An olivine cumulate outcrop on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars.
Yang LiuMichael M TiceMariek E SchmidtAllan H TreimanTanya V KizovskiJoel A HurowitzA C AllwoodJesper HennekeDavid A K PedersenScott J VanBommelMichael W M JonesA L KnightBrendan J OrensteinBenton C ClarkW T ElamC M HeirweghT BarberLuther W BeegleKarim BenzeraraSylvain BernardOlivier BeyssacTanja BosakAdrian J BrownEmily L CardarelliDavid C CatlingJohn R ChristianEdward A CloutisB A CohenScott DavidoffAlberto G FairénK A FarleyDavid T FlanneryA GalvinJohn P GrotzingerSanjeev GuptaJames HallChristopher D K HerdKeyron Hickman-LewisRobert HodyssBriony H N HorganJeffrey R JohnsonJ L JoergensenLinda C KahJustin N MakiLucia MandonNicolas MangoldFrancis M McCubbinScott M McLennanK MooreMarion NachonP NemereL D NothdurftJorge I NúñezLauren O'NeilCathy Quantin-NatafV SautterDavid L ShusterKirsten L SiebachJustin I SimonKimberly P SinclairKathryn M StackAndrew SteeleJesse TarnasNicholas J ToscaKyle UckertArya UdryL A WadeBenjamin P WeissRoger C WiensK H WillifordMaría-Paz ZorzanoPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2022)
The geological units on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars, are part of a wider regional stratigraphy of olivine-rich rocks, which extends well beyond the crater. We investigated the petrology of olivine and carbonate-bearing rocks of the Séítah formation in the floor of Jezero. Using multispectral images and x-ray fluorescence data, acquired by the Perseverance rover, we performed a petrographic analysis of the Bastide and Brac outcrops within this unit. We found that these outcrops are composed of igneous rock, moderately altered by aqueous fluid. The igneous rocks are mainly made of coarse-grained olivine, similar to some martian meteorites. We interpret them as an olivine cumulate, formed by settling and enrichment of olivine through multistage cooling of a thick magma body.