Memorial to Noye Munroe Johnson1930-1987

ROBERT C. R EY N O LD S, JR.Department o f Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Noye Munroe Johnson, professor of earth sciences at Dart­mouth College for 26 years, died on December 28,1987, at the age of 57, after a nine-month illness. He is survived by his wife o f 34 years, Dolores, and daughters Deborah and Anne.

Noye received his bachelor’s degree in geology at the University of Kansas in 1953. He entered the U.S. Navy that same year and served as a patrol-bomber pilot in Asia during the K orean war. A fte r leav ing the serv ice, he obtained a m aster’s degree from the University of Kansas and then enrolled as a Ph.D. candidate at the University of W isconsin, receiving his Ph.D. in geology in 1961. His Ph.D. thesis, entitled “Therm olum inescence in contact m etam orphosed rock,” w as directed by the well-known physical chemist Farrington Daniels. This subject, and his association with Professor Daniels, hinted at the style that would characterize his career, namely, the versatility that made possible international recognition in three different earth sciences sub­disciplines— thermoluminescence, aqueous geochemistry-limnology, and paleomagnetism-fis- sion-track dating.

Noye joined the geology department at Dartmouth College in 1961 and was promoted to professor in 1971. He quickly established a research agenda and impressed all as a valued col­league w ho could be depended upon to contribute whatever was necessary to prom ote the smooth operation of the department. During his career, he taught undergraduate courses in mete­orology, oceanography, geomorphology, hydrology, mineralogy, geophysics, field geology, and sedimentary petrology. In fact, he probably taught, at one time or another, at least part o f every undergraduate course in the Dartmouth geology curriculum except for paleontology, and he probably would have done that, too, if needed.

He concentrated on thermoluminescence as an index of radiation dosimetry in his early years at Dartmouth. But during that period he met ecologists G. E. Likens and F. H. Bormann and soil scientist R. S. Pierce, and that association was crucial to the landmark study of the Hub­bard Brook forested ecosystem at a time (1962) when ecology was an arcane term used only by specialists. The formation of this team, which included geochem ist-clay mineralogist R. C. Reynolds, began Noye’s long involvement in aqueous geochemistry which produced the codis­covery and quantification of acid rain, and its possible effects on soils and vegetation. His researches at Hubbard Brook continued over most of his career and led to many publications with Likens, Bormann, and Pierce, among others, on weathering rates, element recycling, and chemical hydrology. His work there is typified by the study of the geochemistry of Falls Brook, New Hampshire, an involvement that is surely unique by virtue of the patiently acquired long­term, high-quality, and extensive data base. He sampled a water profile along the 1200-foot ver­tical drop of the brook every month for three years, and anyone who knows the winters in north­ern New Hampshire w ill understand what that entailed. He truly loved Falls Brook— idyllic, sylvan, and typically northern New England.

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Hubbard Brook was always a prime interest, and he never lost contact with the research there or the people involved in it. But his interest in aqueous geochemistry led to his participa­tion in a multidisciplinary study of Lake Powell with Reynolds and oceanographer-geophysicistC. L. Drake, and he published on its oxygen budget and circulation with D. Merritt. At the same time, he collaborated with Reynolds and glaciologist-meteorologist W. J. Campbell on quantita­tive studies of alpine weathering in the Cascade Mountains, and found time to write papers with Likens on heat transfer and thermal budgets of small diamictic lakes.

In the 1970s, he became interested in the possibility of extending the paleomagnetic time scale to the Shivalik sediments of Pakistan. This work was to provide vital information on uplift, erosion, and sedimentation rates for that region during the late Cenozoic. The research, in col­laboration with stratigrapher-sedimentologist G. D. Johnson of Dartmouth College and R.A.K. Tahirkheli of the University of Peshawar, became a major activity, and led to numerous publica­tions with many Dartmouth undergraduate and graduate students whose participation was made possible by a well-organized and ongoing project organized by Noye and G. D. Johnson, and supported by the Pakistani Geologic Survey, The U.S. State Department, and the National Sci­ence Foundation.

The problem of calibrating the paleomagnetic time scale in Pakistan was solved by fission- track dating of zircons from bentonites, and for this, his collaboration with C. W. Naeser was the key. Always one to interest scientists from other disciplines in his work, his collaboration with statistician V. E. McGee produced fundamental rethinking of the statistics of errors in fission- track geochronology and paleomagnetism.

N. D. Opdyke, a colleague in the field of paleomagnetism, contributed to the Pakistan proj­ects, as did vertebrate paleontologists B. J. MacFadden and E. H. Lindsay, who used the chronostratigraphy provided by magnetic stratigraphy-fission-track dating to trace vertebrate evolution. This alliance of friends goes back to paleomagnetism research in the early 1970s in Arizona and California.

In his last years, his paleomagnetic studies were shifted to the Andes mountain system. That work profited from his collaboration with physical stratigrapher Teresa E. Jordan, and much of its possible fruition was cut short by his death.

A review of Noye’s papers discloses not only the variety of subjects in which he produced signal contributions, but the remarkable range in subdisciplines of his collaborators. His success as a teacher is marked by the many papers written with undergraduate and graduate students. The quality of his science is demonstrated by the impressive continuity of his funding. He was supported by grants for all of his 27 professional years, mostly from the National Science Foundation.

Noye was a kind, gentle, and thoughtful man—quiet, calm, and even—and patient with his students and associates. Yet somehow he was able to reconcile these traits with strict adherence to and insistence on the highest standards of behavior and of academic and scientific excellence. His family, his friends, and the institutions in his life commanded his utmost loyalty. He appre­ciated and constantly reminded himself and others of the good things about Dartmouth and the earth science department of which he was proud to be a member, and he was critical only in the most constructive ways and only when that criticism was necessary. He treated his students with the same respect. He retained only the best feelings about the United States Navy, and once told me that he derived more pride from his pilot wings than from his master’s degree.

Always strong, athletic, and fit, but never a fitness freak, uncomplaining and optimistic, and with a good and sophisticated sense of humor, Noye Johnson was an ideal field companion and an exemplary role model to his students.

MEMORIAL TO NOYE MUNROE JOHNSON 89

SELECTED BIBLIO G R A PH Y OF N. M . JO H N SO N1960 Thermoluminescence in biogenic calcium carbonate: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology,

v. 30, p. 305-313.1961 (and Daniels, F.) Luminescence during annealing and phase change in crystals: Journal of

Chemical Physics, v. 34, p. 1434-1439.1963 Thermoluminescence in contact metamorphosed limestone: Journal of Geology, v. 71,

p. 596-616.1965 An empirical isothermal decay law for the thermoluminescence of calcite: Journal of

Geophysical Research, v. 70, p. 4653-4662.1966 Geothermometry from the thermoluminescence of contact-metamorphosed limestone:

Journal of Geology, v. 74, p. 607-619.------(and Likens, G. E„ Bormann, F. H., and Pierce, R. S.) Bulk chemical changes and rate of

chemical weathering in central New Hampshire: American Geophysical Union Transac­tions, v. 47, p. 83-84.

1967 (and Likens. G. E.) Steady-state thermal gradient in the sediments of a meromictic lake: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 72, p. 3049-3052.

------(and Blanchard, R. L.) Radiation dosimetry from the natural thermoluminescence of fossilshells: American Mineralogist, v. 52, p. 1297-1310.

1968 (and Likens, G. E., Bormann, F. H., and Pierce, R. S.) Rate of chemical weathering of sili­cate minerals in New Hampshire: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 32, p. 531-545.

1969 (with Bothner, M. H.) Natural thermoluminescent dosimetry in late Pleistocene pelagic sediments: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 74, p. 5331-5338.

------(and Likens, G. E., Bormann, F. H., Fisher, D. E., and Pierce, R. S.) A working model forthe variation in stream water chemistry at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire: Water Resources Research, v. 5, p. 1353-1363.

1971 Mineral equilibria in ecosystem geochemistry: Ecology, v. 52, p. 529-531.1972 (with Likens, G. E., and Bormann, F. H.) Acid rain: Environment, v. 14, p. 33-40.------(with Reynolds, R. C., Jr.) Chemical weathering in the temperate glacial environment of

the Northern Cascade Mountains: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 36, p. 537-554.1975 (and Opdyke, N.D., and Lindsay, E. H.) Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of Pliocene-Pleis-

tocene terrestrial deposits and vertebrate faunas, San Pedro Valley, Arizona: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 86, p. 5-12.

1977 (with Likens, G. E., Bormann, F. H., Pierce, R. S., and Eaton, J.S.) Biogeochemistry of a forested ecosystem: New York, Springer-Verlag.

------(with Butler, R. F., Lindsay, E. H., and Jacobs, L. L.) Magnetostratigraphy of the Creta-ceous-Tertiary boundary in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico: Nature, v. 267, p. 318-323.

1979 (and Merritt, D. H.) Convective and advective circulation of Lake Powell, Utah-Arizona, during 1972-1975: Water Resources Research, v. 15, p. 873-884.

------Acid rain: Neutralization within the Hubbard Brook ecosystem and regional implications:Science, v. 204, p. 497-499.

------(with McGee, V. E.) Statistical treatment of experimental errors in the fission track datingmethod: International Association for Mathematical Geology Journal, v. 11, p. 255-268.

------(with Neville, C , Opdyke, N. D., and Lindsay, E. H.) Magnetic stratigraphy of Pliocenedeposits of the Glenns Ferry Formation, Idaho, and its implications for North American mammalian biostratigraphy: American Journal of Science, v. 279, p. 503-526.

1980 (with Lindsay, E. H., and Opdyke, N. D.) Pliocene dispersal of the horse Equus and late Cenozoic mammalian dispersal events: Nature, v. 287, p. 135-138.

------(with MacFadden, B. J., and Opdyke, N. D.) Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the Mio-

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Pliocene mammal-bearing Big Sandy Formation of western Arizona: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 44, p. 349-364.

1981 (and Driscoll, C. T., Eaton, J. S., Likens, G. E., and McDowell, W. H.) “Acid rain,” dis­solved aluminum and chemical weathering at the Hubbard Brook experimental forest, New Hampshire: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acts, v. 45, p. 1421-1437.

------ (with Lindsay, E. H., and Butler, R. F.) Magnetic polarity zonation and biostratigraphy ofLate Cretaceous and Paleocene continental deposits, San Juan Basin, New Mexico: Amer­ican Journal of Science, v. 281, p. 390-435.

1982 (with Zeitler, P. K., Naeser, C. W., and Tahirkheli, R.A.K.) Fission-track evidence for Quaternary uplift of the Nanga Parbat region, Pakistan: Nature, v. 298, p. 255-257.

1983 (with MacFadden, B. J., Siles, 0 ., Zeitler, P., and Campbell, K. E., Jr.) Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the middle Pleistocene (Ensenadan) Tarija Formation of southern Bolivia: Quaternary Research, v. 19, p. 172-187.

------ (and McGee, V. E.) Magnetic polarity stratigraphy; stochastic properties of data, samplingproblems, and the evaluation of interpretations: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 88, p. 1213-1221.

1984 (with Johnsson, P. A., Jordan, T. E., and Naeser, C. W.) Magnetic polarity stratigraphy and age of the Quebrada del Cura, Rio Jachal, and Mogna formations near Huaco, San Juan Province: Actas del Congreso Geoldgico Argentino, v. 9, p. 81-96.

------ (with Lindsay, E. H., and Opdyke, N. D.) Blancan-Hemphillian land mammal ages andlate Cenozoic mammal dispersal events: Annual Review of Earth and Plenetary Sciences, v. 12, p. 445-488.

------ (and Likens, G. E., Feller, M. C., and Driscoll, C. T.) Acid rain and soil chemistry:Science, v. 225, p. 1424-1425.

1985 (and Likens, G. E., and Eaton, J. S.) Stability, circulation, and energy flux in Mirror Lake, in Likens, G. E., ed., An ecosystem approach to aquatic ecology: New York, Springer-Ver- lag, p. 108-127.

1986 (and Parnell, R. A.) Composition, distribution and neutralization of “acid rain” derived from Masaya volcano, Nicaragua: Tellus, v. 38B, p. 106-117.

1987 (with Reynolds, J. H., and Jordan, T. E.) Neogene chronology and sedimentary velocity in La Troya Basin, La Rioja: Actas del Congreso Geol6gico Argentino 10, v. 2, p. 109-112.

------ (with Beer, J. A., and Jordan, T. E.) Sedimentary velocity and sedimentary environmentsassociated with evolution of the Precordilleran Miocene, Huaco, San Juan Province, Argentinian Republic: Actas del Congreso Geol6gico Argentino 10, v. 2, p. 83-86.

------ (with Benjamin, M. T., and Naeser, C. W.) Recent rapid uplift in the Bolivian Andes;evidence from fission-track dating: Geology, v. 15, p. 680-683.

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