The Rock of Gibraltar re‐visited

Gibraltar, a 6km² peninsula jutting south from Spain at the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, is dominated by its 424 m‐high Rock: famous as a landmark to seafarers since ancient times. Twenty‐five years ago, an article in Geology Today (1991, v.7, pp.95–101) interpreted the Rock as a partly overturned mass of Early Jurassic dolomitic limestone, thrust into position during continent–continent collision about 15–20 million years before present and shaped finally by shoreline processes active during Quaternary tectonic uplift. Later articles featured the complex of tunnels and chambers excavated between 1782 and 1968 by British military engineers within its 2.6 km‐long main ridge (1992, v.8, pp.92–98), and the Neanderthals known to have used some of its caves (1997, v.13, pp.179–184). Significant aspects of the Rock's geological history have clarified since then.     

Retaining wall optimization using interior search algorithm with different bound constraint handling

Along with the applicability of optimization algorithms, there are lots of features that can affect the functioning of the optimization techniques. The main purpose of this paper is investigating the significance of boundary constraint handling (BCH) schemes on the performance of optimization algorithms. To this end, numbers of deterministic and probabilistic BCH approaches are applied to one of the most recent proposed optimization techniques, named interior search algorithm (ISA). Apart from the implementing different BCH methods, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to find an appropriate setting for the only parameter of ISA. Concrete cantilever retaining wall design as one of the most important geotechnical problems is tackled to declare proficiency of the ISA algorithm, on the one hand, and benchmark the effect of BCH schemes on the final results, on the contrary. As results demonstrate, various BCH approaches have a perceptible impact on the algorithm performance. In like manner, the essential parameter of ISA can also play a pivotal role in this algorithm's efficiency. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diatom‐based reconstruction of summer sea‐surface salinity in the South China Sea over the last 15 000 years

We present a new reconstruction of summer sea‐surface salinity (SSS) over the past 15 000 years based on a diatom record from piston core 17940, located on the northern slope of the South China Sea (SCS). The reconstructed diatom‐based summer SSS values for the modern period are in accord with instrumental observations of summer SSS in the area. Here, the modern summer SSS is primarily controlled by river runoff, in particular from the Pearl River. The reconstruction presented in this study shows that the summer SSS varied between 33.3 and 34.2 psu over the past 15 000 years. The long‐term summer SSS trend closely followed the trend of the orbitally controlled solar insolation at 20°N, suggesting that orbital forcing was the dominant driver of changes in summer SSS in this area. Comparisons to speleothem δ¹⁸O data and studies of surface hydrography in the region suggest that changes in solar insolation affected the summer SSS through changes in the East Asian Monsoon and sea‐level changes associated with the last deglaciation. Univariate spectral analyses indicate that centennial‐scale oscillatory variations in summer SSS were superimposed on the long‐term trend. During the deglacial period (c. 12 000–9000 cal. a BP), the dominant periodicity was centred around 230–250 years, whereas a ～350‐year oscillation dominated in the period 2200–4500 cal. a BP. The balance of evidence suggests that these centennial‐scale changes in summer SSS may have been driven by solar‐induced changes in the East Asian Monsoon, but further evidence is needed to firmly establish this relationship.     

The potential for agricultural land use change to reduce flood risk in a large watershed

Effects of agricultural land management practices on surface runoff are evident at local scales, but evidence for watershed‐scale impacts is limited. In this study, we used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool model to assess changes in downstream flood risks under different land uses for the large, intensely agricultural, Raccoon River watershed in Iowa. We first developed a baseline model for flood risk based on current land use and typical weather patterns and then simulated the effects of varying levels of increased perennials on the landscape under the same weather patterns. Results suggest that land use changes in the Raccoon River could reduce the likelihood of flood events, decreasing both the number of flood events and the frequency of severe floods. The duration of flood events were not substantially affected by land use change in our assessment. The greatest flood risk reduction was associated with converting all cropland to perennial vegetation, but we found that converting half of the land to perennial vegetation or extended rotations (and leaving the remaining area in cropland) could also have major effects on reducing downstream flooding potential. We discuss the potential costs of adopting the land use change in the watershed to illustrate the scale of subsidies required to induce large‐scale conversion to perennially based systems needed for flood risk reduction. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multidirectional semi‐analytical method for analysis of laterally loaded pile groups in multi‐layered elastic strata

A semi‐analytical method for calculating the response of single piles and pile groups subjected to lateral loading is developed in this paper. Displacements anywhere in the soil domain are tied to the displacements of the piles through decay functions. The principle of virtual work and the calculus of variations are used to derive the governing differential equations that describe the response of the piles and soil. The eigenvalue method and the finite difference technique are used to solve the system of coupled differential equations for the piles and soil, respectively. The proposed method takes into account the soil surface displacement along and perpendicular to the loading direction and produces displacement fields that are very close to those produced by the finite element method but at lower computational effort. Compared with the previous method that considered only the soil displacement along the loading direction, accounting for the multi‐directional soil displacement field produces responses for the piles and soil that are closer to those approximated by the finite element method. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Syn‐metamorphic folding in the Tauern Window,Austria dated by Th–Pb ages from individual allanite porphyroblasts

High‐precision ²³²Th–²⁰⁸Pb dates have been obtained from allanite porphyroblasts that show unambiguous microstructural relationships to fabrics in a major syn‐metamorphic fold in the SE Tauern Window, Austria. Three porphyroblasts were analysed from a single garnet mica schist from the Peripheral Schieferhülle in the core of the Ankogel Synform, one of a series of folds which developed shortly before the thermal peak of Alpine epidote–amphibolite facies metamorphism: allanite grain 1 provided two analyses with a combined age of 27.7 ± 0.7 Ma; grain 2, which was slightly bent and fractured during crenulation, provided two analyses with a combined age of 27.7 ± 0.4 Ma; a single analysis from grain 3, which overgrew an already crenulated fabric, gave an age of 28.0 ± 1.4 Ma. The five ²³²Th–²⁰⁸Pb ages agree within error and define an isochron with an age of 27.71 ± 0.36 Ma (95% confidence level; MSWD = 0.46). The results imply that the crenulation event was in progress in a short interval (<1 Ma) c. 28 Ma, and that the Ankogel Synform was forming at this time. The thermal peak of regional metamorphism in the SE Tauern Window was probably attained shortly after 28 Ma, only c. 5 Ma after eclogite facies metamorphism in the central Tauern Window. Metasediment may contain allanite porphyroblasts with clear‐cut microstructural relationships to fabric development and metamorphic crystallization; for such rocks, ²³²Th–²⁰⁸Pb dating on microsamples offers a powerful geochronological tool.