--- Study of a faulted landslide in Aureum Chaos and its ramifications.

xamples of recent tectonic activity and subsidence on Mars are expressed in Aureum Chaos, the area of chaotic terrain east of Valles Marineris. So say researchers who have studied the layered deposits of Aureum Chaos and the cross-cutting relationships between scarps, dunes, and a landslide. Mauro Spagnuolo (Universidad de Buenos Aires), Angelo Rossi (International Space Science Institute and Jacobs University Bremen), Ernst Hauber (German Aerospace Center), and Stephan van Gasselt (Freie Universität Berlin) identified fault-related geomorphic features in remote sensing data, specifically a disrupted landslide that they determine to be less than 1.9 million years old. If indeed very recent activity has occurred along faults in Aureum Chaos, then these may be very important sites for studies related to the circulation of fluid or gas through, or out of, these fractures or fissures. Both geologists and astrobiologists would be interested in the implications for the distribution of water in the crust, the aqueous alteration of minerals, and the potential for microenvironments to harbor or sustain life. Reference