Chris Lepre

Education & Experience:

Assistant Professor, Bowling Green State University [2002-present]
Assistant Teaching Professor, Rutgers University [2011-2021]
Paleomagnetics Lab Staff, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory [2010-2020]

Ph.D., Rutgers University (2009)
M.A., Rutgers University (2000)
B.A., Montclair State University (1998)

Specialty Areas of Interest:

Stratigraphy
Paleoclimate
Rock magnetism
Human evolution
Triassic of the American Southwest

Personal Website:

https://leprelab.wordpress.com

Biography

"I am the principal investigator for the rock magnetics lab (spinner magnetometer, alternating field demagnetizer with ARM/pARM capabilities, and magnetic susceptibility meter), VarianCary 60 spectrophotometer, and sedimentology lab at the School of Earth Environment and Society.

Undergraduate research opportunities are available for students to receive training with the analysis of soils and sediments. Current projects enable students to experiment with rock magnetism, spectrophotometry, and grain size analysis. These projects support my research into climate change, human evolution, and dinosaur paleoenvironments.

Graduate student opportunities are available through the School of Earth, Environment and Society. Potential students may apply to the M.S. program in Geology. I am interested in working with students that have backgrounds in sedimentology, stratigraphy, geology, and geophysics. Financial support such as teaching and research assistantships will be available for top candidates."

BGSU courses taught:

GEOL 1050 Life Through Time
GEOL 3160 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
GEOL 4940 Field Geology
GEOL 6450 Sedimentary Basin Analysis

Select Peer-Reviewed Publications:

Rasmussen, C., Irmis, R.B., Mundil, R., Schaller, M.F., Geissman, J., Parker, W.G., Lepre, C.J. and Olsen, P.E., 2022. A geochronological-constrained stable isotope record of the Upper Triassic Sonsela Member (Chinle Formation) at Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona, USA): Testing for paleoenvironmental linkages with biotic change and the Manicouagan impact. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, p.111060.

Lepre, C.J. and Quinn, R.L., 2022. Aridification and orbital forcing of eastern African climate during the Plio-Pleistocene. Global and Planetary Change, 208, p.103684.

Haque, Z., Geissman, J.W., Irmis, R.B., Olsen, P.E., Lepre, C., Buhedma, H., Mundil, R., Parker, W.G., Rasmussen, C. and Gehrels, G.E., 2021. Magnetostratigraphy of the Triassic Moenkopi Formation from the continuous cores recovered in Colorado Plateau Coring Project Phase 1 (CPCP-1), Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA: correlation of the Early to Middle Triassic strata and biota in Colorado Plateau and its environs. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126, p.e2021JB021899.

Lepre, C.J. and Olsen, P.E., 2021. Hematite reconstruction of Late Triassic hydroclimate over the Colorado Plateau. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118, p.e2004343118.

Quinn, R.L. and Lepre, C.J., 2021. Contracting eastern African C4 grasslands during the extinction of Paranthropus boisei. Scientific reports, 11, pp.1-10.

Quinn, R.L. and Lepre, C.J., 2020. Revisiting the pedogenic carbonate isotopes and paleoenvironmental interpretation of Kanapoi. Journal of Human Evolution, 140, p.102549.

Kent, D.V., Olsen, P.E., Lepre, C., Rasmussen, C., Mundil, R., Gehrels, G.E., Giesler, D., Irmis, R.B., Geissman, J.W. and Parker, W.G., 2019. Magnetochronology of the entire Chinle Formation (Norian age) in a scientific drill core from Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona, USA) and implications for regional and global correlations in the Late Triassic. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 20, pp.4654-4664.

Kent, D.V., Olsen, P.E., Rasmussen, C., Lepre, C., Mundil, R., Irmis, R.B., Gehrels, G.E., Giesler, D., Geissman, J.W. and Parker, W.G., 2018. Empirical evidence for stability of the 405-kiloyear Jupiter–Venus eccentricity cycle over hundreds of millions of years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115, pp.6153-6158.

Lepre, C.J., 2017. Crevasse-splay and associated depositional environments of the homininbearing lower Okote Member, Koobi Fora Formation (Plio-Pleistocene), Kenya. The Depositional Record, 3, pp.161-186.

Lepre, C.J. and Kent, D.V., 2015. Chronostratigraphy of KNM-ER 3733 and other Area 104 hominins from Koobi Fora. Journal of Human Evolution, 86, pp.99-111. Harmand, S., Lewis, J.E., Feibel, C.S., Lepre, C.J., Prat, S., Lenoble, A., Boës, X., Quinn, R.L., Brenet, M., Arroyo, A. and Taylor, N., 2015. 3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya. Nature, 521, pp.310-315. Lepre, C.J., Roche, H., Kent, D.V., Harmand, S., Quinn, R.L., Brugal, J.P., Texier, P.J., Lenoble, A. and Feibel, C.S., 2011. An earlier origin for the Acheulian. Nature, 477, pp.82-85.