But Viking landers operated a year or more with no major damage, so I wouldn't worry much about it. The large chasmas and Valles Marineris complex are larger than many features on Earth. Valles Marineris itself is the size of the Gulf of California and the Red Sea, and formed by similar tectonic rifting. Side Canyons and chasmas may reflect tectonic fractures expanded by water flow. Also, at an Iceland meeting, scientists saw smaller scale catastrophic outflow channels, caused when glacial ice is melted from below by volcanism.
Some channel features on Mars are like that.
In Death Valley there is a Devils Playground area covered by salt crystals, a playa where salty water evaporated and left salt on the ground. This is a possible crude analog of the hematite area, where water containing dissolved iron minerals may have collected and evaporated, leaving the hematite minerals. Click Here to view other questions from the Student Scientists. Our cong ratulations to all the Winners, the quality of the entries we received was very high. It is great to know that so many keen young people all over the world know so much and are so enthusiastic about Mars Exploration.