Perseverance robot finds rare rocks on Mars that may have come from the depths of the planet; see PHOTOS

NASA's Perseverance rover found a large concentration of clear rocks on Mars that may have formed deep in the planet's crust and reached the surface after violent events in the past.

The stones were located in a region called Lac de Charmes, beyond the western edge of the Jezero crater, an area explored by the vehicle over the last six months.

The discovery caught the attention of scientists because Mars is dominated by dark rocks of volcanic origin.

Finding so many clear stones gathered in the same place is considered unusual.

Early analyzes indicate that many of them are made of gabbro, a type of rock that forms when magma slowly cools and solidifies below the surface.

Scientists are now trying to understand how this material ended up on the surface of Mars.

In recent weeks, Perseverance also began studying a nearby rock formation, where light and dark fragments appear mixed together.

One hypothesis is that these rocks were ripped from deeper layers and taken upwards after asteroid impacts.

This type of collision can break and throw large blocks of rock, forming deposits that are later exposed by erosion.

The formation of the Jezero crater itself, caused by a large impact in Mars' past, is also among the possibilities considered by the team.

For now, researchers still don't know exactly where these stones came from. Perseverance will continue to analyze the composition and structure of rocks to try to reconstruct this part of the planet's geological history.