Neretva Vallis is an ancient ~400-meter-wide river valley that fed jezero-crater on Mars. Perseverance has explored it since 2024, returning two of the most consequential astrobiology results to date:
- Cheyava Falls (2025): organic carbon, reduced sulfur, and “leopard-spot” iron-phosphate minerals consistent with potential biosignatures (see src-mars-perseverance-biosignature-2025).
- Bright Angel formation nickel-rich iron sulfides (2026): peak ~1.1 wt% nickel across 32 targets, the highest Martian bedrock nickel ever measured, co-located with reduced sulfur and organic carbon — a chemistry suite supporting catalytic prebiotic-chemistry (see src-perseverance-neretva-nickel-rocks-2026-04).
The Sapphire Canyon core, prioritized for mars-sample-return, was collected here. Together these results make Neretva Vallis the most chemically informative Martian terrain explored to date.