Aqueously altered igneous rocks sampled on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars

K A Farley; K M Stack; D L Shuster; B H N Horgan; J A Hurowitz; J D Tarnas; J I Simon; V Z Sun; E L Scheller; K R Moore; S M McLennan; P M Vasconcelos; R C Wiens; A H Treiman; L E Mayhew; O Beyssac; T V Kizovski; N J Tosca; K H Williford; L S Crumpler; L W Beegle; J F Bell 3rd; B L Ehlmann; Y Liu; J N Maki; M E Schmidt; A C Allwood; H E F Amundsen; R Bhartia; T Bosak; A J Brown; B C Clark; A Cousin; O Forni; T S J Gabriel; Y Goreva; S Gupta; S-E Hamran; C D K Herd; K Hickman-Lewis; J R Johnson; L C Kah; P B Kelemen; K B Kinch; L Mandon; N Mangold; C Quantin-Nataf; M S Rice; P S Russell; S Sharma; S Siljeström; A Steele; R Sullivan; M Wadhwa; B P Weiss; A J Williams; B V Wogsland; P A Willis; T A Acosta-Maeda; P Beck; K Benzerara; S Bernard; A S Burton; E L Cardarelli; B Chide; E Clavé; E A Cloutis; B A Cohen; A D Czaja; V Debaille; E Dehouck; A G Fairén; D T Flannery; S Z Fleron; T Fouchet; J Frydenvang; B J Garczynski; E F Gibbons; E M Hausrath; A G Hayes; J Henneke; J L Jørgensen; E M Kelly; J Lasue; S Le Mouélic; J M Madariaga; S Maurice; M Merusi; P-Y Meslin; S M Milkovich; C C Million; R C Moeller; J I Núñez; A M Ollila; G Paar; D A Paige; D A K Pedersen; P Pilleri; C Pilorget; P C Pinet; J W Rice Jr; C Royer; V Sautter; M Schulte; M A Sephton; S K Sharma; S F Sholes; N Spanovich; M St Clair; C D Tate; K Uckert; S J VanBommel; A G Yanchilina; M-P Zorzano

doi:10.1126/science.abo2196

Aqueously altered igneous rocks sampled on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars

Science. 2022 Sep 30;377(6614):eabo2196. doi: 10.1126/science.abo2196. Epub 2022 Sep 30.

Authors

K A Farley¹, K M Stack², D L Shuster³, B H N Horgan⁴, J A Hurowitz⁵, J D Tarnas², J I Simon⁶, V Z Sun², E L Scheller¹, K R Moore¹, S M McLennan⁵, P M Vasconcelos⁷, R C Wiens⁸, A H Treiman⁹, L E Mayhew¹⁰, O Beyssac¹¹, T V Kizovski¹², N J Tosca¹³, K H Williford¹⁴, L S Crumpler¹⁵, L W Beegle², J F Bell 3rd¹⁶, B L Ehlmann¹, Y Liu², J N Maki², M E Schmidt¹², A C Allwood², H E F Amundsen¹⁷, R Bhartia¹⁸, T Bosak¹⁹, A J Brown²⁰, B C Clark²¹, A Cousin²², O Forni²², T S J Gabriel²³, Y Goreva², S Gupta²⁴, S-E Hamran¹⁷, C D K Herd²⁵, K Hickman-Lewis^{26

27}, J R Johnson²⁸, L C Kah²⁹, P B Kelemen³⁰, K B Kinch³¹, L Mandon³², N Mangold³³, C Quantin-Nataf³⁴, M S Rice³⁵, P S Russell³⁶, S Sharma², S Siljeström³⁷, A Steele³⁸, R Sullivan³⁹, M Wadhwa¹⁶, B P Weiss^{2

19}, A J Williams⁴⁰, B V Wogsland²⁹, P A Willis², T A Acosta-Maeda⁴¹, P Beck⁴², K Benzerara¹¹, S Bernard¹¹, A S Burton⁴³, E L Cardarelli², B Chide⁸, E Clavé⁴⁴, E A Cloutis⁴⁵, B A Cohen⁴⁶, A D Czaja⁴⁷, V Debaille⁴⁸, E Dehouck³⁴, A G Fairén^{49

50}, D T Flannery⁵¹, S Z Fleron⁵², T Fouchet³², J Frydenvang⁵³, B J Garczynski⁴, E F Gibbons⁵⁴, E M Hausrath⁵⁵, A G Hayes⁵⁰, J Henneke⁵⁶, J L Jørgensen⁵⁶, E M Kelly⁴¹, J Lasue²², S Le Mouélic³³, J M Madariaga⁵⁷, S Maurice²², M Merusi³¹, P-Y Meslin²², S M Milkovich², C C Million⁵⁸, R C Moeller², J I Núñez²⁸, A M Ollila⁵⁹, G Paar⁶⁰, D A Paige³⁶, D A K Pedersen⁵⁶, P Pilleri²², C Pilorget^{61

62}, P C Pinet²², J W Rice Jr¹⁶, C Royer¹¹, V Sautter¹¹, M Schulte⁶³, M A Sephton²⁴, S K Sharma⁴¹, S F Sholes², N Spanovich², M St Clair⁵⁸, C D Tate⁵⁰, K Uckert², S J VanBommel⁶⁴, A G Yanchilina⁶⁵, M-P Zorzano⁵⁰

Affiliations

¹ Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
² Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
³ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁴ Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
⁵ Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
⁶ Center for Isotope Cosmochemistry and Geochronology, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
⁷ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
⁸ Planetary Exploration Team, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
⁹ Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
¹¹ Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 75005 Paris, France.
¹² Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada.
¹³ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK.
¹⁴ Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA 98104, USA.
¹⁵ New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, NM 8710, USA.
¹⁶ School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
¹⁷ Center for Space Sensors and Systems, University of Oslo, 2007 Kjeller, Norway.
¹⁸ Photon Systems Inc., Covina, CA 91725, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
²⁰ Plancius Research, Severna Park, MD 21146, USA.
²¹ Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.
²² Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre National d'Etude Spatiale, 31400 Toulouse, France.
²³ Astrogeology Science Center, US Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
²⁴ Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
²⁵ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3, Canada.
²⁶ Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
²⁷ Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
²⁸ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
²⁹ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
³⁰ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.
³¹ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
³² Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique, Observatoire de Paris, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Diderot, 92195 Meudon, France.
³³ Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Nantes Université, Université Angers, 44000 Nantes, France.
³⁴ Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
³⁵ Department of Geology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA.
³⁶ Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
³⁷ Department of Metrology, Textiles and Medical Technology, Research Institutes of Sweden, 11486 Stockholm, Sweden.
³⁸ Earth and Planetary Laboratory, Carnegie Science, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
³⁹ Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
⁴⁰ Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
⁴¹ Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
⁴² Institut de Planétologie et Astrophysique de Grenoble, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, France.
⁴³ NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
⁴⁴ Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Université de Bordeaux, 33400 Bordeaux, France.
⁴⁵ Centre for Terrestrial and Planetary Exploration, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9, Canada.
⁴⁶ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA.
⁴⁸ Laboratoire G-Time, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
⁴⁹ Centro de Astrobiología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, 28850 Madrid, Spain.
⁵⁰ Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
⁵¹ School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia.
⁵² Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵³ Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵⁴ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0E8, Canada.
⁵⁵ Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA.
⁵⁶ National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
⁵⁷ Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of the Basque Country, 48940 Leioa, Spain.
⁵⁸ Million Concepts, Louisville, KY 40204, USA.
⁵⁹ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
⁶⁰ Institute for Information and Communication Technologies, Joanneum Research, 8010 Graz, Austria.
⁶¹ Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France.
⁶² Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
⁶³ Mars Exploration Program, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546, USA.
⁶⁴ McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
⁶⁵ Impossible Sensing LLC, St. Louis, MO 63118, USA.

PMID: 36007009
DOI: 10.1126/science.abo2196

Abstract

The Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater, Mars, to investigate ancient lake and river deposits. We report observations of the crater floor, below the crater's sedimentary delta, finding that the floor consists of igneous rocks altered by water. The lowest exposed unit, informally named Séítah, is a coarsely crystalline olivine-rich rock, which accumulated at the base of a magma body. Magnesium-iron carbonates along grain boundaries indicate reactions with carbon dioxide-rich water under water-poor conditions. Overlying Séítah is a unit informally named Máaz, which we interpret as lava flows or the chemical complement to Séítah in a layered igneous body. Voids in these rocks contain sulfates and perchlorates, likely introduced by later near-surface brine evaporation. Core samples of these rocks have been stored aboard Perseverance for potential return to Earth.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.