Dr. Chris Paola Wins Sloss Award
The Sedimentary Division of the Geological Society of America (GSA) has named SAFL researcher Dr. Chris Paola (Professor of Earth Sciences and College of Science and Engineering Distinguished Professor) the 2014 recipient of the Laurence L. Sloss Award. The award, given annually to recognize the recipient’s lifetime achievements in sedimentary geology and service to GSA, was presented October 20 at the Sedimentary Geology/Limnology Awards Ceremony at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dr. Paola joined the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory in 1983 as a new professor in geology and geophysics at the University of Minnesota and the first SAFL faculty member outside of civil engineering. “I came to U of M in large part because of SAFL, says Dr. Paola, “my graduate advisor told me I’d be like a kid in a candy shop.”
When asked about the career that inspired the Sloss Award, Paola describes it as “a hell of a lot of fun. I’m very lucky to work with great people and have a really good time doing it.”
These collaborations also yielded a project of which Paola is particularly proud: the XES System, or Jurassic Tank as it is affectionately known at SAFL. The tank “was the first of its kind ever built, and it was invented in Minnesota. It was a new idea that a lot of people said was crazy,” says Paola, “A big group brainstormed the design, especially Jim Mullin and Chris Ellis. It’s been replicated around the world and it’s something at the lab that has made a big difference.”
The tank helps determine how sediments are deposited while tectonic subsidence occurs. “Rachel Carson wrote that ‘sediments are an epic poem of the earth.’ That’s a beautiful phrase, but we have to study the recording of sedimentary processes to read the poem,” says Paola. “The tank allows us to look at things like tectonics and sea level changes in action, to see how they’re recorded. Without that, it’s like trying to build a tape player without knowing how the tapes were made.”
As Paola reflects on his award, he says he is excited and humbled to receive it. “People do a lot of work to put you up, so you can’t help being thrilled and grateful.”