Carbonated ultramafic igneous rocks in Jezero crater, Mars

Summary, in English

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. Copyright © 2026 the authors, some rights reserved;

• Author: K.H. Williford; S. Alwmark; R.A. Yingst
• Department/s: Department of Geology; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (MGeo)
• Publishing year: 2026
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Science
• Volume: 391
• Issue: 6787
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adu8264
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Topic: Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology; Geology
• Keywords: carbon dioxide; carbonic acid derivative; iron; magnesium; mineral; silicate; silicon dioxide; carbonate rock; crater; igneous rock; Mars; olivine; phyllosilicate; ultramafic rock; article; astronomy; rock; therapy; water
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0036-8075