and other aqueous solvents, not necessarily pure or salty water, may well turn out to be key to understanding what's going on at the surface now and anciently, and the subsurface action of these solvents will be endlessly fascinating.

We would do well to think about how solids may precipitate in various fluids, at various temperatures and pressures, and explore how those precipitates may then react with atmospheric conditions, once exposed to them, and how they may respond to the radiation environment at the surface. The wonders of UV radiation may be only the beginning.

We may not be seeing the product of erosion so much as the remnants of growth within a fluid environment. The extravagant and baroque nature of the Pot of Gold formation may not be explicable through erosional processes alone. By changing our perspective somewhat, we may be able to better comprehend what's going on.

Still, we are dealing with an alien environment.