This paper seeks to investigate the effectiveness of sea-defense structures in preventing/reducing the tsunami overtopping as well as evaluating the resulting tsunami impact at El Jadida, Morocco. Different tsunami wave conditions are generated by considering various earthquake scenarios of magnitudes ranging from M_w = 8.0 to M_w = 8.6. These scenarios represent the main active earthquake faults in the SW Iberia margin and are consistent with two past events that generated tsunamis along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The behaviour of incident tsunami waves when interacting with coastal infrastructures is analysed on the basis of numerical simulations of near-shore tsunami waves' propagation. Tsunami impact at the affected site is assessed through computing inundation and current velocity using a high-resolution digital terrain model that incorporates bathymetric, topographic and coastal structures data. Results, in terms of near-shore tsunami propagation snapshots, waves' interaction with coastal barriers, and spatial distributions of flow depths and speeds, are presented and discussed in light of what was observed during the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. Predicted results show different levels of impact that different tsunami wave conditions could generate in the region. Existing coastal barriers around the El Jadida harbour succeeded in reflecting relatively small waves generated by some scenarios, but failed in preventing the overtopping caused by waves from others. Considering the scenario highly impacting the El Jadida coast, significant inundations are computed at the sandy beach and unprotected areas. The modelled dramatic tsunami impact in the region shows the need for additional tsunami standards not only for sea-defense structures but also for the coastal dwellings and houses to provide potential in-place evacuation

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The Moroccan coast is occasionally confronted with marine submersion events caused by storm surges and tsunamis. The Moroccan historical archives recorded some of these events, such as the storm surge of 2014 CE and the tsunami of 1755 CE. The latter remains the most destructive event the country has ever faced, with major human and economic losses recorded mainly between the two cities of Tangier and Safi. The privileged way to prevent any hazard related to these events is to study their past occurrences and consequences. However, historical records are often very scarce to determine their return periods and evaluate their intensities. Accordingly, the scientific community increasingly uses sedimentary archives from coastal environments, since they offer a viable alternative to historical archives. Several studies using this approach have been conducted on the Moroccan coast in recent years; however, until now, there has been no review dealing with these studies, which is the main objective of this paper. The present review shows that most of the Moroccan sites containing marine submersion deposits are located along the Atlantic coast. The Mediterranean coast remain poorly studied despite the presence of tsunami and storm surge risks. The review draws attention also to the absence of chronological data for most of the marine submersion deposits recognized up to now along the Moroccan coasts, which is a major issue that prevents the determination of the return period of these events.