A Journey to the Depths of Ancient Mars?

05.10.2026 4 Min Read

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A view of the Martian terrain showing reddish-brown, dusty ground littered with rocks of various sizes. In the foreground and midground, there is a cluster of large, angular rocks characterized by a highly textured, speckled pattern of white and dark grey. The surrounding surface is covered in smaller, rough pebbles and stones partially embedded in the sand. No sky or horizon is visible.

NASA’s Perseverance rover acquired this image of some light-toned boulders scattered across a hillside of a region called “Lac de Charmes,” beyond the western rim of Jezero crater. Perseverance captured the image using its Right Mastcam-Z camera on Aug. 30, 2026 (Sol 1965, or Martian day 1,965 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 11:42:55.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Written by Alex Jones, Ph.D. candidate at Imperial College London

Sept. 29, 2026

After spending the last six months exploring “Lac de Charmes,” a region of ancient rock beyond Jezero crater’s western rim, Perseverance has stumbled upon a vast field of light-toned rocks peppering the Martian surface.

Light-colored rocks are a strange sight on Mars, a planet dominated by dark-colored basaltic rocks. This many light-colored rocks in one place piqued the Science Team’s interest… what are they? How did they get here?

To answer the first question, Perseverance has been investigating the composition and textures of these rocks. Data so far indicates that many of them are igneous rocks called gabbro, which are dominated by minerals rich in iron and magnesium. Such rocks typically form by slow cooling and crystallization of magma deep in the crust.

So how did these deep fragments of Mars find their way to the surface?

Perseverance has spent the last week trying to answer this question by investigating a patch of possible bedrock poking out between the light-toned boulders and loose regolith.

Initial images suggest that the rock is made up of light- and dark-colored, angular fragments of rock, forming what geologists call a breccia. One possibility the team is investigating is that the light-toned boulders scattered across the hillside have eroded out of this breccia.

A wide-angle, slightly distorted view from beneath the Perseverance rover on Mars. Parts of the rover's dark chassis frame the top edge. On the bottom right, a section of one of its treaded wheels rests on the dirt. On the left, the rover's robotic arm, featuring a complex instrument turret at its end, is extended toward the ground. The arm casts a long, distinct shadow over the reddish-brown, rocky sand. Parallel rover tracks are pressed into the soil, leading away toward a relatively flat, barren landscape that ends at a horizon of distant, low hills under a pale sky.

Perseverance deploys its arm mounted instruments to investigate a possible breccia outcrop at “Idubi.” The rover acquired this image of the area in front of it using its onboard Front Right Hazard Avoidance Camera A on Sept. 27, 2026 (Sol 1992, or Martian day 1,992 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 12:03:10.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Breccias often form through violent processes involving the fracturing and transport of rock to produce their angular shapes. Layers of breccia observed outside Jezero have previously been attributed to asteroid impacts on early Mars. Perhaps similar impacts (or the Jezero impact itself?) could be responsible for digging up these light-colored blocks.

Only time (and of course, Perseverance), will tell.

Want to read more posts from the Perseverance team?

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Want to learn more about Perseverance’s science instruments?

Visit the Science Instruments page