Book Review Panel: When Souls Had Wings: Pre-mortal Existence in Western Thought

On October 13, 2011, BYU Studies sponsored a program reviewing Terryl Givens’s important Oxford book on the idea of the premortal existence of souls in various lines of Western philosophy and religion. Because this first volume of its kind covers literature from so many different civilizations, the editors of BYU Studies saw no way to do this book justice without involving a panel of reviewers from several disciplines. After portions of Robert Fuller’s forthcoming review in Church History were read, the program proceeded with reviews, responses, and open discussion

Extraformational sediment recycling on Mars

Extraformational sediment recycling (old sedimentary rock to new sedimentary rock) is a fundamental aspect of Earth's geological record; tectonism exposes sedimentary rock, whereupon it is weathered and eroded to form new sediment that later becomes lithified. On Mars, tectonism has been minor, but two decades of orbiter instrument-based studies show that some sedimentary rocks previously buried to depths of kilometers have been exposed, by erosion, at the surface. Four locations in Gale crater, explored using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Curiosity rover, exhibit sedimentary lithoclasts in sedimentary rock: At Marias Pass, they are mudstone fragments in sandstone derived from strata below an erosional unconformity; at Bimbe, they are pebble-sized sandstone and, possibly, laminated, intraclast-bearing, chemical (calcium sulfate) sediment fragments in conglomerates; at Cooperstown, they are pebble-sized fragments of sandstone within coarse sandstone; at Dingo Gap, they are cobble-sized, stratified sandstone fragments in conglomerate derived from an immediately underlying sandstone. Mars orbiter images show lithified sediment fans at the termini of canyons that incise sedimentary rock in Gale crater; these, too, consist of recycled, extraformational sediment. The recycled sediments in Gale crater are compositionally immature, indicating the dominance of physical weathering processes during the second known cycle. The observations at Marias Pass indicate that sediment eroded and removed from craters such as Gale crater during the Martian Hesperian Period could have been recycled to form new rock elsewhere. Our results permit prediction that lithified deltaic sediments at the Perseverance (landing in 2021) and Rosalind Franklin (landing in 2023) rover field sites could contain extraformational recycled sediment.With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737

Self-knowledge in Socrates and St. Augustine : a consideration of Alcibiades I and Confessions book 1

In the Alcibiades I of Plato, Socrates argues for a conception of self-knowledge by using an analogy between the eye looking into a mirror and the soul seeing itself reflected in another soul. Socrates argues that: the self is the soul; is divine; resembles (homoion) God; self-knowledge requires knowledge of God. Both Plotinus and St. Augustine are familiar with the dialogue, though St. Augustine only indirectly, and modify Socrates' discussion of self-knowledge for their own philosophical purposes. The dissertation examines the notion that the soul is a mirror and image of the One or God and that self-knowledge requires following the traces of God written in the soul. The dissertation examines Plotinus' Ennead V (knowing God and the "homoiosis" doctrine) and St. Augustine's Confessions Book 1 and On the Trinity (the view of man as imago Dei) and the transformation of a concept of self-knowledge found originally in Alcibiades I.Philosoph

SURFACE EXPRESSION AND GEOMETRIES OF DELTAIC DEPOSITS OF JEZERO WESTERN FAN TOP (MARS)

International audienceBetween February-September 2023, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover explored the upper exposed surface of the western Jezero sedimentary fan. The rover’s exploration focused primarily on the so-called “curvilinear unit.” This unit was initially defined in orbiter images [1, 2] by the presence of repetitive, arcuate decameter-scale bedsets (Fig. 1). These morphologies were first interpreted to be fluvial in origin (likely meanders [2]). However, ground-based inspection from the rover’s perspective tends to show us that they more than likely originate from deltaic depositional processes, in line with other observations made by Perseverance on the fan front [e.g., 3; 4]

SURFACE EXPRESSION AND GEOMETRIES OF DELTAIC DEPOSITS OF JEZERO WESTERN FAN TOP (MARS)

International audienceBetween February-September 2023, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover explored the upper exposed surface of the western Jezero sedimentary fan. The rover’s exploration focused primarily on the so-called “curvilinear unit.” This unit was initially defined in orbiter images [1, 2] by the presence of repetitive, arcuate decameter-scale bedsets (Fig. 1). These morphologies were first interpreted to be fluvial in origin (likely meanders [2]). However, ground-based inspection from the rover’s perspective tends to show us that they more than likely originate from deltaic depositional processes, in line with other observations made by Perseverance on the fan front [e.g., 3; 4]

SURFACE EXPRESSION AND GEOMETRIES OF DELTAIC DEPOSITS OF JEZERO WESTERN FAN TOP (MARS)

International audienceBetween February-September 2023, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover explored the upper exposed surface of the western Jezero sedimentary fan. The rover’s exploration focused primarily on the so-called “curvilinear unit.” This unit was initially defined in orbiter images [1, 2] by the presence of repetitive, arcuate decameter-scale bedsets (Fig. 1). These morphologies were first interpreted to be fluvial in origin (likely meanders [2]). However, ground-based inspection from the rover’s perspective tends to show us that they more than likely originate from deltaic depositional processes, in line with other observations made by Perseverance on the fan front [e.g., 3; 4]

CONSTRAINTS ON JEZERO PALEOLAKE HISTORY FROM ITS FLUVIAL INPUT

International audienceThe western fan of Jezero crater displays features interpreted as fluvial and deltaic sedimentary rocks from orbital data [1,2]. Images obtained using the SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) and the Mastcam-Z camera provide in-situ observations of Jezero crater’s western fan in various locations along the Perseverance traverse. In the last two years, the rover analyzed the fan front before that it crossed the top of the fan. Here we summarize thefluvial and deltaic stratigraphy observed throughout the delta and discuss further the variability in the fluvial input and its implication on the history of Jezero lake

Mars2020 In Situ Investigation of Alteration at Jezero Crater

We report on a team effort to utilize the M2020 instrument suite to assess the mineralogy of the units we encounter at Jezero. Here, we focus on the possibility of testing orbital observations and hypotheses regarding the olivine-carbonate lithology

Fine-Scale Sedimentary Architecture of the Jezero Western Delta Front

International audienc