Mars orbiter captures view of stair-stepped mound

This April 2003 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a stair-stepped mound of sedimentary rock (right of center) on the floor of a large impact crater in western Arabia Terra near 11.0 deg N, 4.4 deg W.

Sedimentary rock outcrops are common in the craters of this region. The repeated thickness and uniformity of the layers that make up this mound suggest that their depositional environment was one in which cyclic or episodic events occurred over some period of time. The sediments might have been deposited in a lake, or they may have settled directly out of the atmosphere. Most of the layered material was later eroded away, leaving this circular mound and the other nearby mesas and knobs. The image is illuminated by sunlight from the lower left.

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A few words for those "cover-up" folks...  There's more than a few websites that discuss the topic of man-made objects in space being covered up by NASA and other agencies... 

This stepped "hill" is another log in the fire... Its funny what some folks will spend their time hand-wrangling over!

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Here's a "Stepped Pyramid" on the Moon... in a complex of pyramid-like structures...

of course, there's a stepped pyramid in Egypt... called the step pyramid of Zoser, it  is the oldest known pyramid

In Mexico, in an Aztec Ruin, they have the "Pyramid of the Moon"... also a stepped pyramid.

  Added in 2003