According to new research published in the journal Nature, lava flows possibly originating from the Jezero Mons on Mars could have shaped the geology of the Jezero crater’s floor. According to the findings, the analysis of NASA's Perseverance rover samples could also reveal clues about ancient Mars when it was still geologically active.

The study was led by Sara C. Cuevas-Quiñones, a Ph.D. Planetary Science student from Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) and Brown University. The research team also included EAS Professor James Wray and EAS Assistant Professor Frances Rivera-Hernández. 

As Cuevas-Quiñones and her colleagues note in their paper, the detection of clay and carbonate minerals on Jezero crater's floor supports the conclusion that the sedimentary deposits on the crater's western edge are the result of aqueous activity that took place roughly 3.8 to 3.5 billion years ago. In addition, satellite observations have revealed a set of non-sedimentary geologic materials that cover most of the Jezero crater's floor.

Other planets, dwarf planets and moons in our solar system have seasonal cycles — and they can look wildly different from the ones we experience on Earth, experts told Live Science.

To understand how other planets have seasons, we can look at what drives seasonal changes on our planet. "The Earth has its four seasons because of the spin axis tilt," Gongjie Li, associate professor in the School of Physics, told Live Science. This means that our planet rotates at a slight angle of around 23.5 degrees.

"On Earth, we're very lucky, this spin axis is quite stable," Li said. Due to this, we've had relatively stable seasonal cycles that have persisted for millennia, although the broader climate sometimes shifts as the entire orbit of Earth drifts further or closer from the sun.

Such stability has likely helped life as we know it develop here, Li said. Scientists like her are now studying planetary conditions and seasonal changes on exoplanets to see whether life could exist in faroff worlds. For now, it seems as though the mild seasonal changes and stable spin tilts on Earth are unique.

Tens of thousands of people in the Southeast were jolted by a magnitude 4.1 earthquake on Saturday, May 10. Seismologist and professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Zhigang Peng joined FOX Weather to talk about why so many people in the East reported feeling the earthquake and just how common they are in the region.

A similar story also appeared at 11 Alive News.