Perseverance finds Jezero crater rocks are volcanic, not lakebed

NASA's Perseverance rover found that rocks along Jezero crater's margin are igneous, not sedimentary as expected. Water soaked them at least three separate times, leaving carbonates that can preserve traces of past microbes.

• Perseverance examined 185 rocks across the 28-mile-wide Jezero crater
• The rocks are igneous, not sedimentary as scientists predicted
• Water altered the rocks in at least three distinct episodes
• Carbonates found there often host life traces on Earth