fossilized grains? fossilized Poop? micro-volcanoes?
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover
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On the plains of Jezero, the secrets of Mars' past await us! Follow for the latest news, updates, pretty pics, and community discussion on NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's most ambitious mission to Mars!
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In 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity spotted so-called, “Martian Blueberries” at Meridiani Planum, and since then, the Curiosity rover has observed spherules in the rocks of Yellowknife Bay at Gale crater. Just a few months ago, Perseverance itself also spied popcorn-like textures in sedimentary rocks exposed in the Jezero crater inlet channel, Neretva Vallis. In each of these cases, the spherules were interpreted as concretions, features that formed by interaction with groundwater circulating through pore spaces in the rock. Not all spherules form this way, however. They also form on Earth by rapid cooling of molten rock droplets formed in a volcanic eruption, for instance, or by the condensation of rock vaporized by a meteorite impact.
See also this recent Mars Guy episode.
or by the condensation of rock vaporized by a meteorite impact.
Yikes
Judging by the rocks Percy has been viewing in the last few sols, this hillside has seen quite a bit of hot/volcanic material falling from the sky, and not just from a single asteroid impact either. The geology here is captivating.
Very cool. I do think it could be some kind of propelled magma or lava from volcanic activity or asteroid impact