The laser altimetry data are perhaps even more convincing than overhead photos that the Face is natural. 3D elevation maps reveal the formation from any angle, unaltered by lights and shadow. There is no vertical exaggeration in this ray-traced image. Garvin and Frawley express special thanks to Mike Malin and MOLA science team. The mesas of Cydonia are of great interest to planetary geologists because they lie in a curious part of Mars, in a transition zone between cratered highlands to the south and smoother lowland plains to the north.
Some scientists think the northern plains are all that's left of an ancient Martian ocean.
If so, Cydonia might have once been beachfront property. But there are many possibilities. The mesas could have been gouged by glaciers, carved by winds and water, or thrust upward by vertical tectonics. We simply don't know. Click for the full Mars Atlas.