Age constraints on surface deformation recorded by fossil shorelines at Cape Range, Western Australia: Reply

Whitney et al. (2021) challenge our conclusions about rates of deformation and amount of uplift along the Cape Range, Western Australia, particularly the elevation constraints we place on the last interglacial shoreline along the northern half of Cape Range. They selectively focus almost entirely on the northern half of Cape Range, completely omitting our extensive analysis of the southern section, which provides the bulk of our paleo−sea-level interpretations. They also raise concerns about some of the nomenclature and methodology used. We thank them for the opportunity to clarify our results on the minor section of our paper they take issue to, and address their concerns below point by point.

Amersfoort’s city walls

The development of Amersfoort’s two city walls can be divided into five periods. The first city wall was built in the first period 1259-1379. Although Amersfoort had been granted a charter in 1259, construction of the wall did not commence until after a serious assault by troops from the duchy of Gelre (Geulders) in 1274. The defensive wall was made stronger on that side, probably in expectation of more attacks from that direction. Between 1380 and 1500 Gelre troops attacked Amersfoort on multiple occasions and offensive firepower increased. Interestingly, Amersfoort opted to build a second city wall rather than reinforcing the existing one, considerably increasing the size of the city in the process. However, the project proved difficult to finance, defend and maintain, most likely due to the stagnating economy. Instead of being demolished after the second wall was in place, the first wall was reinforced with abutting houses, thereby becoming a kind of rampart within a rampart. The new fortifications turned out to be ineffective and in 1501 the city council decided to demolish the first city wall. This freed up space for a second generation of wall houses, mostly built from reused stone and with their front elevation on the trajectory of the first wall, with the exception of the houses along Krankeledenstraat and the southern section of Breestraat. In this same period, up until 1644, there was an attempt to strengthen Amersfoort’s defences. Several fortification plans were drawn up, none of which was implemented in its entirety, most probably due to a lack of financial resources. The ramparts that were realized are concentrated in the south-west since in this period the possibility of a new Spanish incursion was greater than any threat from Gelre. In the third period, 1645-1828, the council’s approval of additional openings in the city wall marked the beginning of a gradual deterioration of the defensive works. They had always been a big budget item, yet they had not been particularly effective. Accordingly, the council decided to convert the fortifications into lucrative functions. The Davidsbolwerk, for example, was turned into a cemetery. The most extensive demolition probably started in 1778 when it was also decided to dismantle various outer and inner gates in the second city wall. By 1829 the fortifications had entirely lost their defensive function and the city council proposed converting the outer line into a green pathway encircling the city, which would have resulted in the disappearance of all remaining traces of the wall. However, this was averted in 1844 by a national ban on the demolition of fortifications and they were subsequently integrated with the walking route. City planners continued to submit applications for demolition but encountered fierce resistance from heritage organizations. In addition, many remnants avoided demolition because most urban expansion occurred outside the historical centre. This resulted in a concomitant shift in the economic focus so that the fortifications no longer needed to be sacrificed to industrial development. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, with appreciation for the heritage value of fortifications growing, money became available for their restoration and Amersfoort’s historical centre was declared a conservation area.

Submeso-scale Mixing Features in the Gerlache Strait Bays (Antarctica)

Measurements of turbulence in the ocean are sparse, especially in environments such as Antarctica. Here we map the spatial distribution of diapycnal diffusivities and the water column characteristics across the three main bays in the Gerlache Strait on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The measurements were recorded during the Fifth Colombian Antarctic Expedition, 2018-2019, using a Vertical Microstructure Profiler in free fall for the first 400 m depth, to record fluctuations of vertical shear at dissipation scales (10-3 – 103m). Diapycnal diffusivities are higher by 1-2 orders of magnitude in the Gerlache mainstream compared with the interior bays, with values from O (log10kρ = -3 m2 s -1) to O (log10kρ = -5 m2s -1) respectively over the upper 400 m. The highest mixing values were recorded in the southern section of Gerlache Strait (Flandes Bay) compared to the northern one (Charlotte Bay), indicating better wellmixed water in the south. Observed Hot Spots of higher turbulence levels may be associated with the interaction of the entrance of the Upper Circumpolar Depth Water, the Antarctic Surface Water, and the Weddell Sea Deep Waters with resident waters and topography.

Tree-Ring Based Chronology of Landslides in the Shirakami Mountains, Japan

The N-Ohkawa landslide, and the southern section of the Ohkawa landslide, occurred during the snow-melt seasons of 1999 and 2006, respectively, in the Shirakami Mountains, Japan. This paper examines the response of trees in the Shirakami Mountains to landslides, and also investigates the spatio-temporal occurrence patterns of landslide events in the area. Dendrogeomorphological analysis was used to identify growth suppression and growth increase (GD) markers in tilted deciduous broadleaved trees and also to reveal the timing of the establishment of shade-intolerant tree species. Analysis of the GD markers detected in tree-ring width series revealed confirmatory evidence of landslide events that occurred in 1999 and 2006 and were observed by eyewitnesses, as well as signals from eight additional (previously unrecorded) landslide events during 1986–2005. Furthermore, shade-intolerant species were found to have become established on the N-Ohkawa and southern Ohkawa landslides, but with a lag of up to seven years following the landslide events causing the canopy opening.

Novelties in studies of the “bread” ovens at Ryurik Gorodishche

This paper is concerned with the so-called “bread” ovens installed in the end of the 1st millennium AD in the southern section of Ryurik Gorodishche, in the place of a wet gully used as a defensive ditch. On the basis of the information available, this article discusses the questions of the external appearance and chronology of these structures