MrAlex Jones

I'm PhD researcher and student collaborator on the Mastcam-Z instrument on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, and member of the Mars 2020 science team. I'm interested in reconstructing the emplacement setting of rock units encountered by Perseverance at Jezero crater by using my field geologic experience from Earth and applying it to Mars. I spend time analysing image mosaics and taking measurements from 3D outcrop data collected by Mastcam-Z to construct structural-lithologic maps and cross sections through geologic units to constrain their paleoenvironmental setting.

Recently, I have been working to investigate the depositional setting of a section of pre-Jezero stratigraphy, dating to > 3.9 billion years. These rocks may provide insights into the surface processes dominant on the early Earth, since similar aged terrestrial strata have been almost completely destroyed by plate tectonics.

My research is funded by the Imperial College President's PhD Scholarship.