  Methods. The northern-eastern fringe of the Chameleon I dark cloud was
observed with XMM-Newton, revisiting a region observed with ROSAT 15 years ago.
Centered on the extended X-ray source CHXR49 we are able to resolve it into
three major contributing components and to analyse their spectral properties.
Furthermore, the deep exposure allows not only the detection of numerous,
previously unknown X-ray sources, but also the investigation of variability and
the study of the X-ray properties for the brighter targets in the field. We use
EPIC spectra, to determine X-ray brightness, coronal temperatures and emission
measures for these sources, compare the properties of classical and weak-line T
Tauri stars and make a comparison with results from the ROSAT observation.
  Results. X-ray properties of T Tauri stars in Cha I are presented. The
XMM-Newton images resolve some previously blended X-ray sources, confirm
several possible ones and detect many new X-ray targets, resulting in the most
comprehensive list with 71 X-ray sources in the northern Cha I dark cloud. The
analysis of medium resolution spectra shows an overlapping distribution of
spectral properties for classical and weak-line T Tauri stars, with the X-ray
brighter stars having hotter coronae and a higher L_X/L_bol ratio. X-ray
luminosity correlates with bolometric luminosity, whereas the L_X/L_bol ratio
is slightly lower for the classical T Tauri stars. Large flares as well as a
low iron and a high neon abundance are found in both types of T Tauri stars.
Abundance pattern, plasma temperatures and emission measure distributions
during quiescent phases are attributed toa high level of magnetic activity as
the dominant source of their X-ray emission.
