For context:
A number of quartz-rich "white rocks" have been found by Percy since late 2024, and this may be the latest example.
Quartz is not uncommon on Mars - it's a component of the volcanic rock you'd expect to find almost anywhere on Mars - but it has been quite rare to find it in isolation on this planet, making up all or most of a rock. Some of the latest published research proposes that these white rocks were left behind after the hot water of a hydrothermal system flowed through this crater rim area, which is definitely plausible, given all the other water-altered minerals we've found in the region.
Of course, you're probably not going to read this preamble anyway, and the unscientific comments will begin to flow shortly. So let me just say here and now that Martian sandworms are disgusting creatures, leaving garbage like this behind. Shoot them on sight, Percy!
