Geography of Morocco

Location of Morocco

True-color image of Morocco from Terra spacecraft

Topography of Morocco

Morocco's and Western Sahara's cities and main towns

The geography of Morocco spans from the Atlantic Ocean, to mountainous areas, to the Sahara (desert). Morocco is a Northern African country, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

A part of Morocco is mountainous. The Atlas Mountains are located mainly in the center and the south of the country. The Rif Mountains are located in the north of the country.

Geography statistics Coordinates: 32°00′N 5°00′W / 32.000°N 5.000°W / 32.000; -5.000

Map references: Africa

Area:
total: 446,550 km² (excluding Western Sahara), 710,850 km² (including Western Sahara)
land: 446,300 km² (or 710,600 km²)
water: 250 km²

Area - comparative: Morocco without Western Sahara is slightly larger than California; slightly larger than Newfoundland and Labrador; slightly more than half the size of New South Wales province of Australia; slightly less than twice the size of the United Kingdom

Morocco, including Western Sahara, is slightly larger than Texas

Land boundaries:
total: 2,017.9 km
border countries: Algeria 1 559 km, Mauritania (de facto) 1561 km, Spain (Ceuta) 6.3 km, Spain (Melilla) 9.6 km

Coastline: 1835 km (excluding Western Sahara's coast)

2945 km (including Western Sahara's coast)

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi)
contiguous zone: 24 nmi (44.4 km; 27.6 mi)
exclusive economic zone: 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi)
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Physical geography[edit]

Mediterranean, becoming more extreme in the interior and south

Terrain: northern coast and interior are mountainous with large areas of bordering plateaus, intermontane valleys, and rich coastal plains

Geography - note: strategic location along Strait of Gibraltar

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Sebkha Tah -55 m
highest point: Toubkal mountain 4,165 m

Land use and natural resources[edit]

Natural resources: phosphates, iron ore, manganese, lead, zinc, fish, salt

Land use:
arable land: 17.79%
permanent crops: 2.6%
other: 79.61% (2011)

Irrigated land: 14,850 km² (2004)

Total renewable water resources: 29 km³ (2011)

Natural hazards: northern mountains geologically unstable and subject to earthquakes; periodic droughts

Environment[edit]

Ecoregions[edit]

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub[edit]

Freshwater ecoregions[edit]

Marine ecoregions[edit]

Current environmental issues[edit]

Land degradation/desertification (soil erosion resulting from farming of marginal areas, overgrazing, destruction of vegetation); water supplies contaminated by raw sewage; siltation of reservoirs; oil pollution of coastal waters

International environmental agreements[edit]

Morocco is party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution (MARPOL 73/78), Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

Extreme points[edit]

This is a list of the extreme points of Morocco, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location (excluding the disputed Western Sahara area).

Northernmost point – Punta Cires, Tangier-Tétouan region
Easternmost point – unnamed point on the border with Algeria immediately east of the town of Iche, Oriental region
Southernmost point – the border with Western Sahara, Guelmim-Es Semara region*
Westernmost point - the point at which the border with Western Sahara enters the Atlantic Ocean, Guelmim-Es Semara region
- Note: Morocco does not have a southern-most point, the border being formed by a straight horizontal line