Why is that rock tilted?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Gazing across the landscape of the "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater on Mars, scientists working with NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit think they have been seeing hints of tilted rock layers across the area traversed by the rover. At "Larry's Lookout," pictured here, ridges of rock are stacked atop each other and tilted. Similar rock ridges are visible in the distance across the "Tennessee Valley." One possible explanation for these ridges is that they were formed by tilted layers of sediment that were more resistant to erosion and now stand in relief above the surrounding surface. Scientists hope to better understand the structure of the hills and perhaps determine how they were formed by observing how the orientation of layers in these outcrops changes throughout the region. Hypotheses include that the Columbia Hills are the remains of an ancient volcano, a remnant of an old impact crater formed by an asteroid or comet, or delta deposits formed where water flowed into Gusev Crater early in its history. Each of these hypotheses leads to a different prediction regarding bedding orientation and structure.

Now this is the kind of thing I love: Structural Geology. At this point I'd be measuring the orientation of the rock plane in three dimensions (called "strike and dip"), plotting it on a map with a special symbol, and plotting it on a stereonet - a two-dimensional graph that represents angular relationships of angles and planes in three dimensional space. From the map and the statistical data on the stereonet, a structural geologist can describe the tilting, if it is related to folding, faulting, or both and then build a model of deformation. (unless, of course, it is depositional in origin, but good mapping and stereonet analysis will tell that tale too.)

Problem. How do we determine the orientation of that rock and do the kinds of things I'm suggesting. We can't slap a brunton compass on it, but can we determine the strike and dip of this rock from the raw images?

jms

(I purposely resurected this thread cause Doug's image is soooo much better than NASA's. Thanks Doug.)