The Perseverance rover has discovered volcanic rocks on the surface of Mars that solidified due to contact with water or interacted with it later. The media office at the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that studying the samples collected by the rover on Earth will reveal the history of the planet's interior. Professor David Schuster from the university stated, "Collecting samples from these rocks on the surface of Mars is a great gift for us. We have obtained the first evidence indicating that volcanic rocks interacted with water. Studying them will be extremely interesting to evaluate whether the conditions were suitable for the emergence and existence of life on Mars."
The professor and his scientific team note that these rocks were discovered in various locations within the Jezero crater, believed to be an ancient lake basin that has dried up. During its first year of operation, the rover found significant evidence of this, including many clay deposits and sedimentary rocks that form only in the presence of liquid water.
It is noteworthy that the rover's instruments studied these samples, which were then placed in a capsule with hopes of transporting them to Earth in the first half of 2030. These samples have helped scientists uncover multiple layers of volcanic lava in four areas of an ancient river delta that drained into Lake Jezero, which hardened due to contact with water or actively interacted with it after solidification.
Studying these rock samples will assist scientists in accurately determining the age of the crater, in addition to revealing the chemical composition of Martian water bodies that interacted with similar rocks. According to researchers, this information will aid biochemists in identifying the elements and chemicals present in Martian waters resulting from their interaction with hot volcanic rocks. Furthermore, identifying chemical elements and their compounds is important for assessing whether molybdenum and other elements essential for the functioning of key enzymes in living cells exist on Mars.
