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https://phys.org/news/2026-06-carbon-bright-angel-formation-mars.html

Organic carbon detected in Bright Angel rock formation on Mars
by Planetary Science Institute

edited by Stephanie Baum, reviewed by Robert Egan
Editors' notes
The GIST

The Perseverance rover on Mars inspects a rock dubbed Cheyava Falls with
the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for
Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument on its robotic arm. Credit:
NASA / JPL-Caltech
In September 2025, NASA announced that its Perseverance rover had
discovered a potential biosignature, which is a substance or structure
that might have a biological origin. A new paper, published in Science Advances, unambiguously confirms the detection of organic carbon, the
building blocks of life, in the same two rocks from the Bright Angel formation, and describes in more detail exactly what we can say about
that organic matter.

Ashley Murphy, a Planetary Science Institute postdoctoral researcher,
co-led the paper with the SHERLOC instrument's Deputy Principal
Investigator, Kyle Uckert. Using the Scanning Habitable Environments
with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument
on the robotic arm of the Perseverance rover, the team performed Raman spectroscopy on multiple rocks and collected a sample from one rock
dubbed Cheyava Falls in Jezero crater's Bright Angel formation. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive way to detect and map minerals and
organic compounds in rocks illuminated with laser light.

The team detected the presence of macromolecular carbon (MMC), which are
large tangled networks of carbon atoms commonly found in rocks on Earth
and meteorites. MMC can arise from biotic or abiotic sources.

Billions of years ago, a river channel carried water and sediment into
Jezero crater. Fine-grained sediment settled to the bottom before
eventually hardening into the mudstone rocks the team analyzed. MMC was detected in association with these fine-grained sediments as well as
carbonate and sulfate minerals that formed later during aqueous
alteration, suggesting possible timing of organic emplacement at two or
more events across geologic history.

"While the specific formation mechanism of the MMC detected in the
Bright Angel mudstones remains unknown, this is still one of the most
exciting findings to date," Murphy said.

Organic carbon near the surface
Analysis also determined that the MMC was preserved only microns beneath
the Martian surface, which is less than the thickness of a piece of
paper. This marks the shallowest detection of MMC on Mars. It is notable
to find complex organic molecules this close to the surface in a harsh environment like Mars where sunlight and other environmental factors are
known to destroy organics.

"The Martian surface environment includes radiation and chemical
oxidants that are destructive to organics, and terrestrial laboratory simulations have shown that the survival time of organics in
Martian-like conditionsrCoespecially at or near the surfacerCodepends on factors such as the type of organic molecule and the surrounding
minerals," Murphy said. "The MMC detected in the Bright Angel mudstones
is either resistant to degradation and/or has been sufficiently shielded
by other minerals, such as clays, or iron-rich Martian soil."

Hints of wider ancient organics
Moreover, the sample was collected more than 2,000 miles away from
organic detections by NASA's Curiosity rover in Gale crater.

"It is encouraging for Martian habitability," Murphy said. "This
indicates that billions of years ago, organics may have been more than
just locally present and may have been more widely available in ancient
lakes and rivers on Mars."

Earth labs will decide
Neither Curiosity rover in Gale crater nor Perseverance rover in Jezero
crater have the large and power-consuming equipment necessary to
determine if Bright Angel contains fossilized microbial life.
Perseverance was built with the goal of detecting potential
biosignatures such as those found in the Cheyava Falls rock, making this
a "resounding win for Mars science," Murphy said. However, more powerful
tools in laboratories on Earth are needed to confirm if life or geology
is behind this discovery.

If one day the team gets their hands on samples returned from this
location on Mars, they hope to conduct mineral and organic analysis at
higher resolution and with higher sensitivity instruments to better
understand the origin of the MMC and what it can tell us about organics
on Mars.

Murphy continues to work with the SHERLOC science team to explore the
surface of Mars and use Mars analog and Raman spectroscopic studies to
improve the interpretation of rover-derived data.

Publication details
Ashley E. Murphy et al, Spatially distributed complex organic matter
detected in an ancient river valley in Jezero crater, Mars, Science
Advances (2026). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adx0047

Journal information: Science Advances

Key concepts
diagenesismeteoritesdiagenesismineralogy
Provided by Planetary Science Institute

Who's behind this story?
Stephanie Baum
Master's in TESOL from The New School. Passionate about language
learning and editing science news on biology and space exploration. Full profile raA

Robert Egan
Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full
profile raA

Explore further

Mars rover detects never-before-seen organic compounds in new experiment

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"a425couple" wrote in message news:XR9%R.263$3sA7.229@fx20.iad...

from
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-carbon-bright-angel-formation-mars.html

Organic carbon detected in Bright Angel rock formation on Mars
by Planetary Science Institute...

---------------------------

"Organic" as used here is misleading, a remnant of the old disproven belief that only life could create carbon chemistry. It now refers to carbon compounds in general regardless of their source. For example acetylene is considered organic although it's made from rocks and water. https://byjus.com/chemistry/acetylene-formula-questions/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_W%C3%B6hler
"His synthesis of the organic compound urea in the laboratory from inorganic substances contradicted the belief that organic compounds could only be produced by living organisms due to a "life force" known as vitalism."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonaceous_chondrite
"The presence of volatile organic chemicals and water indicates that they
have not undergone significant heating (>200 -#C) since they were formed, and their compositions are considered to be close to that of the solar nebula
from which the Solar System condensed."

Chemistry evolved from mysticism and misconception into a science in the
first half of the 1800's, but some of the old ideas and names have persisted in popular culture.

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"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message news:111jnik$3uk8k$1@dont-email.me...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonaceous_chondrite

"Shortly after its fall and recovery in Australia in 1969, the Murchison meteorite was found to host five protein amino acids (glycine, alanine, valine, proline, and glutamic acid) in addition to 12 non-proteinogenic
amino acids including +#-aminoisobutyric acid and isovaline, which are rare
on Earth.[27] Since then, the number of characterised amino acids in the Murchison meteorite has risen to 96, including 12 of the 20 common
biological amino acids, along with hundreds more that have been detected,
but remain uncharacterised."

"Amino acids may be structurally chiral, meaning that they have two possible non-superimposable mirror image structures, termed enantiomers. Conventionally, these are referred to as left-handed (L) and right-handed
(D) by analogy with glyceraldehyde. Living beings use L-amino acids,
although there is no apparent reason why one enantiomer is favoured over the other as they behave equivalently in biological systems. In contrast with terrestrial biology, early laboratory studies, including the famous Miller-Urey Experiment, have shown that amino acids may form under a range
of possible abiotic conditions with equal (racemic) mixtures of D- and L-enantiomers. Thus, the ratios between enantiomers for a given amino acid
may discriminate between biotic and abiotic formation mechanisms. In the
first characterisation of amino acids in Murchison, all chiral examples were present in racemic mixtures indicating an abiotic origin."

This means that these organic amino acids (protein building blocks) have a signature indicating they were not created all identically under the
guidance of biology, instead by random processes, with an equal chance of being assembled in either of two possible configurations, like a mix of
right and left hand threaded screws.

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"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message news:111kra9$8ao4$1@dont-email.me...

"Amino acids may be structurally chiral, meaning that they have two possible non-superimposable mirror image structures, termed enantiomers.
Conventionally, these are referred to as left-handed (L) and right-handed
(D) by analogy with glyceraldehyde. Living beings use L-amino acids, "

---------------------------------------
This explains and illustrates right and left handed molecules further. https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Organic_Chemistry/Supplemental_Modules_(Organic_Chemistry)/Chirality/Fundamentals_of_Chirality

The handed molecules shown are amino acids, NH2 is the amino part, COOH the acid, R varies between types.

The measurement is optical, requiring a polarized light source, and
different from the spectral absorption line observation that identifies molecules in space by their "color" in infrared light from a more distant source, but doesn't indicate biological origin as handedness does.

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On 6/25/26 13:13, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"a425couple"-a wrote in message news:XR9%R.263$3sA7.229@fx20.iad...

from
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-carbon-bright-angel-formation-mars.html

Organic carbon detected in Bright Angel rock formation on Mars
by Planetary Science Institute...

---------------------------

"Organic" as used here is misleading,

Thank you.

a remnant of the old disproven
belief that only life could create carbon chemistry. It now refers to
carbon compounds in general regardless of their source. For example acetylene is considered organic although it's made from rocks and water. https://byjus.com/chemistry/acetylene-formula-questions/

Thank you. I thought they were really saying something.

DUH! Carbon is right there on the 2nd row of the
Periodic Table, as #6.

Chemistry evolved from mysticism and misconception into a science in the first half of the 1800's, but some of the old ideas and names have
persisted in popular culture.

Thank you for the additional posts as well.

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Le 2026-06-25 |a 09:15, a425couple a |-crit-a:

from
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-carbon-bright-angel-formation-mars.html

Organic carbon detected in Bright Angel rock formation on Mars
by Planetary Science Institute

edited by Stephanie Baum, reviewed by Robert Egan
-aEditors' notes
-aThe GIST

The Perseverance rover on Mars inspects a rock dubbed Cheyava Falls with
the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for
Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument on its robotic arm. Credit:
NASA / JPL-Caltech
In September 2025, NASA announced that its Perseverance rover had
discovered a potential biosignature, which is a substance or structure
that might have a biological origin. A new paper, published in Science Advances, unambiguously confirms the detection of organic carbon, the building blocks of life, in the same two rocks from the Bright Angel formation, and describes in more detail exactly what we can say about
that organic matter.

Ashley Murphy, a Planetary Science Institute postdoctoral researcher,
co-led the paper with the SHERLOC instrument's Deputy Principal Investigator, Kyle Uckert. Using the Scanning Habitable Environments
with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument
on the robotic arm of the Perseverance rover, the team performed Raman spectroscopy on multiple rocks and collected a sample from one rock
dubbed Cheyava Falls in Jezero crater's Bright Angel formation. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive way to detect and map minerals and
organic compounds in rocks illuminated with laser light.

The team detected the presence of macromolecular carbon (MMC), which are large tangled networks of carbon atoms commonly found in rocks on Earth
and meteorites. MMC can arise from biotic or abiotic sources.

Billions of years ago, a river channel carried water and sediment into Jezero crater. Fine-grained sediment settled to the bottom before
eventually hardening into the mudstone rocks the team analyzed. MMC was detected in association with these fine-grained sediments as well as carbonate and sulfate minerals that formed later during aqueous
alteration, suggesting possible timing of organic emplacement at two or
more events across geologic history.

"While the specific formation mechanism of the MMC detected in the
Bright Angel mudstones remains unknown, this is still one of the most exciting findings to date," Murphy said.

Organic carbon near the surface
Analysis also determined that the MMC was preserved only microns beneath
the Martian surface, which is less than the thickness of a piece of
paper. This marks the shallowest detection of MMC on Mars. It is notable
to find complex organic molecules this close to the surface in a harsh environment like Mars where sunlight and other environmental factors are known to destroy organics.

"The Martian surface environment includes radiation and chemical
oxidants that are destructive to organics, and terrestrial laboratory simulations have shown that the survival time of organics in Martian-
like conditionsrCoespecially at or near the surfacerCodepends on factors such as the type of organic molecule and the surrounding minerals,"
Murphy said. "The MMC detected in the Bright Angel mudstones is either resistant to degradation and/or has been sufficiently shielded by other minerals, such as clays, or iron-rich Martian soil."

Hints of wider ancient organics
Moreover, the sample was collected more than 2,000 miles away from
organic detections by NASA's Curiosity rover in Gale crater.

"It is encouraging for Martian habitability," Murphy said. "This
indicates that billions of years ago, organics may have been more than
just locally present and may have been more widely available in ancient lakes and rivers on Mars."

Earth labs will decide
Neither Curiosity rover in Gale crater nor Perseverance rover in Jezero crater have the large and power-consuming equipment necessary to
determine if Bright Angel contains fossilized microbial life.
Perseverance was built with the goal of detecting potential
biosignatures such as those found in the Cheyava Falls rock, making this
a "resounding win for Mars science," Murphy said. However, more powerful tools in laboratories on Earth are needed to confirm if life or geology
is behind this discovery.

If one day the team gets their hands on samples returned from this
location on Mars, they hope to conduct mineral and organic analysis at higher resolution and with higher sensitivity instruments to better understand the origin of the MMC and what it can tell us about organics
on Mars.

Murphy continues to work with the SHERLOC science team to explore the surface of Mars and use Mars analog and Raman spectroscopic studies to improve the interpretation of rover-derived data.

Publication details
Ashley E. Murphy et al, Spatially distributed complex organic matter detected in an ancient river valley in Jezero crater, Mars, Science
Advances (2026). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adx0047

Journal information: Science Advances

Key concepts
diagenesismeteoritesdiagenesismineralogy
Provided by Planetary Science Institute

Who's behind this story?
Stephanie Baum
Master's in TESOL from The New School. Passionate about language
learning and editing science news on biology and space exploration. Full profile raA

Robert Egan
Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well- traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full profile raA

Explore further

Mars rover detects never-before-seen organic compounds in new experiment

Given that organic chemistry is specifically the chemistry of carbon,
pretty much any carbon based molecule IS organic carbon. We have found
organic carbon all over the universe. Around stars, between stars, even between galaxies.
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"a425couple" wrote in message news:zkE%R.153$yT9.39@fx42.iad...

Thank you. I thought they were really saying something.

They may have thought so too.

https://iop.harvard.edu/news/warning-journalists-youre-more-ignorant-you-realize

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"Kualinar" wrote in message news:111p2jp$34dgq$1@dont-email.me...

"MMC can arise from biotic or abiotic sources."

Given that organic chemistry is specifically the chemistry of carbon,
pretty much any carbon based molecule IS organic carbon. We have found
organic carbon all over the universe. Around stars, between stars, even between galaxies.

--------------------------------

The key phrase was present for the few who understood it.

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This is how we search for intelligent life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_for_extraterrestrial_intelligence

The Waterfall display from an inexpensive Software Defined Radio (SDR)
module is a fine hobbyist tool for identifying and characterizing
intelligent content within a wide frequency band of radio signals. The downward moving blue area below the spectrum shows its history. For an FM radio station the frequency and duration of every musical note is visible.

https://www.sdr-radio.com/3d-waterfall

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