From: Jim Deardorff <deardorj@proaxis.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 18:02:03 -0700 (PDT)
Fwd Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 09:58:44 -0400
Subject: Re: Cydonianism

>Subject: UFO UpDate: Re: Cydonianism [was Re: Catholicism vs.Cydoniaism)
>From: Mark Cashman <mcashman@ix.netcom.com>
>Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 11:18:31 -0400
>To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>

>[...]
>Actually, any volcano which forms on a linear fault can have a
>fairly extended linear structure. And volcanos are almost always
>symmetrical, by their very nature.
>[...]

Mark,

Thanks for posting the various web site addresses to look at.
After looking over several Martian volcanoes with irregular
outlines, I did find one that fits what you state above. It is
an elongated volcano in plan-form with good bilateral symmetry,
in the Tharsis region. So its outline is of the "face" shape.  It
can be viewed at:

http://ceps.nasm.edu:2020/ETP/MARS/MARSIMG/tharsis.gif

in the upper center of the frame.  What shows up by dark
shadowing is the outline of the relatively low upper wall of the
volcano's large interior. Although the outline of the outermost
edge at surrounding ground level is at best barely discernible,
it does seem to be pretty well congruent to the upper wall.  So
I'm more comfortable now with the belief that the similar outline
of the "Face" is also a natural feature.  There is a large
difference in scale between the two, with the tharsis volcano
being some 125 miles long, but I suppose such a structure is no
less unlikely to occur naturally on a scale 2 orders of magnitude
smaller.

Now I have only to contend with the symmetry of the rectilinear
"headdress" feature, or the possibility that the Face was only
designed to show up as a face when the sun is low in the west.
The latter does seem like a low probability bet, though.

Jim Deardorff