We use 60-MHz benchtop nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to acquire 1 H spectra from argan oils of assured origin. We show that the low-field NMR spectrum of neat oil contains sufficient information to make estimates of compositional parameters and to inform on the presence of minor compounds. A screening method for quality and authenticity is presented based on nearestneighbour outlier detection. A variety of oil types are used to challenge the method. In a survey of retail-purchased oils, several instances of fraud were found.
For any hydrological or hydrogeological system, the arrival of new rains is the input signal to the system. This isotopic signature of precipitation is of major interest in understanding the recharge processes of the aquifer system. On the scale of a given basin, staged stations at different altitudes and spread out in space allow this input signal to be well characterized and to draw the local meteoric water line. In south-eastern Morocco, specifically, in the Errachidia region, several chemical and isotopic studies of the waters of the various aquifers have been carried out. In the absence of a local meteoric water line, these studies were based on the use of the global meteoric water line (GMWL). Thus, the objective of this work is the isotopic characterization and the elaboration of the local meteoric water line of the rainwater of the Ziz watershed. This characterization of the input signal in the study area is based on 41 measurements of stable isotopes (δ18O and δ2H) relating to the precipitations collected during the period from December 2019 to November 2020 in four staged stations at different altitudes and spread over the space from upstream to downstream of the watershed. The linear relationship of δ2H as a function of δ18O describes the local meteoric water line (LMWL) by equation δ2H = 7.5 ± 0.3 δ18O + 4.6 ± 1.7; R2 = 0.93. This equation displays evaporation confirmed by the arrival of continental currents in an arid environment. The variation in precipitation δ18O as a function of the sampling altitudes for the rains highlighted the relationship δ18O = −0.0026 ∗ Z − 1.67, with R2 = 0.93, which means an altitudinal gradient of −0.26‰ per 100 m of altitude. In this regard, the development of the local meteoric water line and the determination of the altitudinal gradient for the first time in this arid to semi-arid region of the watershed will be of great use to researchers and water resource managers; for example, to help determine the groundwater recharge areas, determine the exchanges between surface water and groundwater, and analyze many other hydrological problems.
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