Mars was once home to wet, humid areas that received heavy rainfall, similar to tropical regions on Earth, a new study of unusually bleached rocks suggests.
Researchers were intrigued by peculiar light-colored rocks that NASA's Perseverance rover discovered on the Martian surface. Upon closer inspection, the rocks turned out to be kaolinite, an aluminum-rich type of clay, the scientists reported in the study, which was published Dec. 1 in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
