Justin V. Strauss
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
I am interested in a variety of geological phenomena, from the evolution of Earth's biosphere to the tectonic development of modern and ancient mountain belts. My primary interest is reconstructing Earth's history, particularly the co-evolution of Earth and life during key periods of tectonic and climatic change. Most of my projects are framed through the lens of field-based sedimentology, stratigraphy, and structural geology; however, I also integrate a wide array of tools, such as stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry, geochronology, paleontology, and geological mapping to explore outstanding problems in historical geobiology and global tectonics. Almost all of my projects are multidisciplinary and involve collaboration with colleagues of diverse field and analytical expertise.
Contact
Department(s)
Earth Sciences
Center(s)
The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding
Education
- B.A. Colorado College
- M.S. Harvard University
- Ph.D. Harvard University
Selected Publications
2026:
Beranek, L.P., Pease, V., McClelland, W.C., and Strauss, J.V., 2026, Svartvaeg terrane: new evidence for a Silurian arc fragment in northern North America and its significance for early Paleozoic sinistral displacements along the Canadian Arctic transform system: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. xxx, p. xxx–xxx.
Evans, S.D., Sperling, E.A., Lau, K.V., and Strauss, J.V., 2026, Discovery of White Sea assemblage fossils from Laurentia: Science Advances, v. 12, eaed9916.
Farrell, U.C., Abshire, M.L., Samawi, R., Adeboye, O., Ahm, A.-S.C., Algeo, T.J., Anderson, R.P., Ansari, A.H., Bastos, L.P.H., Bauer, K.W., Beaty, B., Birdwell, J.E., Bowyer, F.T., Brocks, J.J., Brunoir, T.N., Canfield, D.E., Caxito, F.A., Chang, C., Cheng, M., Clemente, J.N.R., Cordie, D., Crockford, P.W., Cui, H., Dahl, T.W., de Paula, J.R., Dehler, C.M., Dewing, K., do Carmo, D.A., Dornbos, S., Drabon, N., Dumoulin, J.A., Ejeh, O.I., Ellefson, E., Elrick, M., Emmings, J.F., Eric, B.E., Fang, H., Fazio, G., Fernandes, H.A., French, K.L., Gaines, R.R., Gaschnig, R., Gibson, T.M., Gilleaudeau, G.J., Goldberg, K., Gong, Z., Hagen, A.P.I., Halverson, G.P., Henderson, M.A., Hippertt, J.P.T.M., Hodgskiss, M.S.W., Hoffman, P.F., Huang, E.C., Johnson, B.W., Kang, J., Keller, C.B., Kendall, B., Kimmig, J., Kimmig, S.R., Kipp, M.A., Knoll, A.H., Kreitsmann, T., Kulkarni, A.A., Kunert, A., Kunzmann, M., Lai, J., Lease, R.O., Li, C., Li, S., Lipp, A.G., Lu, X., Maloney, K.M., Mand, K., Millikin, A.E.G., Mills, N.T., Motomura, K., Mwinde, C., Nelson, L.L., Nieminski, N.M., O'Connell, B., Okubo, J., Olah, J., Olson, H.C., Ossa Ossa, F., Ostrander, C.M., Paiste, K., Partin, C.A., Pereira, E., Peters, S.E., Playter, T., Porter, S., Poulton, S.W., Pruss, S.B., Qiu, Z., Quinn, D.P., Richiano, S., Richoz, S., Rico, K.I., Ritzer, S.R., Roney, Z., Rooney, A.D., Rose, W.C., Rugen, E.J., Sahoo, S.K., Schoepfer, S.D., Sclafani, J.A., Sheldon, N.D., Shen, Y., Shields, G.A., Singh, P., Singh, A.K., Slotznick, S., Smith, E.F., Song, H., Spinks, S.C., Stockey, R.G., Strauss, J.V., Stüeken, E.E., Tang, D., Tarhan, L.G., Thompson, M.O., Thomson, D., Tosca, N.J., Tostevin, R., Tu, C., Vizcaíno, M.N., Wang, Y., Wang, C., Warren, L.V., Webb, L.C., Wilby, P., Woltz, C.R., Wood, R.A., Wu, Y., Yang, X., Yurchenko, I., Zhang, J., Whiteside, J.H., Gill, B.C., Mehra, A.K., Lau, K.V., Planavsky, N., Johnston, D.T., and Sperling, E.A., 2026, The Sedimentary Geochemistry and Paleoenvironments Project Phase 2 Data Release: An open data resource for the study of Earth's environmental history: Chemical Geology, v. xx, p. xxx–xxx. 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2026.123311
Zhang, T., Keller, C.B., Creveling, J.R., Harding, R., Nelson, L.L., Smith, E.F., and Strauss, J.V., 2026, Bayesian tectonic subsidence modeling supports polyphase extension of the western continental margin of Laurentia: Geology, v. 54, p. 518–523. 10.1130/G54081.1
2025:
Barnes, B.D., Jiang, C.Z., Methley, P., Strauss, J.V., and Tosca, N.J., 2025, CaCO3 precipitation kinetics and polymorphism in ferruginous seawater: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 660, 119345. 10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119345
Biasi, J., and Strauss, J.V., 2025, A review of paleomagnetic studies from northern Alaska and Yukon: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 62, n. 4, p. 725–757. 10.1139/cjes-2024-0125
Cobbett, R.N., Beranek, L.P., Colpron, M., Piercey, S., Crowley, J.L., Strauss, J.V., and Taylor, J.F., 2025, Late Cambrian and Ordovician alkalic magmatism along the Dawson fault, Yukon: Evidence for multiple reactivations of a rift-transfer fault in the northern Canadian Cordillera: Tectonics, v. 44, e2024TC008645. 10.1029/2024TC008645
Faehnrich, K., McClelland, W.C., Webb, L., Rasbury, T., Colpron, M.C., and Strauss, J.V., 2025, Cretaceous strike-slip motion along the Porcupine Fault System and potential links to the opening of the Canada Basin: Canadian Journal of Earth Science, v. 62, n. 10, p. 1498–1514. 10.1139/cjes-2025-0013
Getraer, A., Nordin, B.J., Strauss, J.V., and Palucis, M.C., 2025, Postglacial canyon incision primes ice-cored hillslopes for permafrost thaw-slumping in the western Canadian Arctic: Geology, v. 53, p. 657–662. 10.1130/G53102.1
Malik, M.H., Hussain, A., Koeshidayatullah, A., Strauss, J.V., Herlambang, A., Bello, A.M., Al-Ramadan, K., 2025, Sedimentary architecture of an Ediacaran mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system, NW Saudi Arabia: Regionally extensive marine incursion or syntectonic fault-controlled basin?: Precambrian Research, v. 427, 107872. 10.1016/j.precamres.2025.107872
Methley, P., Jiang, C.Z., Strauss, J.V., and Tosca, N.J., 2025, Evaporation of Neoproterozoic seawater drives amorphous calcium-magnesium carbonate production: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 669, 119594. 10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119594
Millikin, A.E.G., *Gibson, T.M., Strauss, J.V., Bergmann, K.D., Tosca, N.J., Anderson, R.P., Halverson, G.P., Zhang, T., and Rooney, A.D., 2025, Geochemistry and mineralogy of Neoproterozoic strata in northeastern Svalbard: re-evaluating the prevalence of basalt weathering during the early Neoproterozoic: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 137, p. 4875–4898. 10.1130/B38195.1
Mughal, S., Millikin, A.E.G., Zhang, T., Gibson, T.M., Rooney, A.D., Tosca, N.J., Bergmann, K.D., Strauss, J.V., and Anderson, R.P., 2025, The Svanbergfjellet Formation: eukaryotic life in a Tonian Sea: Journal of the Geological Society of London – Lagerstatten Series, v. 182. 10.1144/jgs2024-083
Ostrander, C.M., Clemente, J.N.R., Stockey, R.G., Strauss, J.V., Fraser, T., Nielsen, S.G., and Sperling, E.A., 2025, Dynamic deep marine oxygenation during the Early and Middle Paleozoic: Science Advances, v. 11, eadw5878. 10.1126/sciadv.adw5878
Pierce, J.S., Evans, D.A.D., Polomski, D., Youbi, N., Mediany, A.M., Ounar, J., Oukhro, R., Boumedhi, M.A., Strauss, J.V., Keller, C.B., Gartner, A., Ovtcharova, M., Wotzlaw, J.F., and Linnemann, U., 2025, Magnetostratigraphic resolution of the late Ediacaran paleomagnetic enigma: Science Advances, v. 11, eady3258. 10.1126/sciadv.ady3258
Taylor, J.F., Strauss, J.V., and Repetski, J.E., 2025, Late Furongian arthropod and conodont faunas and a new basal Ibexian (uppermost Cambrian Sate 10) isotopic excursion in the Jones Ridge Limestone of Alaska: Australasian Palaentological Memoirs, v. 57, p. 491–520. 10.3316/informit.T2025061900002991538072278
Vayda, P., Xiao, S., Keller, N., Hagen, A., Strauss, J.V., Hagadorn, J., Lonsdale, M., Selly, T., and Schiffbauer, J., 2025, A cnidarian affinity for Salterella and Volborthella and implications for the evolution of shells: Journal of Paleontology, v. 99, p. 1162–1185. 10.1017/jpa.2025.10164
2024:
Boag, T.H., Busch, J.F., Gooley, J., Strauss, J.V., and Sperling, E.A., 2024, Deep-water first occurrences of Ediacara biota prior to the Shuram carbon isotope excursion in the Wernecke Mountains, Yukon, Canada: Geobiology, v. 22, n. 3, p. 1–23. 10.1111/gbi.12597
Cantine, M., Orzechowski, E., Stein, N., Lincoln, T., Hibner, B., Present, T., Thorpe, M., Strauss, J.V., Rumbelsperger, A.M.B., Knoll, A.H., Grotzinger, J., Gomes, M, and Trower, E., 2024, Rapid growth of a carbonate island over the last millennium: Sedimentology, v. 71, p. 2119–2143. 10.1111/sed.13202
Koch, M.M., McClelland, W.C., Gilotti, J.A., Kosminska, K., Strauss, J.V., Faehnrich, K., Beranek, L.P., and Pease, V., 2024, Early Paleozoic accretion history of the Pearya terrane: new insights from igneous and detrital zircon signatures of the Kulutingwak complex, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada: Geosphere, v. 20 (3), p. 778–798. 10.1130/GES02723.1
Stockey, R.G., Cole, D.B., Farrell, U.C., Boag, T.H., Brocks, J.J., Canfield, D.E., Cheng, M., Crockford, P.W., Cui, H., Dahl, T.W., Del Mouro, L., Dewing, K., Dornbos, S.Q., Emmings, J.F., Gaines, R.R., Gibson, T.M., Gill, B.C., Gilleaudeau, G.J., Goldberg, K., Guilbaud, R., Halverson, G., Hammarlund, E.U., Hantsoo, K., Henderson, M.A., Hendserson, C.M., Hodgskiss, M.S.W., Jarrett, A.J.M., Johnston, D.T., Kabanov, P., Kimmig, J., Knoll, A.H., Kunzmann, M., LeRoy, M.A., Li, C., Loydell, D.K., Macdonald, F.A., Magnall, J.M., Mills, N.T., Och, L.M., O'Connell, B., Pages, A., Peters, S.E., Porter, S.M., Poulton, S.W. Ritzer, S.R., Rooney, A.D., Schoepefer, S., Smith, E.F., Strauss, J.V., Uhlein, G.J., White, T., Woltz, C.R., Yurchenko, I., Planavsky, N.J., and Sperling, E.A., 2024, Multiple sustained increases in atmospheric oxygen and marine productivity through the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic eras: Nature Geoscience, v. 17, p. 667–674. 10.1038/s41561-024-01479-1