Surprising Gibraltar

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Surprising Gibraltar Travel Story and photos by Barb & Ron Kroll Surprising Gibraltar How many surprises can you cram into a British Overseas Territory that is barely twice the size of New York City’s Central Park? There is no place on earth like Gibraltar. It’s a little piece of Britain linked to southern Spain by a narrow isthmus. Gibraltar is strategically located on one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, the Strait of Gibraltar, at the junction of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Morocco beckons across the strait only 12 kilometres to the south. Planes have the right of way We encountered our first surprise while get- each plane lands or takes off, the safety arms ting here from the Spanish town of La Linea. lift and traffic resumes. Traffic lights stop vehicles and pedestrians fol- lowing the 1.5-kilometre-long isthmus south Flying time from London, Manchester from Spain after border passport formalities. and other U.K. cities to Gibraltar is about Why? Crossing barriers are the only obstacles 2.5 hours. Most visitors, however, arrive by to collisions between cars and flights using the cruise ship, car or coach tours from Marbella, Gibraltar International Airport runway that Malaga and other Spanish Costa del Sol cities. Six-minute ride on the Cable Car to Top Station intersects Winston Churchill Avenue. After Surprise #2: Gibraltar has only 50 kilometres as New York’s Empire State Building, the 426- of roads. Parking is scarce, so most visitors metre natural fortress juts out of the Strait of leave their cars in the large lot by La Linea’s Gibraltar like an imposing fist of limestone. marina and walk for about 15 minutes (or take a bus) to Gibraltar’s town centre. Another sur- Dwarfing everyone and everything around prise – locals drive on the right, even though it, the Rock was one of the two legendary Gibraltar is British. Pillars of Hercules. (The other promontory is in North Africa.) When the ancient hero It’s easy to see the compact town on foot but, pushed them apart, the waters of the Atlantic to view the attractions on the Rock, Gibraltar’s Ocean rushed through the gap to form the scenic landmark, you should take a minibus Mediterranean Sea, separating the African Winston Churchill Avenue intersects tour or ride the Cable Car as we did. As high Gibraltar’s airport runway and European continents. 16 | www.snowbirds.org.
Recommended publications
  • Focal Mechanisms for Subcrustal Earthquakes Beneath the Gibraltar
    Focal Mechanisms for Subcrustal Earthquakes Beneath the Gibraltar Arc Nerea Santos-Bueno, Carlos Fernández-García, Daniel Stich, Flor de Lis Mancilla, Rosa Martín, Antonio Molina-Aguilera, Jose Morales To cite this version: Nerea Santos-Bueno, Carlos Fernández-García, Daniel Stich, Flor de Lis Mancilla, Rosa Martín, et al.. Focal Mechanisms for Subcrustal Earthquakes Beneath the Gibraltar Arc. Geophysical Research Letters, American Geophysical Union, 2019, 46 (5), pp.2534-2543. 10.1029/2018GL081587. insu- 02093961 HAL Id: insu-02093961 https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-02093961 Submitted on 9 Apr 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike| 4.0 International License RESEARCH LETTER Focal Mechanisms for Subcrustal Earthquakes 10.1029/2018GL081587 Beneath the Gibraltar Arc Key Points: Nerea Santos‐Bueno1,2 , Carlos Fernández‐García1,3 , Daniel Stich1,4 , • Receiver function images and 1,4 1 1,4 1,4 earthquake locations suggest a Flor de Lis Mancilla , Rosa
    [Show full text]
  • Rodriguez-Sanchez QSR 2008.Pdf
    Quaternary Science Reviews 27 (2008) 2100–2117 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quascirev The Strait of Gibraltar as a melting pot for plant biodiversity Francisco Rodrı´guez-Sa´nchez a, Rocı´oPe´rez-Barrales a,1, Fernando Ojeda b, Pablo Vargas c, Juan Arroyo a,* a Departamento de Biologı´a Vegetal y Ecologı´a, Universidad de Sevilla, Apartado 1095, E-41080-Sevilla, Spain b Departamento de Biologı´a, Universidad de Ca´diz, Campus Rı´o San Pedro, 11510-Puerto Real, Spain c Real Jardı´n Bota´nico de Madrid, CSIC, 28014-Madrid, Spain article info abstract Article history: The S Iberian Peninsula and NW Africa constitute one of the main hotspots for plant biodiversity within Received 19 September 2006 the Mediterranean Basin. At the core of this hotspot, across the Strait of Gibraltar, lies a smaller region Received in revised form 26 February 2008 whose singular Cenozoic history and ecological features have created a distinct, nested sub-hotspot. In Accepted 1 August 2008 particular, an important relict flora, a high endemism, and the dominance of vegetation types other than the paradigmatic Mediterranean-type sclerophyllous forests and shrublands, are biogeographical features of paramount relevance. These singular environments may have provided suitable mesic habitats for stable human populations in this region throughout the Quaternary. Here we explore the possible causes of the unique biodiversity of this region. First, we show that endemism is associated with poor soils and mild Mediterranean climate, whereas relictness is primarily associated with riparian and humid habitats which might have remained relatively stable since the Late Tertiary.
    [Show full text]
  • Strait of Gibraltar and Gulf of Cadiz IMMA Factsheet
    Strait of Gibraltar and Gulf of Cadiz Important Marine Mammal Area - IMMA Description of qualifying criteria Area Size 4,538 km2 Criterion A - Species or Qualifying Species and Criteria Population Vulnerability Killer whale - Orcinus orca Criterion A; B (i); C (i, ii); D (i) The Gulf of Cadiz and Strait of Gibraltar Marine Mammal Diversity subpopulation of killer whales is considered Vulnerable in the Spanish National Catalogue Criterion D (ii) of Endangered Species (Royal Decree [Tursiops truncatus, Stenella coeruleoalba, 139/2011). The vulnerability of this Globicephala melas, Delphinus delphis, subpopulation has been demonstrated in the Grampus griseus, Physeter macrocephalus, published peer-reviewed literature, based on Balaenoptera physalus] its small size, isolation from other Atlantic Summary populations, limited fecundity and low survival The Strait of Gibraltar, with the adjacent of offsprings, and dependency to a depleted Gulf of Cadiz, is the only area with a regular main prey, the Bluefin tuna. On May 17th presence of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in 2017, the Spanish Ministry of Environment the Mediterranean Sea. During spring and issued the Conservation Plan for Iberian killer summer this area provides essential feeding whales (Order APM/427/2017), identifying and nursing habitat for the small seasonal critical killer whale habitat in Spanish waters resident population of killer whales, which is and the necessity to protect it. genetically and ecologically distinct from killer whales in the Atlantic Ocean. The Strait of Gibraltar sub-population of killer Criterion B: Distribution whales is considered Vulnerable in the and Abundance Spanish National Catalogue of Endangered Species but may be considered Endangered Sub-criterion Bi: Small and based upon other monitoring studies.
    [Show full text]
  • General Assembly Distr.: General 7 March 2017
    United Nations A/AC.109/2017/8 General Assembly Distr.: General 7 March 2017 Original: English Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples Gibraltar Working paper prepared by the Secretariat Contents Page I. General ....................................................................... 3 II. Constitutional, legal and political issues ............................................ 3 III. Budget ....................................................................... 5 IV. Economic conditions ............................................................ 5 A. General ................................................................... 5 B. Trade .................................................................... 6 C. Banking and financial services ............................................... 6 D. Transportation ............................................................. 7 E. Tourism .................................................................. 8 V. Social conditions ............................................................... 8 A. Labour ................................................................... 8 B. Social security and welfare .................................................. 9 Note: The information contained in the present working paper has been derived from information transmitted to the Secretary-General by the administering Power under Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations as well as information
    [Show full text]
  • Gibraltar Excavations with Particular Reference to Gorham's and Vanguard Caves
    PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT: 506 THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD Clive Finlayson*, Ruth Blasco*, Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal**, Francisco Giles Pacheco***, Geraldine Finlayson*, José María Gutierrez****, Richard Jennings*****, Darren A. Fa*, Gibraltar excavations with particular Jordi Rosell******,*******, José S. Carrión********, Antonio Sánchez reference to Gorham’s and Vanguard Marco*********, Stewart Finlayson*, Marco A. Bernal***** Caves Gibraltar (36°07’13”N 5°20’31”W) is located at Interest in the geology, pre-history and natural the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, at the history of Gibraltar during the 19 th and early 20 th eastern end of the Bay of Gibraltar. It is a small pen- centuries insula being 5.2 km in length, 1.6 km in maximum natural width and about 6 km 2 in total land area. Great interest and excitement about the geol- This peninsula forms part of the northern shore of ogy and prehistory of Gibraltar was generated dur- ing the 19th Century following the discovery of rich the Strait of Gibraltar, linking the Mediterranean deposits of bone breccia, as well as bones and hu- Sea and the Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 1). Currently, the man artifacts in caves in the limestone of the penin- Rock of Gibraltar includes 213 catalogued cavities, sula. The material recovered was considered to be of at least 26 catalogued as containing archaeological such great importance that it attracted the attention deposits. Among these, Gorham’s Cave is perhaps of famous names of the day, for example Sir Hugh the most referenced in the research and general lit- Falconer and George Busk.
    [Show full text]
  • Why the U.S. Should Back British Sovereignty Over Gibraltar Luke Coffey
    BACKGROUNDER No. 2879 | FEBRUARY 13, 2014 Self-Determination and National Security: Why the U.S. Should Back British Sovereignty over Gibraltar Luke Coffey Abstract The more than three-centuries-long dispute between Spain and Key Points the United Kingdom over the status of Gibraltar has been heating up again. The U.S. has interests at stake in the dispute: It benefits n Gibraltar’s history is important, from its close relationship with Gibraltar as a British Overseas Ter- and the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ritory. The Anglo–American Special Relationship means that the is clear that Gibraltar is British today, but most important is U.S. enjoys access to British overseas military bases unlike any other the right of the Gibraltarians to country in the world. From America’s first overseas military inter- self-determination. vention in 1801 against the Barbary States to the most recent military n Since 1801, the U.S. has ben- overseas intervention in 2011 against Qadhafi’s regime in Libya, the efited from its relationship with U.S. has often relied on Gibraltar’s military facilities. An important Gibraltar as a British Overseas part of the Gibraltar dispute between the U.K. and Spain is the right Territory in a way that would not of self-determination of the Gibraltarians—a right on which America be possible with Gibraltar under was founded, and a right that Spain regularly ignores. Spain is an Spanish control. British control of important NATO ally, and home to several U.S. military installations, Gibraltar ensures virtually guar- but its behavior has a direct impact on the effectiveness of U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Boundary & Territory Briefing
    International Boundaries Research Unit BOUNDARY & TERRITORY BRIEFING Volume 1 Number 2 Ceuta and the Spanish Sovereign Territories: Spanish and Moroccan Claims Gerry O’Reilly Boundary and Territory Briefing Volume 1 Number 2 ISBN 1-897643-06-3 1994 Ceuta and the Spanish Sovereign Territories: Spanish and Moroccan Claims by Gerry O'Reilly Edited by Clive Schofield International Boundaries Research Unit Department of Geography University of Durham South Road Durham DH1 3LE UK Tel: UK + 44 (0) 191 334 1961 Fax: UK +44 (0) 191 334 1962 E-mail: [email protected] www: http://www-ibru.dur.ac.uk The Author Gerry O'Reilly lectures in political geography at University College Dublin and is currently involved in an international EU program researching appropriate scales for sustainable development and transboundary issues. Dr O'Reilly gained his PhD from the University of Durham and is a Research Associate of IBRU. He has held academic and consultancy posts in the USA, UK, France, Tunisia and Algeria, and worked for a number of years for Petrosystems, Compagnie Generale de Geophysique de France. Having lived for over six years in the Western Mediterranean region and travelling extensively in the Arab countries since 1978, he is particularly interested in North African and EU affairs including territorial disputes in the area of the Strait of Gibraltar. His interests include geopolitics, land and maritime boundaries, development and foreign policy issues. His works include: 'Disputed Territories in the Gibraltar Region: The Crown Colony of Gibraltar
    [Show full text]
  • Insights from Quartz Single and Multiple Grain Luminescence Dating
    Quaternary International 501 (2019) 289e302 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint Chronology of the Late Pleistocene archaeological sequence at Vanguard Cave, Gibraltar: Insights from quartz single and multiple grain luminescence dating * Nina Doerschner a, , Kathryn E. Fitzsimmons a, b, Ruth Blasco c, Geraldine Finlayson d, e, Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal f, Jordi Rosell g, h, Jean-Jacques Hublin a, Clive Finlayson d, e, i a Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, DeutscherPlatz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany b Research Group for Terrestrial Palaeoclimates, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128, Mainz, Germany c Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain d The Gibraltar Museum, 18-20 Bomb House Lane, Gibraltar e Institute of Life and Earth Sciences, The University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar Museum Associate Campus, 18-20 Bomb House Lane, Gibraltar f Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra / Earth Sciences, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, Campus del Carmen, Av. Tres de Marzo s/n, 21071, Huelva, Spain g Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Vigili (URV), Avenida de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain h IPHES, Institut Catala de Paleoecologia Humana I Evolucio Social, Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain i Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada article info abstract Article history: Vanguard Cave is an archaeological site located on the shoreline of the Rock of Gibraltar at the south- Received 31 October 2016 western extreme of the Iberian Peninsula.
    [Show full text]
  • Mantle Resistance Against Gibraltar Slab Dragging As a Key Cause of the Messinian Salinity Crisis
    Received: 20 May 2019 | Revised: 19 November 2019 | Accepted: 28 November 2019 DOI: 10.1111/ter.12442 PAPER Mantle resistance against Gibraltar slab dragging as a key cause of the Messinian Salinity Crisis Walter Capella1,2 | Wim Spakman1,3 | Douwe J. J. van Hinsbergen1 | Mariya V. Chertova4 | Wout Krijgsman1 1Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Abstract 2Department of Earth Sciences, Royal The Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.97–5.33 Ma) was caused by the closure of the Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK Atlantic-Mediterranean gateways that cut through the Gibraltar orogenic system. 3Centre of Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED), University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway The geodynamic drivers underlying gateway closure and re-opening are still debated. 4Netherlands eScience Center, Amsterdam, Here, we interrogate the gateway successions to find the imprints of surface defor- The Netherlands mation, infer the timing and nature of associated geodynamic drivers, and test such Correspondence inferences against numerical simulations of slab dynamics. We find that since the lat- Wout Krijgsman, Department of Earth est Miocene, a tectonic framework was established in the gateway region dominated Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584CD Utrecht, The Netherlands. simultaneously by (a) relative plate convergence, (b) slab tearing under the eastern Email: [email protected] Betic Cordillera and (c) mantle resistance against north-northeastward dragging of Funding information the Gibraltar slab by the African plate's absolute motion. We propose that mantle- NWO, Grant/Award Number: 865.10.011, resisted slab dragging and slab tearing operated in concert closing the gateways that 864.11.004, 865.17.001 and 855.01.141; European Union's 7th Framework caused the Messinian Salinity Crisis, whereas sinking of heavy oceanic lithosphere Programme, Grant/Award Number: 290201; located between buoyant continental plates re-opened the Strait of Gibraltar at Research Council of Norway, Grant/Award Number: 223272 5.33 Ma.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Change and Variation in Gibraltar IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society
    Language Change and Variation in Gibraltar IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society IMPACT publishes monographs, collective volumes, and text books on topics in sociolinguistics. The scope of the series is broad, with special emphasis on areas such as language planning and language policies; language conflict and language death; language standards and language change; dialectology; diglossia; discourse studies; language and social identity (gender, ethnicity, class, ideology); and history and methods of sociolinguistics. General Editor Ana Deumert Monash University Advisory Board Peter Auer Marlis Hellinger University of Freiburg University of Frankfurt am Main Jan Blommaert Elizabeth Lanza Ghent University University of Oslo Annick De Houwer William Labov University of Antwerp University of Pennsylvania J. Joseph Errington Peter L. Patrick Yale University University of Essex Anna Maria Escobar Jeanine Treffers-Daller University of Illinois at Urbana University of the West of England Guus Extra Victor Webb Tilburg University University of Pretoria Volume 23 Language Change and Variation in Gibraltar by David Levey Language Change and Variation in Gibraltar David Levey University of Cádiz John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam / Philadelphia TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of 8 American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Levey, David. Language change and variation in Gibraltar / David Levey. p. cm. (IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society, issn 1385-7908 ; v. 23) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Linguistic change--Gibraltar. 2. Sociolinguistics--Gibraltar. 3. Languages in contact-- Gibraltar. 4. Gibraltar--Languages--Variation. I. Title. P40.5.L542G55 2008 417'.7094689--dc22 2007045794 isbn 978 90 272 1862 9 (Hb; alk.
    [Show full text]
  • Exchange Flow Through the Strait of Gibraltar As Simulated by a Σ-Coordinate Hydrostatic Model and a Z-Coordinate Nonhydrostatic Model
    3 Exchange Flow through the Strait of Gibraltar as Simulated by a σ-Coordinate Hydrostatic Model and a z-Coordinate Nonhydrostatic Model Gianmaria Sannino1, J. C. Sánchez Garrido2, L. Liberti3, and L. Pratt4 3.1. INTRODUCTION 2007; Sannino et al., 2009a]. The simultaneous presence in the SoG of at least two cross sections in which the The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-enclosed basin dis- exchange is controlled drives the strait dynamics toward playing an active thermohaline circulation (MTHC) that the so-called maximal regime [Bryden and Stommel, 1984; is sustained by the atmospheric forcing and controlled by Armi and Farmer, 1988]. If the exchange is subject to only the narrow and shallow Strait of Gibraltar (hereinafter one hydraulic control, the regime is called submaximal. SoG). The atmospheric forcing drives the Mediterranean The two regimes have different implications for property basin toward a negative budget of water and heat. Over fluxes, response time, and other physical characteristics the basin, evaporation exceeds the sum of precipitation of the coupled circulation in the SoG and Mediterranean and river discharge, while a net heat flux is transferred to Sea. The maximal regime can be expected to have larger the overlying atmosphere through the sea surface. These heat, salt, and mass fluxes and to respond more slowly to fluxes are balanced by the exchange flow that takes place changes in stratification and thermohaline forcing within in Gibraltar. Within the SoG, the MTHC takes the form the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean of a two-way exchange: an upper layer of fresh and [Sannino et al., 2009a].
    [Show full text]
  • Long-Term Monitoring of the Atlantic Jet Through the Strait of Gibraltar with HF Radar Observations
    Journal of Marine Science and Engineering Article Long-Term Monitoring of the Atlantic Jet through the Strait of Gibraltar with HF Radar Observations Pablo Lorente 1,*, Silvia Piedracoba 2, Marcos G. Sotillo 1 and Enrique Álvarez-Fanjul 1 1 Puertos del Estado, 28042 Madrid, Spain; [email protected] (M.G.S.); [email protected] (E.Á.-F.) 2 Centro Tecnológico del Mar (CETMAR), 36208 Vigo, Spain; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +34-917-229-816 Received: 19 November 2018; Accepted: 20 December 2018; Published: 2 January 2019 Abstract: The present work focuses on the long-term coastal monitoring of the Atlantic surface inflow into the Mediterranean basin through the Strait of Gibraltar. Hourly current maps provided during 2016–2017 by a High Frequency radar (HFR) system were used to characterize the Atlantic Jet (AJ) since changes in its speed and direction modulate the upper-layer circulation of the Western Alboran Gyre (WAG). The AJ pattern was observed to follow a marked seasonal cycle. A stronger AJ flowed north-eastwards during autumn and winter, while a weaker AJ was directed more southwardly during the middle of the year, reaching a minimum of intensity during summertime. A strong relationship between AJ speeds and angles was evidenced: the AJ appeared to be frequently locked at an angle around 63◦, measured clockwise from the North. The AJ speed usually fluctuated between 50 cm·s−1 and 170 cm·s−1, with occasional drops below 50 cm·s−1 which were coincident with abrupt modifications in AJ orientation. Peaks of current speed clearly reached values up to 250 cm·s−1, regardless of the season.
    [Show full text]