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- Jezero Mons is a mountain sitting on the edge of Jezero crater<\/strong> on Mars. NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater in 2021.<\/li>\n
- The mountain might actually be a volcano<\/strong> \u201chiding in plain sight,\u201d according to some scientists. Is it? A new study using data from both orbiters and Perseverance said yes.<\/li>\n
- The findings explain the unexpected volcanic rocks<\/strong> Perseverance found. The volcano would have provided subsurface heat, which, along with the former lake in the crater, could have provided a habitable environment for microbes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Mars volcano hiding in plain sight?<\/h3>\n
Mars is well-known for its many giant volcanoes. And on June 5, 2025, scientists at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and Brown University in Rhode Island said they found another one that had been \u201chiding in plain sight.\u201d The volcano is right on the rim of Jezero crater, where NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover is busy exploring. Scientists had seen the volcano before, of course \u2013 it\u2019s nearly half the size of the crater itself \u2013 but it just looked like a regular mountain, called Jezero Mons. The new study, however, showed it\u2019s likely an ancient volcano.<\/p>\n
Jezero crater is about 28 miles (45 km) across, and the volcano is roughly 13 miles (21 km) wide. Perseverance has been exploring the crater since landing on February 18, 2021, looking for evidence of possible ancient microbial life. The crater itself was once a lake billions of years ago, offering a potentially habitable environment for microorganisms.<\/p>\n
The researchers published their peer-reviewed findings in Communications Earth & Environment<\/em> on May 3, 2025.<\/p>\n
It looked like a volcano \u2026 but was it?<\/h3>\n
James Wray at Georgia Tech first saw the mountain in orbital images of Jezero crater back in 2007. He thought that it did<\/em> look like a volcano, but it couldn\u2019t be proven at the time. He said:<\/p>\n
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I was looking at low-resolution photos of the area and noticed a mountain on the crater\u2019s rim. To me, it looked like a volcano, but it was difficult to get additional images.<\/p>\n
Volcanism on Mars is intriguing for a number of reasons, from the implications it has on habitability, to better constraining the geologic history. Jezero crater is one of the best studied sites on Mars. If we are just now identifying a volcano here, imagine how many more could be on Mars. Volcanoes may be even more widespread across Mars than we thought.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Georgia Tech scientists have uncovered evidence that a mountain on the rim of Mar’s Jezero Crater is likely a volcano. b.gatech.edu\/3FBDmvR<\/p>\n
\u2014 Georgia Tech Research (@gtresearchnews.bsky.social) 2025-06-06T18:52:50.952Z<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Volcanic rocks in Jezero crater<\/h3>\n
If Jezero Mons is actually a volcano, that could explain something that puzzled scientists after Perseverance first landed. Scientists expected the floor of the crater would be covered in sedimentary rocks, because all the evidence pointed to the crater once being a lake. Instead, however, the first rocks the rover looked at were volcanic<\/em>. Perseverance did indeed find sedimentary rocks later on in its travels. But why were these volcanic rocks even there? Wray thought at the time that perhaps Jezero Mons really was a volcano. But how to prove it?<\/p>\n
![\"Overhead](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/06\/Jezero-crater-Jezero-Mons-Perseverance-Communications-Earth-Environment-May-3-2025.jpeg\")
View larger. | Orbital view of Jezero crater, showing Jezero Mons adjacent to it, on the southeast rim and the landing site of the Perseverance rover. Image via Cuevas-Qui\u00f1ones et al.\/ Communications Earth & Environment (Open Access\/ CC BY 4.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ![\"Reddish](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/06\/Jezero-Mons-Perseverance-panorama-Communications-Earth-Environment-May-3-2025.jpeg\")
View larger. | The Perseverance rover captured this panoramic view of Jezero Mons from inside Jezero crater. Image via Cuevas-Qui\u00f1ones et al.\/ Communications Earth & Environment (Open Access\/ CC BY 4.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Old and new data reveal hidden Mars volcano<\/h3>\n
Wray wasn\u2019t the only one to suspect there was a volcano on the rim of Jezero crater. Briony Horgan, professor of planetary science at Purdue University in Indiana, had thought so as well. Lead author Sara Cuevas-Qui\u00f1ones, formerly at Georgia Tech and now at Brown University, began working with Wray at the Undergraduates (REU) program at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. She said:<\/p>\n
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I began wondering if there was a way to home in on these suspicions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Then co-author Frances Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez at Georgia Tech became involved. To try to determine if Jezero Mons really was a volcano, they combined data from multiple orbiting spacecraft as well as Perseverance. Wray explained:<\/p>\n
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We can\u2019t visit Mars and definitively prove that Jezero Mons is a volcano, but we can show that it shares the same properties with existing volcanoes, both here on Earth and Mars. We used data from the Mars Odyssey Orbiter, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Perseverance Rover, all in combination to puzzle this out. I think this shows that these older spacecraft can be extremely valuable long after their initial missions end. These old spacecraft can still make important discoveries and help us answer tricky questions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
![\"Smiling](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/06\/Sara-Cuevas-Quinones-Brown-University.png\")
Sara Cuevas-Qui\u00f1ones at Brown University is the lead author of the new study about the hidden volcano on Mars. Image via Brown University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Implications for possible past life<\/h3>\n
Jezero crater as a former lake is interesting on its own. But a volcano right next to it could have provided essential hydrothermal heat for a habitable environment. As Wray noted:<\/p>\n
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The coalescence of these two types of systems makes Jezero more interesting than ever. We have samples of incredible sedimentary rocks that could be from a habitable region alongside igneous rocks with important scientific value.<\/p>\n
Mars is the best place we have to look in our solar system for signs of life, and thanks to the Perseverance Rover collecting samples in Jezero, the United States has samples from the best rocks in the best place on Mars. If these samples are returned to Earth, we can do incredible, groundbreaking science with them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Last year, scientists discovered another huge volcano on Mars \u201chiding in plain sight,\u201d just south of the planet\u2019s equator in eastern Noctis Labyrinthus. It\u2019s just west of Valles Marineris, the planet\u2019s famous canyon system. It\u2019s close to three other well-known giant volcanoes: Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons.<\/p>\n
The other newly found volcano is much larger than Jezero Mons. It reaches 29,600 feet (9,022 meters) in elevation and spans 280 miles (450 km) in width. <\/p>\n
Bottom line: Scientists have found a hidden Mars volcano close to NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover. Jezero Mons, about 13 miles (21 km) across, sits on the edge of Jezero crater.<\/p>\n
Source: Evidence for a composite volcano on the rim of Jezero crater on Mars<\/p>\n
Via Georgia Institute of Technology<\/p>\n
Read more: Ancient volcanoes on Mars were diverse<\/p>\n
Read more: Was Mars\u2019 Olympus Mons volcano once an island?<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
\n - The mountain might actually be a volcano<\/strong> \u201chiding in plain sight,\u201d according to some scientists. Is it? A new study using data from both orbiters and Perseverance said yes.<\/li>\n