It's an unexpected discovery - while minerals containing sulfur have been observed on the Red Planet, elemental sulfur on its own has never been seen there before.
Curiosity cracked open the rock on May 30 while driving in a region known as the Gediz Vallis channel, where similar rocks were seen all around.
"It forms in only a narrow range of conditions that scientists haven't associated with the history of this location," according to NASA.
"Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert," said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist.
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