Thomas C. Johnson
119 Bridge Street
Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts 01370
Email: ph: 218-341-4599
Professional Employment
2016 – present, Adjunct Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2015 – present, Regents Professor Emeritus, Large Lakes Observatory (LLO), University of Minnesota Duluth
2009 – 2015, Regents Professor of Geological Sciences, LLO, University of Minnesota Duluth
1994 - 2009, Professor of Geological Sciences, LLO, UMD
2005-2006 – sabbatical leave at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (Fall Semester 2005), Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University (Lent Term 2006), Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia, Perth (May – July 2006)
1994 – 2004 Founding Director, Large Lakes Observatory, University Minnesota Duluth
1993-94, Fulbright Senior Scholar in France, CNRS-Luminy
1983-94, Associate Professor and Professor of Geology, and Director of Duke/UNC Oceanographic Consortium, Duke University Marine Lab, Beaufort, NC
1981-83, Associate Professor and Director of Limnology, University Minnesota Duluth
1975-81, Assistant and Associate Professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
1968-71, Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
1967-68 and 1971-74, Research Assistant, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
Education
1975, Ph.D., Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
1967, B.S., Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle
Research Interests
Paleoclimate records from large lakes, based on geochemical signals in sediment cores. Sedimentary processes and patterns of sedimentation in large lakes, including Lake Superior, the large lakes of the East African Rift Valley, and Issyk Kul (Central Asia).
Honors and Awards
2014 – present, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
2011 - present, Fellow of the American Geophysical Union
2010 – 2015, Resident Fellow, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota
2009 - present, Regents Professor, University of Minnesota
2006, Gledden Visiting Fellowship, University of Western Australia, Perth
2006, Overseas Visiting Scholar, St. John’s College, Cambridge University, UK
2003, Awarded the W. H. Bradley Medal by the International Association of Limnogeologists for excellence in research and service in limnogeology.
2001, The Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Research, University of Minnesota Duluth
1996 – present Fellow of the Geological Society of America
1993-1994, Fulbright Senior Scholar in France
1987-1992, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Research Fellow
1981, George C. Taylor Award for Outstanding Research. Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota
Membership in Professional Societies
Geological Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union
Scientific Community Service
2015- Graduate Student Research Grants Committee, Geological Society of America (Chair, 2016)
2010-2013 Council Delegate for Section E, Geology and Geography, American Association for the Advancement of Science
2007-2008 Member, National Research Council Committee on "The Earth System Context for Hominin Evolution"
2006-2014 Member, Board of Directors, International Association of Limnogeologists
2005-2011 Member, Board of Directors, Deep Observation and Sampling of Earth's Continental Crust, Inc. (DOSECC)
2004-2006 Chair, Limnogeology Division, Geological Society of America (Co-founder of Division in 2002 and served as Vice Chair until 2004)
2002-2003 Member of National Research Council Committee on “Implementation of a Seafloor Observatory Network for Oceanographic Research”
2002 Convener of NSF-funded workshop on “The Science of Freshwater Inland Seas”, Edited the resulting “SOFIS Report”
2000–2004 Member of the Great Lakes Research Managers Council, International Joint Commission
2000-present Associate Editor, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
1997-2000 Member of the Lake Drilling Task Force, International Continental Drilling Program
1993-2003 Member of the Steering Committee of the International Decade for East African Lakes (IDEAL). (Co-founder and Chair of Committee 1993-1999).
1993-1996 Editorial Board for Geology
1990 Co-convener of Penrose Conference on Large Lake Systems and their Stratigraphic Record
1988-1992 Vice Chairman, University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS)
Recent Graduate Students
Ph.D. graduates Year Degree Current Position
James Russell 2004 Assoc. Prof. Brown University
Chad Wittkop 2004 Assoc. Prof. MN State Univ. Mankato
Lindsay Powers 2005 Senior Scientist, US Geological Survey, Denver
Andy Breckenridge 2005 Assoc. Prof. Univ. Wisconsin Superior
Amy Myrbo 2006 Curator, LacCore, Univ. Minnesota
Isla Castaneda 2007 Asst. Prof., University of Massachusetts
Geoffrey Chavula 2008 Lecturer, Malawi Polytechnical University
Melissa Berke 2011 Asst. Prof, University of Notre Dame
M.S. graduates
Jon Van Alstine 2006 U.S. Forest Service, Duluth, MN
Junmin Shi 2008 not known
Kelly Wendt 2010 Farmer, central MN
Benjamin Chorn 2012 Field geologist, oil exploration, Montanta
Jillian Votava 2014 Environmental consultant, Madison, WI
Publications since 2010
(Author names in bold and italics were student or post-doc advisees when publication prepared)
117. Johnson, T. C. and Scholz, C. A., 2010. Coping with Lake Kivu, East Africa. EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, v. 91, p. 264.
118. Scholz, C. A., Cohen, A. S., Johnson, T. C., King, J. A., Talbot, M. R. and Brown, E. T., 2011. Scientific drilling in the Great Rift Valley: The 2005 Lake Malawi Scientific Drilling Project — An overview of the past 145,000 years of climate variability in Southern Hemisphere East Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeocecology, v. 303, p. 3 - 19.
119. Castaneda, I. S., Werne, J. P., Johnson, T. C. and Powers, L. A., 2011. Organic geochemical records from Lake Malawi (East Africa) of the last 700 years, part II: Biomarker evidence for recent changes in primary productivity. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeocecology, v. 303, p. 140 - 154.
120. Johnson, Thomas C., Brown, E. T., Shi, J., 2011. Biogenic silica deposition in Lake Malawi, East Africa, over the past 150,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeocecology, v. 303, p. 103-109.
121. Powers, L. P., Werne, J., Castaneda, I., Johnson, T. C., Hopmans, E., Sinninghe Damste, S., and Schouten, S., 2011. Organic geochemical records of environmental variiability in Lake Malawi (East Africa) during the last 700 years, Paart I: the TEX86 temperature record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeocecology, v. 303, p. 133 - 139.
122. Woltering, M., Johnson, T. C., Werne, J. P., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damste, 2011. Late Pleistocene temperature history of southeast Africa: A TEX86 temperature record from Lake Malawi. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeocecology, v. 303, p. 93 - 102.
123. Konecky, B., Russell, J. M., Johnson, T. C., Brown, E. T. Burke, M. A., Werne, J. P., Huang, Y., 2011. Atmospheric circulation patterns during late Pleistocene climate changes at Lake Malawi, Africa. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 312, p. 318-326.
124. Clark, P.U., Shakun, J.D., Baker, P.A., Bartlein, P.J., Brewer, S., Brook, E.J., Carlson, A.E., Cheng, H., Kaufman, D.S., Liu, Z., Marchitto, T.M., Mix, A.C., Morrill, C., Otto-Bliesner, B., Pahnke, K., Russell, J.M., Whitlock, C., Adkins, J.F., Blois, J.L., Clark, J., Colman, S.M., Curry, W.B., Flower, B.P., He, F., Johnson, T.C., Lynch- Stieglitz, J., Markgraf, V., McManus, J.F., Mitrovica, J.X., Moreno, P.I., Williams, J.W., 2012. Global climate evolution during the last deglaciation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v. 109, p. E1134-E1142.
125. Johnson, T. C., 2012. Holocene Environments in Africa. In: Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd Edition. In press.
126. Johnson, T. C., Van Alstine, J. D., Rolfhus, K. R., Colman, S. M. and Wattrus, N. J., 2012. A high resolution study of spatial and temporal variability of natural and anthropogenic compounds in offshore Lake Superior sediments. Journal of Great Lakes Research, v.38, p. 673-685.
127. Kadereit, A., DeWitt, R., and Johnson, T. C., 2011. Luminescence properties and optically (post-IR blue light) stimulated luminescence dating of limnic sediments from northern Lake Malawi - chances and limitations. Quaternary Geochronology, V. 10, p. 160-166.
128. Berke, M. A., Johnson, T. C., Werne, J. P., Schouten, S., and Sinninghe Damste, J. S., 2012, A mid-Holocene thermal maximum at the end of the African Humid Period, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v.351-352, p. 95-104.
129. Berke, M. A., Johnson, T. C., Werne, J. P., Grice, K., Schouten, S., and Sinninghe Damste, J. S., 2012, Molecular records of climate variability and vegetation response since the Late Pleistocene in the Lake Victoria basin, East Africa, Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 55, p. 59-74.
130. Russell, J. M., Cohen, A. S., Johnson, T. C., and Scholz, C. A., 2012, A strategic plan for scientific drilling in the East African rift lakes, PAGES News, v. 20, p. 96.
131. Lane, C. S., Chorn, B. T. and Johnson, T. C., 2013. Ash from the Toba super eruption in Lake Malawi shows no volcanic winter at 75 ka, Proc. National Academy of Sciences, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1301474110.
132. Slate, J. E., Johnson, T. C., Moore, T. C., 2013. Potential impact of pre-Columbian agriculture, climate change, and tectonic activity inferred from a 5700-year paleolimnological record from Lake Nicaragua. Journal of Paleolimnology, v. 50, p. 139-149.
133. Berke, M. A., Johnson, T. C., Werne, J. P., Livingstone, D. A., Grice, C., Shouten, S., Sinninghe Damste, J. S., 2014. Characterization of the last deglacial transition in tropical East Africa: Insights from Lake Albert. Palaeo-3, v. 409, p. 1-8.
134. Johnson, T. C. and Lane, C. S., 2014. Comment on "The Latest on Volcanic Eruptions and Climate", EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, Vol. 95, No. 39.
135. O'Beirne, M. D., Strzok, L. J., Werne, J. P., Johnson, T. C., and Hecky, R. E., 2015. Anthropogenic influences on the sedimentary geochemical record in western Lake Superior (1800 - present). Journal of Great Lakes Research, v. 41, p. 20-29.
136. Lyons, R. P., Scholz, C. A., Cohen, A. S., King, J. W., Brown, E. T., Ivory, S. J., Johnson, T. C., Deino, A. L., Reinthal, P. N., McGlue, M. M. and Blome, M. W., 2015. A Continuous 1.3-million-year record of East African hydroclimate, and implications for patterns of evolution and biodiversity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v. 112, p. 15568 – 15573.
137. Johnson, T. C., Werne, J. P., Brown, E. T., Abbott, A., Berke, M., Steinman, B. A., Halbur, J., Contreras, S., Grossheusch, S., Deino, A., Lyons, R. P., Scholz, C. A., Schouten, S., and Sinninghe Damste, J. S., 2016. A progressively wetter climate in southern East Africa over the past 1.3 million years. Nature, v. 537, p. 220-224.
138. Votava, J., Johnson, T. C. and Hecky, R. E., 2017. Holocene carbonate record of Lake Kivu reflects the history of hydrothermal activity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v.114, p. 251-256.