.jpg "John Taylor")
Professor
Education:
- B.S., IUP — Geology
- Ph.D., University of Missouri — Geology
Courses Taught:
GEOS 101/102 – Dynamic Earth
GEOS 121/122 – Physical Geology
GEOS 131/132 – Historical Geology
GEOS 151 – Age of Dinosaurs
GEOS 330 – Paleontology
GEOS 412 – Stratigraphy
Professional Interests:
My primary interests are invertebrate fossils and the depositional environments that produced the rocks in which they are found. In particular, my specialty is trilobites of Cambrian and Ordovician age and their utility for correlation and paleogeographic reconstruction.
Current Projects:
My long-term projects all include description of Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician faunas and rock units and refinement of the age-correlation possible between such widely separated field areas as the central Appalachians (PA/MD/VA), northern and central Rocky Mountains (MT/WY/CO), northern Mississippi Valley (MN/WI), southwestern U.S. (TX/OK/NM), and portions of the Great Basin (UT/NV). Specific topics include (1) the spatial and temporal distribution of microbial (bacterial reefs) and their specialized trilobite faunas, (2) the pattern of faunal turnover at extinction horizons in the Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician (both stage boundaries and biomere boundaries), and (3) recognition and interregional/intercontinental correlation of specific, geologically rapid submergence events that left their mark in the very thick limestone-dominated successions of North America.
Selected Publications:
Runkel, A.C., Miller, J.F., McKay, R.M., Palmer, A.R., Taylor, J.F., 2007, High-resolution sequence stratigraphy of lower Paleozoic sheet sandstones in central North America: the role of special conditions of cratonic interiors in development of stratal architecture: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 119, p. 860-881.
Taylor, J.F., 2006, History and status of the biomere concept: In Patterson, J. and Laurie, J. (eds.), Cambrian Studies II: Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 32, p. 247-265.
Pojeta J. Jr., Taylor, J.F., and Darrough, G., 2005, Matthevia (Polyplacophora) invades the Ordovician: the first recorded post-Cambrian occurrence: Journal of Paleontology, v. 79, p. 1021-1027.
Taylor, J.F., Myrow, P.M., Ripperdan, R.L., Loch, J.D., and Ethington, R.L., 2004, Paleoceano-graphic events and faunal crises recorded in the Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician of west Texas and southern New Mexico: In Nelson, E.P. and Erslev, E.A., (eds.), Field Trips in the Southern Rocky Mountains: Geological Society of America Field Guide 5, p. 169-185.
Loch, J. D., and J. F. Taylor, 2004, New trilobite taxa from Upper Cambrian microbrial reefs in the central Appalachian: Journal of Paleontology, v. 78, p.591-602.
Myrow, P.M., Taylor, J.F., Miller, J.F., Ethington, R.E., Ripperdan, R.L., and Allen, J., 2003, Fallen arches: Dispelling myths concerning Cambrian and Ordovician paleogeography of the Rocky Mountain region: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 115, p. 695-713.
Taylor, J.F., Loch, J.D., and Perfetta P.J., 1999, Trilobite faunas from Upper Cambrian microbial reefs in the central Appalachians: Journal of Paleontology, v. 73, p 326-336.
