Carbonated ultramafic igneous rocks in Jezero crater, Mars
Summary
The Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater on Mars, which once contained a lake of liquid water. We report the rock properties encountered by Perseverance during a 10-kilometer traverse extending over 400 meters in elevation, from beneath Jezero's western sedimentary fan to the upper crater rim. These rocks consist of coarse-grained olivine, magnesium and iron carbonates, silica, and phyllosilicates, including some of the oldest materials exposed within Jezero. We infer that these rock
Content
# Carbonated ultramafic igneous rocks in Jezero crater, Mars
*Published: 2026 Feb 19*
The Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater on Mars, which once contained a
lake of liquid water. We report the rock properties encountered by Perseverance
during a 10-kilometer traverse extending over 400 meters in elevation, from
beneath Jezero's western sedimentary fan to the upper crater rim. These rocks
consist of coarse-grained olivine, magnesium and iron carbonates, silica, and
phyllosilicates, including some of the oldest materials exposed within Jezero.
We infer that these rocks formed by olivine accumulation in an igneous system of
layered intrusions, followed by exposure to water and carbon dioxide, which
caused extensive carbonation of the silicate minerals. Aqueous alteration was
more pronounced at lower elevations. Higher-elevation exposures on the crater
rim appear similar to olivine-rich rocks distributed over the wider Nili Fossae
region.
DOI: 10.1126/science.adu8264