We present a kinematic model for the sequential development of the Appalachian fold-thrust belt (eastern U.S.) across a classic transect through the Pennsylvania salient. New map and strain data are used to create a balanced geologic cross section from the southern edge of the Valley and Ridge Province to the northern Appalachian Plateau. This region of the central Appalachian foldthrust belt is an ideal location to illustrate the incorporation of strain data in balanced cross sections, because it cannot be balanced without quantifying grain-scale strain. We use a sequentially restored, balanced cross section to show how layer-parallel shortening (LPS) is distributed above and ahead of thrust and fold shortening and constrain the geometric and kinematic evolution of a passive roof duplex. By combining line length and area balancing of a kinematically viable cross section with LPS estimates in both the Valley and Ridge Province (20%) and Appalachian Plateau (13%), we document the total magnitude of shortening in both the folded cover sequence and the duplexed lower layer of the fold-thrust belt. Restoration of the cross section indicates a total of 77 km (22%) of shortening between the southern margin of the Valley and Ridge Province in central Pennsylvania and a pin line immediately north of the northern limit of documented LPS in the foreland. The 24 km (13%) of LPS on the Appalachian Plateau is interpreted as being above the Salina (salt) décollement. This magnitude of shortening is 14 km greater than the amount of displacement on the Nittany Anticlinorium, the northernmost structure of the fold-thrust belt that cuts upsection from the Cambrian Waynesboro Formation to the Silurian Salina décollement. Because the fault that cores the Nittany Anticlinorium can only facilitate 10 km of shortening on the plateau, an early history of Appalachian Plateau LPS in Silurian and younger rocks is required to balance the section. We propose that the additional 14 km of LPS on the plateau occurred early in the deformation history and was kinematically linked to two fault-bend folds that have a lower décollement in the Cambrian Waynesboro Formation and an upper, subhorizontal detachment in the Silurian Wills Creek Formation (in the Valley and Ridge) and the Salina Group on the Appalachian Plateau. This upper detachment feeds displacement from these early horses in the duplex system onto the Appalachian Plateau and is expressed there as LPS shortening. This early shortening is followed by the development of in-sequence horses that repeat the mainly thrust-faulted Cambrian-Ordovician sequence using both the main décollement in the Cambrian Waynesboro and the Ordovician Reedsville Formations as an upper detachment horizon. In the south, shortening in the Late Ordovician through Devonian layers is accommodated by both LPS and forced folding of the overlying folded cover sequence. We propose that the Reedsville Formation becomes weaker to the north, facilitating shorter wavelength detachment folds. The development of gentle open f...

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The wave energy flux along the southern African coastline often reaches extreme levels, seriously impacting coastal communities, infrastructure, as well as near‐coast and offshore marine operations. Understanding the drivers behind past high wave energy events and their frequency is key to forecasting future events. Using in‐situ wave buoy data recorded by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the ERA5 and CACWR global wave model products are evaluated. The better‐performing ERA5 product is used to assess long‐term variability and trends around the coastline between 1979 and 2020. There are significant increasing trends in offshore flux for all seasons, with spring having the strongest coastal trends. Substantial interannual variability exists in wave energy flux and direction. Possible drivers, the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and the semi‐annual oscillation (SAO), were assessed to find that SAM appears to show the strongest relationship overall. Negative (positive) SAM is associated with above (below) average and westerly (easterly) anomalies in both flux and direction. ENSO directly impacts the summer wave climate while the SAO indirectly impacts the wave energy flux over spring and winter. During many seasons, more than one climate mode is active. It is found the strongest significant near‐coast positive westerly anomalies occurred under negative SAM and negative SAO, with more intense offshore anomalies under El Niño, whereas the strongest significant negative east‐northeasterly anomalies occurred under a combination of La Niña with positive SAM and SAO phases.