This outcrop of Permian limestone aged around 270 million years old consists of thin layers of marine sediment deposited in the Tethys ocean, an ocean that has since closed due to movements of the earth’s continental plates. Each layer forms its own fold but they are all oriented in the same direction, leading geologists to believe that they all developed around 90 million years ago, when the Tethys sediments (which were situated in front of Oman’s northern coast) were thrusted over the Arabian continent. This movement applied intense squeezing pressure and heat to the rocks, causing them to become soft and plastic like leading to these small folds