaneously) in Kairouan Governorate (Tunisia). The obtained results show that ensemble regressor chain (ERC) coupled with random forest ensures better performance in terms of error (aRRMSE = 0.442) compared with other algorithms.