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In the early stages of the Second World War, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and key regime figures were tempted to enter the war on the Axis side. This temptation was a serious concern for British wartime strategy. This article studies the British military operations prepared to confront the possibility of Spain entering the war between 1940 and 1944. These operations aimed to protect Gibraltar, maintain access through the Strait of Gibraltar, and reduce the Axis threat to maritime communications in the eastern Atlantic. The article sheds new light on three issues: the balance of advantages and disadvantages that the plans entailed and the preparations to carry them out; the simultaneity of planned operations to cooperate with the Spanish Armed Forces and ones to confront them; and the importance of Spanish non-belligerence as a differential factor with respect to other neutral European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The mantle transition zone (MTZ) beneath Iberia and NW Maghreb has been precisely mapped using more than 56000 high-quality P-wave receiver functions calculated from the data collected by permanent seismic networks and multiple temporary deployments in the region. Three-dimensional depth migration using both regional and global tomographic models has allowed us to obtain robust and continuous measurements of the MTZ thickness and the depth of the 410 and 660 discontinuities. We found the MTZ thickened by as much as ▪ in the Mediterranean coast due to the effect of the cold Gibraltar-Alboran and Alpine-Tethys slabs. Coinciding with expected water-enriched MTZ areas near the subducted slabs there is evidence for partial melting atop the 410 in at least three low-velocity layers (LVL). Partial melting is also likely in a LVL in the uppermost lower mantle under the Alpine-Tethys slab, while we attribute other intra-MTZ LVL to increased mineralogical heterogeneity. We link a thinning of the MTZ at the rear of the Gibraltar-Alboran slab to mantle upwelling, and a band of depressed 410 along its southern boundary as an area of hot toroidal flow. A discontinuous region of depressed 410 following the Atlas Mountains also supports mantle upwelling beneath this range. Areas with LVL atop a depressed 410 discontinuity correlate well with active intraplate volcanism, suggesting a possible MTZ source. We also found that deep-focus seismicity occurs where the 660 discontinuity starts to deepen at the westernmost edge of the Gibraltar-Alboran slab. • Thickened mantle transition zone along the Mediterranean coast of Iberia. • Partial melting on top of the 410 discontinuity. • Depressed 410 discontinuity correlated with active anorogenic volcanism. • Deep-focus seismicity near slab's edge, in an area of depressed 660 discontinuity and high-temperature contrast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Holocene paleoenvironmental evolution of a coastal lagoon is recorded. • An open bay was progressively confined until forming a restricted lagoon. • The 1755 tsunami deposits are identified near the top of the succession. • This deposit constitutes the first faunal evidence of this event for the Mediterranean Sea. This paper analyzes the first systematic faunal record of the 1755 Lisbon tsunami in the Mediterranean. On the basis of sedimentological and paleontological features, the sedimentary record of a core collected in Gibraltar was divided into six sedimentary facies, with a paleoenvironmental evolution from a shallow marine paleoenviroment to an increasingly restricted lagoon. This record includes a bioclastic layer deposited by the 1755 Lisbon tsunami and characterized by an erosive base, presence of basal rip-up clasts and abundant shell debris composed by marine and brackish molluscs. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction derived from the foraminiferal analysis is congruent with that inferred from the sedimentary and the macrofaunal reconstructions, with the introduction of brackish species into the innermost, intertidal areas of a confined lagoon. This paleontological record is the first faunal evidence of the 1755 Lisbon tsunami in the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Iberoamericana de Lingüística is the property of Universitas Castellae and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An unprecedented scientific flight was conducted over the Strait of Gibraltar to study the optical properties of the atmospheric aerosols from the sea surface to the lower free troposphere within the framework of the southern Spain experiment for spaceborne mission validation (SUSIE). A Rayleigh–Mie lidar was installed on an ultralight aircraft (ULA) for vertical (nadir) and horizontal line-of-sight measurements. This experiment took place on 13 August 2011 in parallel with continuous observations with a N2 -Raman lidar from the coastal site of San Pedro Alcantara (∼ 50 km north-east of Gibraltar). Significant differences were observed between the optical properties of the aerosol layers sampled over the Strait of Gibraltar and San Pedro Alcantara. These differences are related to the surface–atmosphere interface in the planetary boundary layer and the origins and transport processes in the lower free troposphere. A significant contribution of terrigenous aerosols originating from the Iberian Peninsula is highlighted over the two areas. These polluted dusts are identified with lidar ratios (LRs) ∼45±8 sr higher than those of Saharan aerosols sampled during the same period (<34 sr) at 355 nm. Furthermore, the particle depolarization ratio is derived with values of ∼ 10 %–15 % for the polluted dust and >20 % for the Saharan dusts. The difference in LRs is the opposite of what is usually assumed for these two types of aerosols and highlights the need to update the classification of aerosols in terms of LR to be used in the inversion of vertical profiles from future spaceborne missions embedding a lidar operating at 355 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aeolian Pleistocene deposits recorded in the Rock of Gibraltar (S Iberian Peninsula) present a significant sedimentary thickness that fills the wide sea caves and covers its steep slopes. In Catalan Bay these deposits register the development of cliff-foot and rampant dunes that form a 35° sand ramp, 1 km long and up to 300 m in height formed by moderately to well-sorted sands, slightly carbonated and weakly cemented. This morphosedimentary evidence is associated with MIS 5−2 sea level fluctuations. Its internal structure shows lamination sets of 2–3 m in thickness and planar and trough cross-bedding. In these beds, five morphotypes of mammalian footprints have been recognized in vertical cross sections and convex hyporeliefs. Most of them present a moderate degree of conservation due to the poor cementation of the sands. These icnites are related to the activity of terrestrial mammals, possibly belonging to Homininae, Proboscidea, Artiodactila and Carnivora. The affinity between the footprints and their tracemakers has been established in the basis of their physical parameters, the shape of the footprints, their comparison with similar footprints and the correlation with the fossil fauna of vertebrates described for the Late Pleistocene in Gibraltar. These findings represent the first palaeoichnological record in the aeolian sediments of Gibraltar and indirectly corroborate the occupation of the coastal dune landscape by several terrestrial mammals during the Late Pleistocene. In addition, they help reconstructing the animal behaviour and interaction with the extensive dune systems that developed at the foot of the Rock slopes. The age of the tracks has been established within the MIS 2, during the probable Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the climate refuge of Gibraltar. • The Late Pleistocene aeolianites on Gibraltar contain abundant mammal tracks. • These deposits form a lower set of cliff-foot dunes and another of rampant sands. • The fossil tracks are concentrated in two units dated by OSL in 28 ± 3 ka (MIS 2). • The tracemakers identified are Homininae, Proboscidea, Artiodactila and Carnivora. • A footprint is assigned to Homo neanderthalensis by a photogrammetric analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The Straits of Gibraltar have been historically an important maritime axis of connection between the Mediterranean and Atlantic areas of the Iberian Peninsula. For this reason, most of the archaeological research has focused on the coastal settlements, but its broader archaeological landscape remains mostly unknown. In this paper, we present recent intensive surveys in which a wide range of sites was detected, dating from the eighth century BC to the fourteenth AD. The ancient landscape is thus reconstructed over a long‐term perspective. Prior to the Roman expansion, the earlier Bailo‐La Silla del Papa was an urban central place that supported a dense network of subordinate settlements. Later on, the central settlement was transported from inland to the coastal town of Baelo Claudia, but the territorial structure remained based on a similar pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Vanguard Cave is an archaeological site located on the shoreline of the Rock of Gibraltar at the south-western extreme of the Iberian Peninsula. It is part of a limestone cave system facing the adjacent Governor's Beach on the south-eastern coast of Gibraltar and has been filled to the roof with more than 17 m of sedimentary deposits. Due to its long stratified sequence, comprising rich palaeoenvironmental and faunal records as well as multiple Palaeolithic occupation layers, Vanguard Cave provides valuable information for our understanding of human behaviour and dispersal across south-eastern Iberia in general and particularly about the strategic role of the promontory of Gibraltar for past human populations. The development of a reliable absolute chronology for the sedimentary sequence at Vanguard Cave is therefore of great importance in this context. In this study, we applied optically-stimulated luminescence dating to sand-sized quartz grains from the uppermost ∼4 m of the Vanguard Cave deposits, as well as from the Hyaena Cave sediments – a small niche adjacent to the main cave chamber. We use single-grain and multiple-grain dating to clarify the depositional history of the sedimentary sequence, as well as to assess the reliability of the two dating approaches and their potential for future chronological studies at the site. The single-grain and multi-grain ages are consistent with one another and indicate no partial bleaching or post-depositional mixing of the sediments. Our results suggest that Vanguard Cave experienced continuous sediment accumulation probably since the last sea-level highstand in MIS 5, and was completely filled by ∼43 ka (MIS 3). The eastern side of the Rock of Gibraltar faced an exposed coastal shelf covered with savannah and an active coastal dune system during MIS 3. Our results indicate that similar environmental conditions are likely to have persisted also during MIS 4 and large parts of MIS 5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gibraltar arc and surrounding areas are a complex tectonic region and its tectonic evolution since Miocene is still under debate. Knowledge of its lithospheric structure will help to understand the mechanisms that produced extension and westward motion of the Alboran domain, simultaneously withNW-SE compression driven by Africa-Europe plates convergence. We perform a P-wave receiver function analysis in which we analyse new data recorded at 83 permanent and temporary seismic broad-band stations located in the South of the Iberian peninsula. These data are stacked and combined with data from a previous study in northern Morocco to build maps of thickness and average vP/vS ratio for the crust, and cross-sections to image the lithospheric discontinuities beneath the Gibraltar arc, the Betic and Rif Ranges and their Iberian and Moroccan forelands. Crustal thickness values show strong lateral variations in the southern Iberia peninsula, ranging from ~19 to ~46 km. The Variscan foreland is characterized by a relatively flat Moho at ~31 km depth, and an average vP/vS ratio of ~1.72, similar to other Variscan terranes, which may indicate that part of the lower crustal orogenic root was lost. The thickest crust is found at the contact between the Alboran domain and the External Zones of the Betic Range, while crustal thinning is observed southeastern Iberia (down to 19 km) and in the Guadalquivir basin where the thinning at the Iberian paleomargin could be still preserved. In the cross-sections, we see a strong change between the eastern Betics, where the Iberian crust underthrusts and couples to the Alboran crust, and the western Betics, where the underthrusting Iberian crust becomes partially delaminated and enters into the mantle. The structures largely mirror those on the Moroccan side where a similar detachment was observed in northern Morocco. We attribute a relatively shallow strong negativepolarity discontinuity to the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary. This means relatively thin lithosphere ranging from ~50 km thickness in southeastern Iberia and northeastern Morocco to ~90-100 km beneath the western Betics and the Rif, with abrupt changes of ~30 km under the central Betics and northern Morocco. Our observations support a geodynamic scenario where in western Betics oceanic subduction has developed into ongoing continental subduction/ delamination while in eastern Betics this process is inactive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gorham''s Cave is located in the British territory of Gibraltar in the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula. Recent excavations, which began in 1997, have exposed an 18 m archaeological sequence that covered the last evidence of Neanderthal occupation and the first evidence of modern human occupation in the cave. By applying the Mutual Climatic Range method on the amphibian and reptile assemblages, we propose here new quantitative data on the terrestrial climatic conditions throughout the latest Pleistocene sequence of Gorham''s Cave. In comparison with current climatic data, all mean annual temperatures were about 1.6–1.8 °C lower in this region. Winters were colder and summers were similar to today. Mean annual precipitation was slightly lower, but according to the Aridity Index of Gaussen there were only four dry months during the latest Pleistocene as opposed to five dry months today during the summer. The climate was Mediterranean and semi-arid (according to the Aridity Index of Dantin–Revenga) or semi-humid (according to the Aridity Index of Martonne). The atmospheric temperature range was higher during the latest Pleistocene, mainly due to lower winter temperatures. Such data support recent bioclimatic models, which indicate that high rainfall levels may have been a significant factor in the late survival of Neanderthal populations in southern Iberia. The Solutrean levels of Gorham''s Cave and climate records from cores in the Alboran Sea indicate increasing aridity from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3-2. Because Neanderthals seem to have been associated with woodland habitats, we propose that lessening rainfall may have caused the degradation of large areas of forest and may have made late surviving Neanderthal populations more vulnerable outside southern refuges like the Rock of Gibraltar. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study utilizes geomorphology, marine sediment data, environmental reconstructions and the Gorham''s Cave occupational record during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition to illustrate the impacts of climate changes on human population dynamics in the Western Mediterranean. Geomorphologic evolution has been dated and appears to be driven primarily by coastal dune systems, sea-level changes and seismo-tectonic evolution. Continental and marine records are well correlated and used to interpret the Gorham''s Cave sequence. Specific focus is given to the three hiatus sections found in Gorham''s Cave during Heinrich periods 4, 3 and 2. These time intervals are compared with a wide range of regional geomorphologic, climatic, paleoseismic, faunal and archeological records. Our data compilations indicate that climatic and local geomorphologic changes explain the Homo sapiens spp. occupational hiatuses during Heinrich periods 4 and 3. The last hiatus corresponds to the replacement of Homo neanderthalensis by H. sapiens. Records of dated cave openings, slope breccias and stalactite falls suggest that marked geomorphologic changes, seismic activity and ecological perturbations occurred during the period when Homo replacement took place. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Corema album (Ericaceae), 'Camarinhas', or the 'white crowberry', is a white-berried perennial adapted to sandy soils in the Iberian Peninsula which has been consumed by humans for many centuries. It occurs naturally on sand dunes and cliffs of the Atlantic coast from Gibraltar to Finisterre, and in the Azores on volcanic lava and ash fields. It has the possibility to become a new niche berry crop, because its fruits have a distinct colour (white), and provide high nutritional value. It has the potential to spread throughout southern Europe and the Mediterranean basin. The round, white, berry-like drupes (0.3-0.5 g), have a strong skin, and usually have three large seeds with a thick endocarp. The fruits can be marketable after five days at room temperature, and some samples have been acceptable after five months at 4°C. Here, the taxonomy, biology, and potential production system are discussed and a potential marketing name, the Beachberry, introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The fluvial deposits of the rivers on the Atlantic side of the Iberian Peninsula preserve a number of locations with Acheulean industry, frequently without associated fauna. These remains are especially concentrated on middle terraces, which can be dated to about MIS 11. The most common raw material is quartzite and these industries are characterized by the presence of bifaces, cleavers and tools made from medium and large rock flakes (>10 cm). The technological characteristics of these Acheulean localities and their chronological separation from the recognised human occupation of the Peninsula during the Lower Pleistocene (Atapuerca, Guadix-Baza depression, Murcia) by some 500 ka or more, support the possible African origin of the European Middle Pleistocene Acheulean techno-complex and the hypothesis that Gibraltar was the access route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

President Sarkozy's proposal in 2008 for a Mediterranean Union connected by a high-speed rail link prompted a series of speculative projects by Masters students at the University of Technology, Sydney. AdrianLahoud asks how the cultural, economic and political world would shift if we could catch a train from Beirut to Tel Aviv. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Migrations into Africa from the Levant have greatly determined the mitochondrial genetic landscape of North Africa. After analyzing samples from North Morocco to Spain, we show that three fourths of the Moroccan individuals belong to Western Eurasian haplogroups and the frequencies of these are much more similar to those of the Iberian Peninsula than to those of the Middle East. This is particularly true for the mitochondrial haplogroups H1, H3 and V, which experienced a late-glacial expansion from this region, that repopulated much of Central and Northern Europe. Iberian Peninsula was also a source for prehistoric migrations to North Africa. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents the easternmost mineralogical and geochemical evidence of the 1755 Lisbon tsunami found in the Western Mediterranean. This multidisciplinary analysis of a sediment core obtained in Gibraltar (southern Iberian Peninsula) has allowed us to differentiate a tsunamiite from an old lagoon (The Inundation). This tsunamigenic layer has increased levels of calcite and aragonite and higher concentrations of Ba and ferromagnesian elements in comparison with the underlying lagoonal sediments of this core. This layer is also differentiated by its paleontological record, with the introduction of marine species within this lagoon. The uppermost part of the core includes a transition from swampy/marsh paleoenvironments to terrestrial scenarios, with a final anthropogenic filling occurring during the last century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Palaeobotanical (pollen, charcoal) data from Gorham’s Cave reveals a diversified landscape in the Gibraltar region during the Middle (c. 32 560–23 780year BP) and Upper Palaeolithic (c. 18 440–10 880BP). Inferred vegetation types include oak, pine, juniper, and mixed woodlands and savannahs, grasslands with heaths, heliophytic matorrals, phreatophytic formations (e.g. riverine forests, wetlands), and thermomediterranean coastal scrub. A revision of palaeoecological data suggests that patches of trees persisted even in northern and continental territories of the Iberian Peninsula during the cold stages of OIS3 and OIS2. However, a southern Mediterranean coastal shelf extending from Gibraltar to Málaga, and probably further north up to Murcia, was unique in its combination of thermo-, meso-, and supramediterranean plant and animal species. Given the composition of these assemblages, this shelf and its adjacent mountains represented a crucial reservoir of biodiversity during the Upper Pleistocene. It is within this physiographically complex context with its diversity of resources where the last Neanderthals extraordinarily survived until c. 24 000 BP, that is over 10 000 years later than the disappearance of Neanderthals from elsewhere in temperate Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The contribution of North Africa to the assembly of biodiversity within the Western Palaearctic is still poorly documented. Since the Miocene, multiple biotic exchanges occurred across the Strait of Gibraltar, underlying the high biogeographic affinity between the western European and African sides of the Mediterranean basin. We investigated the biogeographic and demographic dynamics of two large Mediterranean-adapted snakes across the Strait and assess their relevance to the origin and diversity patterns of current European and North African populations., Results: We inferred phylogeographic patterns and demographic history of M. monspessulanus and H. hippocrepis, based on range-wide multilocus data, combined with fossil data and species distribution modelling, under present and past bioclimatic envelopes. For both species we identified endemic lineages in the High Atlas Mountains (Morocco) and in eastern Iberia, suggesting their persistence in Europe during the Pleistocene. One lineage is shared between North Africa and southern Iberia and likely spread from the former to the latter during the sea-level low stand of the last glacial stage. During this period M. monspessulanus shows a sudden demographic expansion, associated with increased habitat suitability in North Africa. Lower habitat suitability is predicted for both species during interglacial stages, with suitable areas restricted to coastal and mountain ranges of Iberia and Morocco. Compiled fossil data for M. monspessulanus show a continuous fossil record in Iberia at least since the Pliocene and throughout the Pleistocene., Conclusions: The previously proposed hypothesis of Pleistocene glacial extinction of both species in Europe is not supported based on genetic data, bioclimatic envelopes models, and the available fossil record. A model of range retraction to mountain refugia during arid periods and of glacial expansion (demographic and spatial) associated to an increase of Mediterranean habitats during glacial epochs emerges as a general pattern for mesic vertebrates in North Africa. Moreover, the phylogeographic pattern of H. hippocrepis conforms to a well-established biogeographic partition between western and eastern Maghreb., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

We discuss crustal surface velocities in the Gibraltar Arc System derived from around 150 GPS sites in Iberia and Morocco operating between 1995 and 2018. The estimated velocity field shows patterns that are strongly correlated with other geophysical constraints (tomographically imaged velocity anomalies, SKS-splitting, etc.) including seismicity patterns. Broad-scale surface uplift characterizes the Rif-Betics belts, which appear underlain by seismically slow, presumably relatively hot, mantle. Significant rates of subsidence are observed around Cartagena and east of El Hoceima where high-velocity seismic anomalies are imaged in the mantle. This abrupt change of the sign of vertical crustal motions coincides with the location of the Trans-Alboran Shear Zone (TASZ), which is marked by lineaments of mostly strike-slip and trans-tensional shallow earthquakes. We interpret the surface uplift as result of the quasi-toroidal mantle flow induced by the interaction of the retreating Gibraltar slab and the resulting sub-slab upwelling. The part of the Gibraltar slab that is still attached to the crust imaged east of the TASZ may contribute to the observed subsidence rates. The trend of the residual topography also suggests that topography may be controlled in part by mantle-driven processes. Around the Gibraltar slab the contrasting signal between the negative residual topography and positive vertical GNSS data is likely due to the fact that the surface, which was previously depressed by the load of the subduction, is now isostatically recovering. Our results on the Gibraltar Arc System suggest that both surface deformation along the arc and shallow earthquake activity are strongly controlled by coupling between the lithosphere and underlying mantle dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the 1953–54 Royal Tour and in particular the planning and eventual reception of the Queen and her party when they arrived in Gibraltar. These events are considered in terms of three overlapping contexts: the imperial, the colonial and the geopolitical. First, the Royal Tour marked not only the debut of a new Queen but also the realization that the British Empire was beginning to fragment with the eruption of independence movements in South Asia and the Middle East. Hence, its international itinerary bound the remaining empire symbolically together, but also served as a reminder of the ‘gaps’ that were beginning to appear. Second, the analysis considers how the Royal Tour presented an opportunity for the local residents of Gibraltar to ‘perform their loyalty’ to the new Queen and the British Empire. The focus on performance is significant because the article does not presume that ‘loyalty’ is simply pre-given. A great deal of work was involved in realizing the reception of the Queens party in May 1954 against a backdrop of a territorial dispute with Spain over the future legal status of Gibraltar. The Royal Tour offered the possibility, therefore, of persuading the British and Spanish governments of the local residents’ qualities including a continued loyalty to the British/imperial Royal Family and indirectly to Britain. Third, the article underscores the significance of such loyal performances by considering Spanish opposition to the Queens visit in the light of Francos efforts to establish his countrys anti-Communist credentials. The Royal Tour, and the Gibraltar leg in particular, are thus show to be an intense locus of performances linked to the politics of empire, colonial rights and anti-imperialism. Animated, happy faces gazing at the sights and decorations show better than words the true feelings of the people of the fortress-colony towards their young, beloved Queen. One correspondent of a British newspaper said that he thought the 27,000 servicemen and civilians on the Rock were so fervidly loyal that they would tear to pieces anyone discovered in their midst with evil designs, and that was sufficient guarantee of their Majestys safety.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]