Dr. Kenneth Lepper

Assistant Professor

Department of Geosciences

North Dakota State University

Stevens Hall

Fargo, ND 58105

Ken(dot)Lepper(at)ndsu(dot)edu

(701) 231-6746

Research:

Quaternary
Geochronology

The ODD Lab:
Optical Dating and Dosimetry Laboratory

What is Optical Dating a.k.a. OSL dating

The ODD Squad
Students and their contributions to ODD Lab research

Current Research Themes:

The interaction between large lakes and the global climate system

Glacial Lake Agassiz and The Great Lakes
Beach ridge chronology
Lake level history
Impacts of lake level fluctuations on groundwater hydrology and near shore wetland ecosystems

Eolian and Fluvial Process Geomorphology

The geomorphological response rate of sediment transport systems to environmental change
Particularly eolian and fluvial systems in The Great Plains and Western North America

Mars Geochronology

The geomorphological record of recent climate change on Mars
Specifically, the adaptation of optical dating for remote, robotic, in-situ geochronology on Mars

Recent Peer-reviewed Journal Papers

Detschel, M.J. and Lepper, K., 2009. Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Properties of Martian Sediment Analogue Materials Exposed to a Simulated Martian Solar Spectral Environment. Journal of Luminescence, v. 129, p. 393-400.
Fisher, T., Yansa, C., Lowell, T., Lepper, K., Hajdas, I., and Ashworth, A., 2008. The chronology, climate, and confusion of the Moorhead Phase of Glacial Lake Agassiz: New Results from the Ojata beach, North Dakota, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 27, p. 1124-1135.
Lepper, K., Fisher, T., Hajdas, I., and Lowell, T. (2007) Ages for the Big Stone moraine and the oldest beaches of glacial Lake Agassiz: Implications for deglaciation chronology. Geology, 35(7):667-670.
Lepper, K., Reneau, S., Thorstad, J., and Denton A. (2007) OSL dating of a lacustrine to fluvial transitional sediment sequence in Valle Toledo, Valles caldera, New Mexico. New Mexico Geology, 29(4): 112-116.
Lepper, K. and Goff, F. (2007) Yet another attempt to date the Banco Bonito rhyolite, the youngest volcanic flow in the Valles Caldera, New Mexico. New Mexico Geology, 29(4): 117-121.
Lepper, K. and Ashworth, A.C. (2007) A dynamic record of late Holocene environmental change recorded in banded colluvium from the northern Great Plains. Current Research in the Pleistocene, 24:201-204.

Other Select Peer-reviewed Journal Papers

Lepper, K. and McKeever, S.W.S. (2002) An objective methodology for dose distribution analysis. Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 101: 349-352.
Lepper, K., Agersnap-Larsen, N., McKeever, S.W.S. (2000) Equivalent dose distribution analysis of Holocene eolian and fluvial quartz sands from Central Oklahoma. Radiation Measurements, 32: 603-608.
Lepper, K. and S.W.S McKeever. (2000) Characterization of fundamental luminescence properties of the Mars soil simulant JSC Mars-1 and their relevance to absolute dating of Martian eolian sediments. Icarus, 144:295-301.
Lepper, K., Siggaard-Andersen, M.L., Agersnap-Larsen, N., Hammer, C.U. and McKeever, S.W.S. (2001) Characterization of luminescence properties of insoluble mineral grains extracted from the Greenland Summit GRIP ice core, and their potential for luminescence dating. Radiation Measurements, 33: 445-455.

GEOL 105	Physical Geology	Fall 2007, 2005
GEOL 310	Planetary Geology	Fall 2008
GEOL 412/612	Geomorphology	Spring 2006
GEOL 413/613:	Glacial Geology	Spring 2008, 2006, 2004
GEOL 414/614	Hydrogeology	Fall 2007, 2005, 2003
GEOL 491	Geosciences Seminar	Spring 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
GEOL 494	IS Laboratory Methods in Quaternary Geochronology	Spring 2009, 2008, 2005
GEOL 499/696	Topics in Geophysics	Spring 2005
GEOL 793:	IS Planetary Geology	Spring 2008
GEOL 793:	IS Techniques in Optical Dating	Spring 2008

Author: Kenneth Lepper
Last updated: 1/22/09