Associate Professor
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
University of British Columbia
2020 – 2207 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
Office: EOSS 362
Phone: 604 827 6871
Email: jsaylor [at] eoas [.] ubc [.] ca
Professional Preparation
2001 B.A., Case Western Reserve University
2008 Ph.D., University of Arizona
Appointments
2022-present Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia
2019-2022 Assistant Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia
2013-2019 Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston (tenure granted 5/2019)
2012-2013 Pioneer Natural Resources Assistant Research Professor, School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University
2008-2012 Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
2003-2008 Graduate Assistant, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
2005 Intern, Shell Research and Development, Houston, Texas
1999-2001 Research Assistant, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
2000 Research Intern, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas
Publications (underline: Graduate student advisee; *: Undergraduate student advisee)
In Review
Pan, B., Zhang, J., Geng, H., Saylor, J.E., Cheng, F., Chen, D., and Nie, J., Supercritical to subcritical transition of the Qilian orogenic wedge at the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation, Geology.
2023
61. Smith, T.M., Saylor, J.E., Lapen, T.J., and Leary, R.J., Ancestral Rocky Mountain basin isolation: Big-data provenance mapping reveals limits of transcontinental sediment transport, Geological Society of America Bulletin.
60. Smith, T.M., Lapen, T.J., Saylor, J.E., Hatfield, K.*, and Sundell, K.E., 2023, Identifying sources of non-unique detrital age distributions through integrated provenance analysis: An example from the Paleozoic Central Colorado Trough, Geosphere 2023; doi: 10.1130/GES02541.1
59. Saylor, J.E., Sundell, K.E., Perez, N.D., Hensley, J.B., McCain, P.*, Runyon, B.*, Alvarez, P., Cárdenas, J., Usnayo, W.P., and Valer, C.S., 2023, Basin formation, magmatism, and exhumation document southward migrating flat-slab subduction in the central Andes, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 606, p.118050, doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118050
2022
58. Gómez-Moncada, R.A., Mora, A., Jaramillo, M., Parra, M., Mayorga, H., Martínez, A., Suárez, D., Sandoval-Muñoz, J., Sandoval-Ruiz, J., Caballero, V., Jiménez, M., Bueno, R., and Saylor, J.E., 2022, Decoding of groundwater recharge in deep aquifers of foreland Basins using stable isotopes (δ18O and δD) and anion-cation analysis: A case study in the southern Llanos Basin, Colombia, Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 120, doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2022.104079.
57. Erlich, R.N., Hale-Erlich, W.S., Pindell, J., Saylor, J.E., and O’Sullivan, P., 2022, Age and provenance of the Middle Jurassic Norphlet Formation of south Texas: stratigraphic relationship to the Louann Salt and regional significance, Journal of the Geological Society, v. 179, doi.org/10.1144/jgs2022-009.
56. Fan, S., Murphy, M. A., Whipp, D. M., Saylor, J. E., Copeland, P., Hoxey, A. K., Taylor, M. H., and Stockli, D. F., 2022, Megathrust Heterogeneity, Crustal Accretion, and a Topographic Embayment in the Western Nepal Himalaya: Insights from the Inversion of Thermochronological Data, Tectonics, v. n/a, no. n/a, p. e2021TC007071.
55. Davis, E. M., Rudolph, K. W., Saylor, J. E., Lapen, T. J., and Wellner, J. S., 2022, Effects of contemporaneous orogenesis on sedimentation in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Basin, northern Utah and southwestern Wyoming, Basin Research, v. 34, no. 1, p. 366-392.
54. Göğüş, O. H., Sundell, K., Uluocak, E. Ş., Saylor, J.E., and Çetiner, U., 2022, Rapid surface uplift and crustal flow in the Central Andes (southern Peru) controlled by lithospheric drip dynamics, Scientific Reports, v. 12, no. 1, p. 5500.
53. Tian, Y., Zhuang, G., Nie, J., Xu, Q., Xing, Y., Zuza, A., Saylor, J., Leary, R. & Rohrmann, A., 2022, Introduction to the special issue “Tibetan tectonics and its effect on the long-term evolution of climate, vegetation and environment”. Terra Nova, doi.org/10.1111/ter.12588
52. Sundell, K. E., George, S. W. M., Carrapa, B., Gehrels, G. E., Ducea, M. N., Saylor, J. E., and Pepper, M., 2022, Crustal Thickening of the Northern Central Andean Plateau Inferred From Trace Elements in Zircon, Geophysical Research Letters, v. 49, no. 3, p. e2021GL096443, doi: 10.1029/2021GL096443.
2021
51. Runyon, B.*, Saylor, J. E., Horton, B. K., Reynolds, J. H., and Hampton, B., 2021, Basin evolution in response to flat-slab subduction in the Altiplano, Journal of the Geological Society, v 179, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2021-003.
50. Wang, X., Nie, J., and Saylor, J.E., 2021, Anti-Phase Strengthening of the South and East Asian Summer Monsoons During the Early Pliocene Driven by Southern Hemisphere Ice Volume, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, v. 36, e2021PA004211, doi:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021PA004211.
49. Ejembi, J., Potter-McIntyre, S., Sharman, G.R., Smith, T.M., Saylor, J.E., Hatfield, K.* and Ferre, E., in review, Detrital zircon geochronology and provenance of the Middle to Upper Jurassic Paradox Basin and Central Colorado Trough: Paleogeographic implications for southwestern Laurentia, Geosphere.
48. Sundell, K.E. and Saylor, J.E., Two-dimensional quantitative comparison of density distributions in detrital geochronology and geochemistry, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
47. Saylor, J.E. and Sundell, K.E., Tracking Proterozoic–Triassic sediment routing to western Laurentia via bivariate non-negative matrix factorization of detrital provenance data, Journal of the Geological Society.
2020
46. Ren, X., Nie, J., Saylor, J.E., Wang, X., Liu, F., and Horton, B.K., Temperature control on silicate weathering intensity and evolution of the Neogene East Asian summer monsoon, Geophysical Research Letters, v. 47, p. e2020GL088808, doi: 10.1029/2020GL088808.
45. Saadeh, C.M., Saylor, J.E., Nie, J., and Shanahan, T., Orbital forcing of late Miocene–early Pleistocene environmental change in the Zhada Basin, SW Tibetan Plateau, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. PDF
44. Saylor, J.E., Rudolph, K.W., Sundell, K.E., and van Wijk, J., Laramide orogenesis driven by Late Cretaceous weakening of the North American lithosphere, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth. PDF FlexMC software
43. Leary, R.J., Umhoefer, P., Smith, M.E., Smith, T.M., Saylor, J.E., Riggs, N., Burr, G., Lodes, E., Foley, D., Licht, A., Mueller, M.A., and Baird, C., Provenance of Pennsylvanian-Permian sedimentary rocks associated with the Ancestral Rocky Mountains orogeny in southwestern Laurentia: implications for continental-scale Laurentian sediment transport systems, Lithosphere.
2019
42. Ren, X, Nie, J, Saylor, J.E., Li, H., Bush, M.A, and Horton, B.K., 2019, Provenance control on chemical weathering intensity index of fine-sized fraction in fluvio-lacustrine sediments: Evidence from the Qaidam Basin of NE Tibetan Plateau, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
41. Pettit, B.S., Blum, M., McLean, N., Pecha, M., Saylor, J.E., and Bartschi, N.C., 2019, Detrital-Zircon U-Pb Paleodrainage Reconstruction and Geochronology of the Campanian Blackhawk–Castlegate Succession, Wasatch Plateau and Book Cliffs, Utah, U.S.A. Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 89, no. 4, p. 273-292, doi: 10.2110/jsr.2019.18.
40. Sundell, K. E., Saylor, J. E., and Pecha, M., 2019, Sediment provenance and recycling of detrital zircons from Cenozoic Altiplano strata in southern Peru and implications for the crustal evolution of west-central South America, in Horton, B. K., and Folguera, A., eds., Andean Tectonics, p. 363–397, Elsevier.
39. Odoh, S., Saylor, J. E., Higuera, C., Copeland, P., and Lapen, T. J., 2019, Discriminating mechanisms for coarse clastic progradation in the Colombian foreland basin using detrital zircon double-dating, in Horton, B. K., and Folguera, A., eds., Andean Tectonics, p. 133-171, Elsevier.
38. Nie, J., Ren, X., Saylor, J.E., Su, Q., Horton, B.K., Bush, M.A., Chen, W., and Praff, K., 2019, Magnetic polarity stratigraphy, provenance, and paleoclimate analysis of Cenozoic strata in the Qaidam Basin, NE Tibetan Plateau, Geological Society of America Bulletin.
37. Sundell, K.E., Saylor, J.E., Lapen, T.J., and Horton, B.K., 2019, Implications of variable late Cenozoic surface uplift across the Peruvian central Andes, Scientific Reports, v. 9, p. 4877.
36. Smith, T.M., Sundell, K.E., Johnston, S., Andrade, C.G., Andrea, R.A., Dickinson, J., Liu, Yiduo, Murphy, M., Lapen, T.J., and Saylor, J.E., 2019, Drainage reorganization and Laramide tectonics in north‐central New Mexico and downstream effects in the Gulf of Mexico, Basin Research.
35. Saylor, J.E., Sundell, K.E., and Sharman, G.R., 2019, Characterizing sediment sources by non-negative matrix factorization of detrital geochronological data, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 512, p.46–58. DZnmf software
2018
34. Sundell, K.E., Saylor, J.E., Lapen, T.J., Styron, R.H., Villarreal, D., Usnayo, P., and Cardenas, J., 2018, Peruvian Altiplano stratigraphy highlights along-strike variability in foreland basin evolution of the Cenozoic central Andes, Tectonics, v. 37, p. 1876-1904.
33. Bartschi, N.C., Saylor, J.E., Lapen, T.J., Blum, M.D., Pettit, B., and Andrea, R.A, 2018, Tectonic controls on Late Cretaceous sediment provenance and stratigraphic architecture in the Book Cliffs, Utah, Geological Society of America Bulletin.
2017
32. Garzione, C. N., McQuarrie, N., Perez, N. D., Ehlers, T. A., Beck, S. L., Kar, N., Eichelberger, N., Chapman, A. D., Ward, K. M., Ducea, M. N., Lease, R. O., Poulsen, C. J., Wagner, L. S., Saylor, J. E., Zandt, G., and Horton, B. K., 2017, Tectonic evolution of the Central Andean Plateau and implications for the growth of plateaus: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 45, no. 1, p. 529-559.
31. Saylor, J.E., Jordan, J.C., Sundell, K.E., Wang, X., Wang, S., and Deng, T., 2017, Impact of relief development in the Jishi Shan on basin and hydrology evolution, NE Tibetan Plateau, Basin Research, v. 30, no. 3, 544-563. DZmds software
30. Sundell, K.E., and Saylor, J. E., 2017, Unmixing detrital geochronology age distributions, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 18, doi:10.1002/2016GC006774. DZmix software
2016
29. Anderson, V.J., Horton, B.K., Saylor, J.E., Mora, A., Teson, E., Breecker, D.O., and Ketcham, R.A., 2016, Andean topographic growth and basement uplift in southern Colombia: Implications for the evolution of the Magdalena, Orinoco, and Amazon River systems, Geosphere.
28. Su, Q., Nie, J., Saylor, J.E., Horton, B.K., Bush, M., and Chen, W., 2016, An anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility study of the Cenozoic Dahonggou section in northern Qaidam Basin and its tectonic implications, Quaternary Sciences, v. 36, p. 859–865.
27. Saylor, J.E., Casturi, L.*, Shanahan, T.M., Nie, J. and Saadeh, C.M., 2016, Tectonic and climate controls on Neogene environmental change in the Zhada Basin, southwestern Tibetan Plateau, Geology, v. 44, no. 11, p. 919-922, doi: 10.1130/G38173.1.
26. Bershaw, J., Saylor, J.E., Garzione, C.N., Leier, A., and Sundell, K., 2016, Stable isotope variations (δ18O and δD) in modern waters across the Andean Plateau, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 194, p. 310-324, doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2016.08.011.
25. Bush, M.A., Saylor, J.E., Horton, B.K., and Nie, J., 2016, Cenozoic exhumation along the Qaidam basin margins in the northern Tibetan plateau: Inferences from depositional patterns and detrital provenance, Lithosphere, v. 8, p. 58-82.
24. Saylor, J.E., and Sundell, K.E., 2016, Quantifying comparison of large detrital geochronology data sets, Geosphere, v. 12, no. 1, p. 1–18, doi:10.1130/GES01237.1. DZstats software
2015
23. Anderson, V.J., Saylor, J.E., Shanahan, T.M., and Horton, B.K., 2015, Paleoelevation records from lipid biomarkers: Application to the tropical Andes, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 127, no. 11/12, p. 1604-1616, doi: 10.1130/B31105.1.
22. Horton, B.K., Anderson, V.J., Caballero, V., Saylor, J.E., Nie, J., Parra, M., and Mora, A., 2015, Application of detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology to surface and subsurface correlations of provenance, paleodrainage, and tectonics in the Middle Magdalena Valley basin of Colombia, Geosphere, v. 11, no. 6, p. 1790–1811, doi:10.1130/GES01251.1.
21. Nie, J., Stevens, T., Rittner, M., Stockli, D., Garzanti, E., Limonta, M., Bird, A., Ando, S., Vermeesch, P., Saylor, J., Lu, H., Breecker, D., Hu, X., Liu, S., Resentini, A., Vezzoli, G., Peng, W., Carter, A., Ji, S., and Pan, B., 2015, Loess Plateau storage of Northeastern Tibetan Plateau derived Yellow River sediment, Nature Communications, v. 6, p.8511.
20. Reyes-Harker, A., Ruiz-Valdivieso, C.F., Mora, A., Ramírez-Arias, J.C., Rodriguez, G., de la Parra, F., Caballero, V., Parra, M., Moreno, N., Horton, B.K., Saylor, J.E., Silva, A., Valencia, V., Stockli, D., Blanco, V., 2015, Cenozoic paleogeography of the Andean foreland and retroarc hinterland of Colombia. AAPG Bulletin, v. 99, p. 1407-1453.
19. Horton, B.K., Perez, N.D., Fitch, J.D., and Saylor, J.E., 2015, Punctuated shortening and subsidence in the Altiplano Plateau of southern Peru: Implications for early Andean mountain building, Lithosphere, v. 7, no. 2, p.117-137, doi:10.1130/L397.1.
18. Huntington, K.W., Saylor, J.E., Quade, J., and Hudson, A.M., 2015, High late Miocene–Pliocene elevation of the Zhada Basin, southwestern Tibetan Plateau, from carbonate clumped isotope thermometry, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 127, p. 200-210 doi:10.1130/B31000.1.
2014
17. Anderson, V.J., Shanahan, T.M., Saylor, J.E., Horton, B.K., and Mora, A., 2014, Sources of local and regional variability in the MBT′/CBT paleotemperature proxy: Insights from a modern elevation transect across the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia, Organic Geochemistry, v. 69, p. 42-51.
16. Saylor, J.E. and Horton, B.K., 2014, Nonuniform uplift of the Central Andean Plateau revealed by deuterium isotopes in Miocene volcanic glass from southern Peru, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 387, p. 120-131.
2013
15. Wang, X., Li, Q., Xie, G., Saylor, J.E., Tseng, Z.J., Takeuchi, G.T., Deng, T., Wang, Y., Hou, S., Liu, J., Zhang, C., Wang, N., and Wu, F., 2013, Mio-Pleistocene Zanda biostratigraphy and geochronology, pre-Ice Age fauna, and mammalian evolution in western Himalaya, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 374, p. 81-95.
14. Saylor, J.E., Knowles, J.N., Horton, B.K., Nie, J., Mora, A., 2013, Mixing of source populations recorded in detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra from modern river sands, The Journal of Geology, v. 121, p. 17-33.
2012
13. Saylor, J.E., Horton, B.K., Stockli, D.F., Corredor, J., and Mora, A., 2012, Structural and thermochronological evidence for Paleogene basement-involved shortening in the axial Eastern Cordillera, Colombia, Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 39, p. 202-215.
12. Saylor, J.E., Stockli, D.F., Horton, B.K., Nie, J.S., and Mora, A., 2012, Discriminating rapid exhumation from syndepositional volcanism using detrital zircon double dating: Implications for the tectonic history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 124, p. 762-779.
11. Nie, J., Horton, B.K., Saylor, J.E., Mora, A., Mange, M., Garzione, C.N., Basu, A., Moreno, C.J., Caballero, V., and Parra, M., 2012, Intergrated provenance analysis of a convergent retroarc foreland system: U-Pb ages, heavy minerals, Nd isotopes, and sandstone compositions of the Middle Magdalena Valley basin, northern Andes, Colombia, Earth Science Reviews. v. 110, p. 111-126.
2011
10. Deng, T., Wang, X., Fortelius, M., Qiang, L., Wang, Y., Tseng, Z.J., Takeuchi, G.T., Saylor, J.E., Säila, L.K., Xie, G., 2011, Out of Tibet: Pliocene woolly rhino suggests high-plateau origin of Ice Age megaherbivores, Science, v. 333, p. 1285-1288.
9. Saylor, J.E., Horton, B.K., Nie, J.S., Corredor, J., and Mora, A., 2011, Evaluating foreland-basin partitioning in the northern Andes using Cenozoic fill of the Floresta basin, Eastern Cordillera, Colombia, Basin Research, v.23, p. 377-402.
2010
8. Horton, B.K., Saylor, J.E., Nie, J.S., Mora, A., Parra, M., Reyes-Harker, A., Stockli, D.F., 2010, Linking sedimentation in the northern Andes to basement configuration, Mesozoic extension, and Cenozoic shortening: Evidence from detrital zircon U-Pb ages, Eastern Cordillera, Colombia, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 122, p. 1423-1442.
7. Horton, B.K., Parra, M., Saylor, J.E., Nie, J.S., Mora, A., Torres, V., Stockli, D.F., Strecker, M.R., 2010, Resolving uplift of the northern Andes using detrital zircon age signatures, GSA Today, v. 20, p. 4-9.
6. Nie, J.S., Horton, B.K., Mora, A., Saylor, J.E., Housh, T.B., Rubiano, J., and Naranjo, J., 2010, Tracking exhumation of Andean ranges bounding the Middle Magdalena Valley basin, Colombia, Geology, v. 38, p. 451-454.
5. Saylor, J.E., DeCelles, P.G., Gehrels, G., Murphy, M., Zhang, R., and Kapp, P, 2010, Basin formation in the High Himalaya by arc-parallel extension and tectonic damming: Zhada basin, southwestern Tibet, Tectonics, v. 29, TC1004, 24 pp.
4. Saylor, J.E., DeCelles, P.G., and Quade, J., 2010, Climate-driven environmental change in the Zhada basin, southwestern Tibetan plateau, Geosphere, v. 6, p 74-92.
2009
3. Saylor, J.E., Mora, A., Horton, B.K., and Nie, J., 2009, Controls on the isotopic composition of surface water and precipitation in the northern Andes, Colombian Eastern Cordillera, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 73, p 6999-7018.
2. Murphy, M.A., Saylor, J.E., and Ding, L. 2009, Late Miocene topographic inversion in southwest Tibet based on integrated paleoelevation reconstructions and structural history, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 282, p. 1-9.
1. Saylor, J.E., Quade, J., Dettman, D.L., DeCelles, P.G., Kapp, P.A., and Ding, L., 2009, The late Miocene through present paleoelevation history of southwestern Tibet, American Journal of Science, v. 309, p. 1-42.