Karen Chin

Karen Chin
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of California, Santa Barbara
Known for	coprolite research
Scientific career
Fields	paleontology
Institutions	University of Colorado, Boulder and Curator of Paleontology, University of Colorado Museum
Doctoral advisor	Bruce H. Tiffney

Karen Chin is an American paleontologist and taphonomist who is considered one of the world's leading experts in coprolites.

Selected publications

• Chin, K., Hartman, J.H., and Roth, B. 2009. Opportunistic exploitation of dinosaur dung: fossil snails in coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana. Lethaia 42: 185-198.
• Chin, K., Bloch, J.D., Sweet, A.R., Tweet, J.S., Eberle, J.J., Cumbaa, S.L., Witkowski, J., and Harwood, D.M. 2008. Life in a temperate polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 275: 2675-2685.
• Tweet, J.S., Chin, K., Braman, D.R., and Murphy, N.L. 2008. Probable gut contents within a specimen of Brachylophosaurus canadensis (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana. Palaios 23: 625-636.
• Chin, K. 2007. The paleobiological implications of herbivorous dinosaur coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana: why eat wood? Palaios 22: 554-566.
• Chin, K., and Bishop, J. 2007. Exploited twice: bored bone in a theropod coprolite from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of Utah, USA. In: Bromley, R.G., Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., Genise, J.F., and Melchor, R.N. [eds.], Sediment-Organism Interactions: A Multifaceted Ichnology. SEPM Special Publications, v. 88, pp. 377–385.
• Chin, K., Tokaryk, T.T., Erickson, G.M., Calk, L.C., 1998, A king-sized theropod coprolite, Naturev. 393, pp. 680–682.