Strata of sandstone sedimentary rock coastal cliff layers folded geological syncline structure, Zambujeiro do Mar, Alentejo Littoral, Portugal – Image ID: 2AXJ9AA

When I started teaching geography in the early 1980s we had to teach the basics of folding and faulting. Coming from a human geography/sociology background I always struggled. I don’t recall ever been taught this myself when I studied school geography – maybe I had just glazed over.

Back in the early ’80s the school I was at used a book by Bunnett called ‘ Physical Geography in Diagrams’ ( still in print) and classes spent their lessons literally copying out diagrams. In this way we covered types of faults and folds, along with rift valleys, block mountains, scarp slopes, and the like.

This picture is being used in Spain – I assume for a textbook. I sincerely hope that the photo won’t end up being copied out by bored students into their exercise books!