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Is it just me, or does it seem like the entire maritan surface has a generous dusting of the what looks like the exact same material?

No to many craters, so the 'surface' is young, but why the relatively uniform coating over the entire planet?

I am guessing that a huge impact left a dust cloud that covered the entire planet, and if we dig down about 3 feet we would find the remnants of an ancient civilization.

The 'face' on Cydonia is also covered by this layer of whatever, so it would better resemble a face if we cleaned it off.

Doesn't this seem obvious? (not my imaginary civilization) the coating over the whole planet? When the mars lander roamed around it was pretty amazing to me to see boulders strewn around all over, like it happened all at once.

I dunno...

Two words: dust storms.

That dust gets on everything.

As for an ancient civilization, the answer is "not at all likely".

The "face" at Cydonia is a trick of the light. It looks NOTHING like a face unless the angle of the sun is just right.

Here are some links for you to peruse:

The Geology of Mars: Dust Storms -
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/CAS/lessons/L9/18.HTM

Mars: Dust, Ice, and Wind
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/mineralogy/mars/Marshtml/2dustetc.html

(Among other things) Sand dunes on Mars
http://www.geology.uiuc.edu/~hsui/classes/geo116/lectures/mars2.html

Cydonia images from Mars Global Surveyor's "Mars Orbiter Camera"
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/4_6_98_face_release/index.html

Mars loses face
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/05/25/mars.faces/

This next link is FULL of information and links to all subjects Martian:

Life on Mars
http://www.resa.net/nasa/mars_life.htm

Last but not least, check out this website for help in understanding astronomy - it's a MUST-SEE for those who want to learn what's good astronomy and what's...
Bad Astronomy!
http://www.badastronomy.com/

if we dig down about 3 feet we would find the remnants of an ancient civilization.

I would guess the overburden is the result of aeons of dust storms. If we dig down to the original surface, we will find what? Civilization? McCain and Hoagland are in cahoots about this now. Well, we ought to build a settlement on Mars now that water seems readily available, but this Tooth Fairy Civilization stuff is for the gullible masses.