I took this photo I've titled Faulty Shoreline somewhere near the the Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa in Kota Kinabalu but I can't actually place it on the map.
It's kind of nerdy but I'm channeling my inner geologist. That and my son has just completed a sixth grade science unit on faults and folds.
On the left is a classic reverse fault where the hanging wall to the right has pushed up relative to the foot wall on the left. There are other faults visible in the cliff wall as you pan to the right across the photo. Clearly the earth moved quite a bit here at some time in the past.
The dip of the layers coupled with the wave erosion has left a very rough floor. This photo was taken at low tide. It's certainly not somewhere you would want to wander in bare feet. The different relative hardness of the sedimentary layers has led to different erosion rates and you can easily follow the rock layers from the cliff through the exposed sea floor.
From the chilly start to the day watching the sun rise from the summit of Mount Kinabalu at an altitude of 13,435 ft (4,095 m) to watching the sunset at sea level about 12 hours later, that was quite a change of pace. I felt I'd truly deserved my few nights of luxury at the resort and my memory of the previous night in a dorm in the Laban Rata resthouse quickly receded from my consciousness.
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