NASA's Perseverance Rover Discovers Unusual Light-Toned Rocks on Mars, Suggesting Deep Crustal Origins
NASA's Perseverance rover has encountered a vast field of unusual light-toned rocks scattered across a hillside in the 'Lac de Charmes' region, located beyond the western rim of Jezero crater on Mars. This discovery, made after six months of exploration in the area, has piqued the interest of the Science Team because light-colored rocks are a rare sight on Mars, which is predominantly covered by dark basaltic rocks. Initial data from Perseverance's investigations into the composition and textures of these rocks indicate that many are igneous rocks called gabbro. Gabbro is rich in iron and magnesium minerals and typically forms from the slow cooling and crystallization of magma deep within a planet's crust. The rover has spent the past week examining a patch of possible bedrock between these boulders and loose regolith, which appears to be a breccia—a rock composed of angular fragments. Scientists are exploring the possibility that the light-toned boulders eroded out of this breccia.
