Richard O Lease, Ph.D.
Orogen-scale interactions between tectonics, climate, and geodynamics; kinematic and physiographic evolution of mountain ranges; structural and stratigraphic evolution of fold-and-thrust belts and foreland basins; paleotopography; thermochronology; magnetostratigraphy; basin analysis; tectonic geomorphology
Biography
Education
Ph.D. 2010 University of California, Santa Barbara, CA Geology
A.B. 2005 Princeton University, Princeton, NJ Geosciences
Professional Experience
2012 - Present Research Geologist, USGS Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska
2011 - 2012 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Tuebingen, Germany
Professional Activities and/or Memberships
American Geophysical Union
Geological Society of America
Science and Products
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Central North Slope of Alaska, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 3.6 billion barrels of oil and 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (associated and nonassociated) in conventional accumulations in Mississippian through Paleogene strata in the central North Slope...
Houseknecht, David W.; Whidden, Katherine J.; Connors, Christopher D.; Lease, Richard O.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Rouse, William A.; Botterell, Palma J.; Smith, Rebecca A.; Sanders, Margaret M.; Craddock, William H.; DeVera, Christina A.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Buursink, Marc L.; Karacan, Cevat O.; Heller, Samuel J.; Moore, Thomas E.; Dumoulin, Julie A.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; French, Katherine L.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Drake, Ronald M.; Marra, Kristen R.; Finn, Thomas M.; Kinney, Scott A.; Shorten, Chilisa M.
Pliocene erosional pulse and glacier-landscape feedbacks in the western Alaska Range
Pliocene–Pleistocene glaciation modified the topography and erosion of most middle- and high-latitude mountain belts, because the evolution of catchment topography controls long-term glacier mass balance and erosion. Hence, characterizing how erosion rates change during repeated glaciations can help test hypothesized glacier erosion-landscape...
Lease, Richard O.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Cretaceous Nanushuk and Torok Formations, Alaska North Slope, and summary of resource potential of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, 2017
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 8.7 billion barrels of oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (associated and nonassociated) in conventional accumulations in the Cretaceous Nanushuk and Torok Formations in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, adjacent State and Native lands,...
Houseknecht, David W.; Lease, Richard O.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Rouse, William A.; Jarboe, Palma J.; Whidden, Katherine J.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Lewis, Kristen A.; Heller, Samuel J.; Craddock, William H.; Klett, Timothy R.; Le, Phuong A.; Smith, Rebecca A.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; Gaswirth, Stephanie B.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Leathers-Miller, Heidi M.; Finn, Thomas M. Tectonic evolution of the Central Andean Plateau and implications for the growth of plateaus
Current end-member models for the geodynamic evolution of orogenic plateaus predict (a) slow and steady rise during crustal shortening and ablative subduction (i.e., continuous removal) of the lower lithosphere or (b) rapid surface uplift following shortening, which is associated with punctuated removal of dense lower lithosphere and/or lower...
Garzione, Carmala N.; McQuarrie, Nadine; Perez, Nicholas D.; Ehlers, Todd A.; Beck, Susan L.; Kar, Nandini; Eichelberger, Nathan; Chapman, Alan D.; Ward, Kevin M.; Ducea, Mihai N.; Lease, Richard O.; Poulsen, Christopher J.; Wagner, Lara S.; Saylor, Joel E.; Zandt, George; Horton, Brian K. Large along-strike variations in the onset of Subandean exhumation: Implications for Central Andean orogenic growth
Plate tectonics drives mountain building in general, but the space-time pattern and style of deformation is influenced by how climate, geodynamics, and basement structure modify the orogenic wedge. Growth of the Subandean thrust belt, which lies at the boundary between the arid, high-elevation Central Andean Plateau and its humid, low-elevation...
Lease, Richard O.; Ehlers, T.A.; Enkelmann, E. Changing exhumation patterns during Cenozoic growth and glaciation of the Alaska Range: Insights from detrital thermochronology and geochronology
Cenozoic growth of the Alaska Range created the highest topography in North America, but the space-time pattern and drivers of exhumation are poorly constrained. We analyzed U/Pb and fission-track double dates of detrital zircon and apatite grains from 12 catchments that span a 450 km length of the Alaska Range to illuminate the timing and extent...
Lease, Richard O.; Haeussler, Peter J.; O'Sullivan, Paul
Upper Cretaceous and Lower Jurassic strata in shallow cores on the Chukchi Shelf, Arctic Alaska
Shallow cores collected in the 1980s on the Chukchi Shelf of western Arctic Alaska sampled pre-Cenozoic strata whose presence, age, and character are poorly known across the region. Five cores from the Herald Arch foreland contain Cenomanian to Coniacian strata, as documented by biostratigraphy, geochronology, and thermochronology. Shallow seismic...
Dumoulin, Julie A.; Houseknecht, David W.; Craddock, William H.; Lease, Richard O. Cenozoic mountain building on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau
Northeastern Tibetan Plateau growth illuminates the kinematics, geodynamics, and climatic consequences of large-scale orogenesis, yet only recently have data become available to outline the spatiotemporal pattern and rates of this growth. I review the tectonic history of range growth across the plateau margin north of the Kunlun fault (35°–40°N)...
Lease, Richard O. Magnetostratigraphy of the Neogene Chaka basin and its implications for mountain building processes in the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau
Magnetostratigraphy of sedimentary rock deposited in the Chaka basin (north-eastern Tibetan Plateau) indicates a late Miocene onset of basin formation and subsequent development of the adjacent Qinghai Nan Shan. Sedimentation in the basin initiated at ~11Ma. In the lower part of the basin fill, a coarsening-upward sequence starting at ~9Ma, as...
Zhang, H.-P.; Craddock, W.H.; Lease, Richard O.; Wang, W.-T.; Yuan, D.-Y.; Zhang, P.-Z.; Molnar, P.; Zheng, D.-W.; Zheng, W.-J. Signatures of mountain building: Detrital zircon U/Pb ages from northeast Tibet
Although detrital zircon has proven to be a powerful tool for determining provenance, past work has focused primarily on delimiting regional source terranes. Here we explore the limits of spatial resolution and stratigraphic sensitivity of detrital zircon in ascertaining provenance, and we demonstrate its ability to detect source changes for...
Lease, Richard O.; Burbank, Douglas W.; Gehrels, George E.; Wang, Zhicai; Yuan, Daoyang