Research Interests

Links between climate and biological evolution at geological timescales

I am particularly interested in climate evolution at different timescales. I use Atmospheric Global Circulation Models at high resolution. I did my PhD in collaboration between the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (with Gilles Ramstein, Gif-sur-Yvette, France) and the LGBPH (directed by Prof. Michel Brunet, Poitiers, France) and I studied African climate forcing factors during the Upper Miocene, with emphasis on Chad basin, where the M.P.F.T. found the oldest hominids known. I did sensitivity experiments to assess the impact of East African Rift uplift on atmospheric circulation, and ultimately on vegetation changes. I also ran experiments conerning Guinean Gulf Sea Surface temperatures variations.

A collaboration with archaeologists from University de Bodeaux has also been set up to understand and quantify the impact of an abrupt old event (the Heinrich 4 event) on Human and Neanderthals populations.

Within Prof. Lisa Sloan's group, I am currently studyingthe impact of the Andes uplift on South American climate evolution.

Publications

-------------------Currently in press... and old stuff for which I am laaaaate -------------------

P. Sepulchre, L.C. Sloan, M. Snyder | Impact of the Andes Uplift on the Humboldt Current System: Consequences for Neogene paleoclimates | Under Review.

P. Sepulchre, L.C. Sloan, F. Fluteau | Modeling the response of Amazonian climate to the uplift of the Andean mountain range | in Amazonia, Landscape and Species Evolution, under review.

P. Sepulchre et al. | The impact of the East African Rift System on climate : A review. | Earth Sciences Letters, invited., in prep.

P. Sepulchre, D. Jolly et al. | Mid-Tertiary palaeoenvironments in Thailand: pollen evidences | in prep.

-------------------2008.-------------------

P. Sepulchre, M. Schuster, G. Ramstein, G. Krinner, J.-F. Girard, P. Vignaud, M. Brunet.| Evolution of Lake Chad Basin hydrology during the mid-Holocene: A preliminary approach from lake to climate modelling| Global and Planetary Change, Volume 61, Issues 1-2, March 2008, Pages 41-48

Banks, W.E., d'Errico, F., Townsend Peterson, A., Vanhaeren, M., Kageyama, M., Sepulchre, P., Ramstein, G., Jost, A., Lunt, D. . | Human ecological niches and territories during the LGM in Europe derived from an application of eco-cultural niche modeling. | Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 35, Issue 2, February 2008, Pages 481-491.

-------------------2007.-------------------

P. Sepulchre, G. Ramstein, M. Kageyama, M. Vanhaeren , G. Krinner , M.-F. Sanchez-Goni, F. d'Errico. | H4 abrupt event and late Neanderthal Presence in Iberia. Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters, 258 (1-2), pp. 283-292. [PDF]

-------------------2006.-------------------

P. Sepulchre, G. Ramstein, F. Fluteau, M. Schuster, J.-J. Tiercelin, M. Brunet.| Tectonic Uplift and Eastern Africa Aridification. Science (313), pp.1419-1423.[PDF]

Kageyama M., N. Combourieu Nebout, P. Sepulchre, O. Peyron, G. Krinner, G. Ramstein, J.-P. Cazet, 2005. Le Dernier Maximum Glaciaire et l.ivinement de Heinrich 1 en termes de climat et de vigitation autour de la Mer d.Alboran : une comparaison priliminaire entre modhles et donnies. Compte Rendus Geoscience, 337, 983-992.

Pierre Sepulchre.| Compréhension et Modélisation du climat d'Afrique centrale au Miocène supérieur. Application au bassin hydrographique du Tchad.| Université de Poitiers | [PhD manuscript (in French !)][//Powerpoint presentation//]