UA Names Geology Professor To Endowed Chair Position

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Paul R. Aharon, professor of geology, has been appointed to the Ray E. Loper Endowed Chair in Geological Sciences at The University of Alabama.

Aharon’s research interests include the chemical evolution of the atmosphere and oceans, including the oceans’ floors which he reaches from submersibles, or small submarines. His ocean studies focus on recent and ancient hydrocarbon seepage on the seabed. These seeps are areas on the ocean floors leaking significant volumes of crude oil or methane gas.

Typically, different organisms, including mussels, tube worms and the largest mat-making bacteria on earth thrive on these hydrocarbons. These bacteria mat together in a tangle.

The seeps include gas hydrates, which are frozen mixtures of gas and water. At the low temperatures and high pressures of the ocean depths, these frozen mixtures are stable. However, if future global warming leads to higher ocean temperatures, more methane could be released from the gas hydrates into the water and, consequently, to the atmosphere, where it could change the environment.

Through his research, Aharon hopes to learn how these seeps have affected the environment in the past, so scientists can better prepare for the future.

Aharon recently returned from a two-week dive in the Gulf of Mexico with the submersible ALVIN, best known for its use in the discovery of the Titanic. During this research, Aharon used ALVIN in dives to a depth of 7,000 feet.

A faculty member in the department of geology and geophysics at Louisiana State University from 1982 to 2000, Aharon has taught a broad spectrum of geology courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has directed doctoral dissertations, master theses, post-doctoral fellows and served on numerous dissertation committees.

He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in geology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a doctoral degree in Environmental Geochemistry from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. He has held appointments at the Australian National University; Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Max-Planck Institute in Germany, and elsewhere.

Aharon’s work has been recognized with numerous awards including the Max-Planck Society Fellowship in 1988 and 1992, Israel’s Lady Davis Award, and his appointment as a Fellow in the Geological Society of America. Results from his research have appeared in more than 100 publications.

Aharon has served on the editorial board of “Geology”,” a leading scientific journal, and he is currently associate editor of “Geo-Marine Letters,” another scholarly publication.

The Ray E. Loper endowed chair position was established in 1988 with gifts from the James Graham Brown Foundation Inc. of Louisville, Ky., as a way of honoring Loper’s work as a national leader in the forest products industry. Loper is a prominent executive in Alabama’s forest products industry and has homes in Tuscaloosa and Bay Minette.