NASA Discovery Reveals Complex Water Systems on Early Mars

What happened

When NASA’s Perseverance rover reached the inner edge of Mars’ Jezero Crater in September 2023, mission scientists were surprised by what they found. Instead, the rover team found igneous rock, which can form deep underground from magma or from volcanic activity at the surface.

Called the “Margin Unit,” the geologic area stretches along the shoreline of an ancient Martian lake, so they expected sedimentary rocks, which would have formed as layers of sand piled on top of each other over millennia. Composed of clay and silt, sedimentary rocks on Earth are good at preserving past microbial life. The scientists were especially intrigued by strong signals of carbonate minerals detected by Mars orbiters.

Key facts

• Instead, the rover team — found: igneous rock, which can form deep underground from magma or from volcanic activity at the surface