Jay Quade
VerifiedUniversity of Arizona · East Asian Studies
Active 1960–2025
About
Professor Jay Quade's research is quite broad but centers on low-temperature geochemistry, radiometric dating, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, primarily focused on the Cenozoic era. He and his students have conducted research across various regions including the western USA, central Asia, Ethiopia, southern South America, and Turkey. His work often involves collaboration with archaeologists and anthropologists on recent projects. The analytical work for his research is primarily carried out in the Environmental Isotope Laboratory run by Dave Dettman and the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry facility led by Greg Hodgins, specializing in 14 C dating. Professor Quade has taught a range of courses related to geochemistry, isotopic methods, and the coevolution of the Earth and biosphere, and he actively shares datasets and research compilations. His office is located in the Gould-Simpson Building at the University of Arizona, and he maintains contact through email and phone.
Research topics
- Geology
- Oceanography
- Paleontology
- Physical geography
- Geography
- Physics
- Ecology
- Environmental chemistry
- Geochemistry
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Mineralogy
- Chromatography
- Climatology
Selected publications
Nature Communications · 2025-09-17 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessAbstract Deeply fractured rocks of meteorite impact structures have been hypothesized as hot spots for microbial colonization on Earth and other planetary bodies. Biosignatures of such colonization are rare, however, and most importantly, direct geochronological evidence linking the colonization to the impact-generated hydrothermal systems are completely lacking. Here we provide timing constraints to microbial colonization of the 77.85 ± 0.78 Ma old Lappajärvi impact structure, Finland, by using coupled microscale stable isotope biosignature detection and radioisotopic dating of vug- and fracture-filling assemblages in impactites. The first detected mineral precipitation at habitable temperatures for life (47.0 ± 7.1 °C) occurred at 73.6 ± 2.2 Ma and featured substantially 34 S-depleted pyrite consistent with microbial sulfate reduction. Later stages of vug-mineral precipitation occurred more than 10 Myr later, at gradually lower temperatures, and featured δ 13 C calcite values diagnostic for both anaerobic microbial consumption and production of methane. These insights confirm the capacity of medium-sized (and large) meteorite impacts to generate long-lasting hydrothermal systems, enabling microbial colonization as the crater cools to ambient conditions, an effect that may have important implications for the emergence of life on Earth and beyond.
Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2025-01-01
articleSenior author2025-01-01
article2025-01-01
articleGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2025-02-24 · 2 citations
articleGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · 2024-04-06 · 10 citations
articleEarth and Planetary Science Letters · 2024-09-02 · 14 citations
articleSenior authorAdvances in Science, Technology & Innovation/Advances in science, technology & innovation · 2024-01-01
book-chapterSenior authorProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2024-04-22 · 9 citations
articleOpen accessIn deserts, water has been singled out as the most important factor for choosing where to settle, but trees were likely an important part of the landscape for hunter-gatherers beyond merely constituting an economic resource. Yet, this critical aspect has not been considered archaeologically. Here, we present the results of mapping and radiocarbon dating of a truly unique archaeological record. Over 150 preserved stumps around five Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene archaeological campsites (12,800 to 11,200 cal BP) show that trees were key features in the creation of everyday habitats for the first inhabitants of the Atacama Desert. At two of these sites, QM12 and QM35, the spatial and chronological correlation between trees and hearths reveals that people located their homes under the tree canopy. At residential site QM35, artifact distribution coincides with a grove dated to ~11,600 to 11,200 cal BP. A third residential area (QM32) occurred along the grove margins ~12,000 to 11,200 cal BP. Based on the distinct cultural material of these two camps, we propose that two different groups intermittently shared this rich wetland-grove environment. The tree taxa suggest a preference for the native Schinus molle, a tree scarcely present on the landscape today, over the endemic, nitrogen-fixing Strombocarpa tamarugo , both for toolmaking and firewood and even though the S. tamarugo was locally more abundant. Together with the spatial and chronological coincidence of campsites, hearths, and trees, we propose that people spared the most abundant and resilient species to create their homes, in turn promoting fertility oases amid the Atacama’s hyperaridity.
Uplift of the Puna Plateau was not limited to Miocene and younger time
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2024-05-20 · 3 citations
letterOpen accessInformal verbal interaction is the core matrix for human social life. A mechanism for coordinating this basic mode of interaction is a system of turn-taking that regulates who is to speak and when. Yet relatively little is known about how this system ...
Recent grants
Collaborative Research: Calibrating the Isotopologue-47 Geothermometer in Soils
NSF · $86k · 2009–2012
NSF · $206k · 2011–2015
Construction of a low-level 14C facility at the University of Arizona
NSF · $165k · 2004–2006
Frequent coauthors
- 68 shared
Sileshi Semaw
National Research Center on Human Evolution
- 64 shared
Scott W. Simpson
Case Western Reserve University
- 57 shared
Naomi E. Levin
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
- 47 shared
Robert F. Butler
University of Portland
- 39 shared
Guillaume Dupont‐Nivet
Géosciences Rennes
- 38 shared
Peter G. DeCelles
University of Arizona
- 38 shared
Melanie Everett
- 34 shared
Julio L. Betancourt
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