Perseverance Rover Investigates Bright, Unusual Rocks on Mars

By Dr Alex Jones, Candidate at Imperial College London

September 29, 2026

After spending the past six months exploring Lake Sharm—an area of ancient rock beyond the western rim of Jezero Crater—NASA’s Perseverance rover has encountered vast fields of light-toned rocks across the Martian surface.

Why are these Mars rocks so light-colored?

The discovery is unusual because most Martian rocks are dark basalt. The concentration of bright rocks in one location has prompted scientists to investigate what they are and how they reached the surface.

Perseverance has been studying their composition and texture. Early data indicate that many of the rocks are an igneous material called gabbro, which is dominated by minerals rich in iron and magnesium. On Earth, gabbro typically forms when magma cools and crystallizes slowly deep within the crust.

How did deep Martian rocks reach the surface?

That question has guided Perseverance’s work over the past week. The rover has been examining possible patches of bedrock exposed between the light-toned rocks and loose regolith.

Early images suggest that the bedrock contains angular fragments of both light- and dark-colored rock. Geologists call this type of material breccia. One possibility being investigated is that the scattered light-toned rocks eroded from this breccia.

Could asteroid impacts explain the scattered rocks?

Breccias often form during violent processes that break and transport rocks, leaving behind angular fragments. Breccia layers outside Jezero have previously been associated with asteroid impacts on early Mars.

A similar impact—or perhaps the impact that created Jezero Crater itself—could have helped bring these brightly colored rocks to the surface. Perseverance’s continuing investigations may reveal how these unusual Martian rocks formed and where they came from.

For now, scientists will need time—and patience—to find the answer.