Fe-phosphates in Jezero Crater as evidence for an ancient habitable environment on Mars
Phosphorus is an essential component for life, and in-situ identification of phosphate minerals that formed in aqueous conditions directly contributes toward one of the main goals of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover: to seek signs of ancient habitable environments. In Jezero crater, proximity science analyses within a conglomerate outcrop, "Onahu" demonstrate the presence of rare Fe<sup>3+</sup>-bearing phosphate minerals (likely metavivianite, ferrolaueite, (ferro)beraunite, and/or santabarbaraite) embedded in a carbonate-rich matrix. While Fe-phosphates have been inferred previously on Mars, this work presents the most definitive in-situ identification of martian Fe-phosphate minerals to date, using textural, chemical, spectral, and diffraction analyses of discrete green-blue grains. The Fe-phosphate minerals' textural context along with comparisons to Earth analogs suggest they likely formed after oxidation of Fe<sup>2+</sup>-phosphate vivianite, the most common Fe-phosphate in sedimentary environments on Earth, often associated with microbial activity and organics. While there is no obvious evidence of biological inputs in Onahu, if the Fe-phosphates' formation environment was similar to vivianite-rich sedimentary environments on Earth, these minerals likely originally precipitated in conditions favorable to potential martian life - in a low temperature, reducing aqueous medium with high concentrations of bio-limiting elements, and Fe-redox gradients that could provide an energy source. If the sample collected from Onahu (Otis_Peak) is returned to Earth, analysis of the Fe-phosphates may provide new insights into ancient habitable environments on Mars.
Authors
- E. A. Cloutis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7301-0929)
- Nicholas J. Tosca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4415-4231)
- C. T. Adcock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8204-5736)
- W. T. Elam
- Mark Schmidt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4298-9617)
- Alberto González Fairén (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2938-6010)
- S. J. VanBommel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6565-0827)
- Tanja Bosak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5179-5323)
- David C. Catling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5646-120X)
- J. N. Maki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7887-0343)
- Abigail C. Allwood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9779-7855)
- Abigail L. Knight (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6832-8190)
- Michael W. Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0720-8715)
- A. H. Treiman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8073-2839)
- Y. Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0308-0942)
- F. M. McCubbin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2101-4431)
- Elisabeth M. Hausrath (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5520-1622)
- J. A. Hurowitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5857-8652)
- L. P. O’Neil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1555-8229)
- B. C. Clark
- David A. K. Pedersen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7182-8567)
- Andrew O. Shumway (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3570-4980)
- Peter S. Jørgensen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0128-950X)
- John R. Christian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4646-2852)
- K. L. Siebach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6628-6297)
- Nicolas Randazzo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5551-8224)
- T. V. Kizovski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8188-9769)
- Michael M. Tice (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2560-1702)
- Morgan Leigh Cable (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3680-302X)
- Christopher M. Heirwegh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8234-7288)
- Sunanda Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8822-7960)
- Lawrence A. Wade (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8254-8181)
- U. Wolf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8145-1864)
- Peter R. Lawson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6928-1565)
- B. P. Weiss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3113-3415)
Institutions
- College of Southern Nevada (US)
- Space Science Institute (US)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- University of Alberta (CA)
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- Brock University (CA)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Royal Ontario Museum (CA)
- Centro de Astrobiología (ES)
- Johnson Space Center (US)
- Earth and Space Research (US)
- University of Manitoba (CA)
- Lunar and Planetary Institute (US)
- Stony Brook University (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Rice University (US)
- Central Queensland University (AU)
- The University of Winnipeg (CA)
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-07-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60026-7
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Planetary Science and Exploration
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.24
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- California Institute of Technology
- Nuclear Safety and Security Commission
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Canadian Space Agency
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada