Kenneth L Pierce, Ph.D.
Biography
Recent Accomplishments
Education
- Ph.D. 1964. Yale University
- B.A. 1959. Stanford University
Research Interests
My research is in the field of Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology. I am interested in natural landscapes and the geologic processes responsible for their formation. My research has focused on the following topics (see publications):
- Pleistocene glaciations of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent areas
- Yellowstone caldera unrest
- The track of the Yellowstone hotspot: Volcanism, faulting and uplift
- Quaternary faulting and neotectonics
- Geologic controls on ecology of the greater Yellowstone area
- Wyoming-Idaho loess deposits and climate history over the last 150,000 years
My research is in the field of Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology. I am interested in natural landscapes and the geologic processes responsible for their formation.
Professional Studies/Experience
Mentorship/Outreach
Professional societies/affiliations/committees/editorial boards
Honors, awards, recognition, elected offices
Scientific/Oral Presentations, Abstracts
Science and Products
Yellowstone plume trigger for Basin and Range extension and emplacement of the Nevada-Columbia Basin magmatic belt
Widespread extension began across the northern and central Basin and Range Province at 17–16 Ma, contemporaneous with magmatism along the Nevada–Columbia Basin magmatic belt, a linear zone of dikes and volcanic centers that extends for >1000 km, from southern Nevada to the Columbia Basin of eastern Washington. This belt was...
Camp, Victor E; Pierce, Kenneth L.; Morgan Morzel, Lisa Ann
Surficial geologic map of the Red Rock Lakes area, southwest Montana
The Centennial Valley and Centennial Range continue to be formed by ongoing displacement on the Centennial fault. The dominant fault movement is downward, creating space in the valley for lakes and the deposition of sediment. The Centennial Valley originally drained to the northeast through a canyon now represented by a chain of lakes starting...
Pierce, Kenneth L.; Chesley-Preston, Tara L.; Sojda, Richard L. Holocene seasonal variability inferred from multiple proxy records from Crevice Lake, Yellowstone National Park, USA
A 9400-yr-old record from Crevice Lake, a semi-closed alkaline lake in northern Yellowstone National Park, was analyzed for pollen, charcoal, geochemistry, mineralogy, diatoms, and stable isotopes to develop a nuanced understanding of Holocene environmental history in a region of northern Rocky Mountains that receives both summer and winter...
Whitlock, Cathy; Dean, Walter E.; Fritz, Sherilyn C.; Stevens, Lora R.; Stone, Jeffery R.; Power, Mitchell J.; Rosenbaum, Joseph R.; Pierce, Kenneth L.; Bracht-Flyr, Brandi B. A 28,000 year history of vegetation and climate from Lower Red Rock Lake, Centennial Valley, Southwestern Montana, USA
A sediment core extending to 28,000 cal yr BP from Lower Red Rock Lake in the Centennial Valley of southwestern Montana provides new information on the nature of full-glacial vegetation as well as a history of late-glacial and Holocene vegetation and climate in a poorly studied region. Prior to 17,000 cal yr BP, the eastern Centennial Valley was...
Mumma, Stephanie Ann; Whitlock, Cathy; Pierce, Kenneth A loess-paleosol record of climate and glacial history over the past two glacial-interglacial cycles (~140 ka), southern Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Loess accumulated on a Bull Lake outwash terrace of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 6 (MIS 6) age in southern Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The 9 m section displays eight intervals of loess deposition (Loess 1 to Loess 8, oldest), each followed by soil development. Our age-depth model is constrained by thermoluminescence, meteoric Be-10 accumulation in soils...
Pierce, Kenneth L.; Muhs, Daniel R.; Fosberg, Maynard A.; Mahan, Shannon; Rosenbaum, Joseph G.; Licciardi, Joseph M.; Pavich, Milan J. Hydrothermal processes above the Yellowstone magma chamber: Large hydrothermal systems and large hydrothermal explosions
Morgan, Lisa A.; Shanks, Pat; Pierce, Kenneth L. Is the track of the Yellowstone hotspot driven by a deep mantle plume? - Review of volcanism, faulting, and uplift in light of new data
Geophysical imaging of a tilted mantle plume extending at least 500??km beneath the Yellowstone caldera provides compelling support for a plume origin of the entire Yellowstone hotspot track back to its inception at 17??Ma with eruptions of flood basalts and rhyolite. The widespread volcanism, combined with a large volume of buoyant asthenosphere...
Pierce, K.L.; Morgan, L.A.
The Yellowstone hotspot, Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and human geography
Active geologic processes associated with the Yellowstone hotspot are fundamental in shaping the landscapes of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE), a high volcanic plateau flanked by a crescent of still higher mountainous terrain. The processes associated with the Yellowstone hotspot are volcanism, faulting, and uplift and are observed in the...
Morgan Morzel, Lisa Ann; Pierce, Kenneth L.; Despain, Don G.; Morgan, Lisa A.; Good, John M. Pleistocene glaciations of the Rocky Mountains
Abstract has not been submitted
Gillespie, A.R.; Porter, S.C.; Atwater, B.F.; Pierce, K.L. Quaternary geology and ecology of the Greater Yellowstone area
This field guide focuses on the glacial geology, ecology, paleoecology, caldera unrest, and archeology in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and vicinity (Fig. 1). Some previous field guides of Yellowstone are Locke et al. (1995) for the Yellowstone valley, Fournier et al. (1994) for hydrothermal and volcanic geology of Yellowstone, and...
Pierce, Kenneth L.; Despain, Don G.; Whitlock, Cathy; Cannon, Kenneth P.; Meyer, Grant A.; Morgan, Lisa; Licciardi, Joseph M. Post-glacial inflation-deflation cycles, tilting, and faulting in the Yellowstone Caldera based on Yellowstone Lake shorelines
The Yellowstone caldera, like many other later Quaternary calderas of the world, exhibits dramatic unrest. Between 1923 and 1985, the center of the Yellowstone caldera rose nearly one meter along an axis between its two resurgent domes (Pelton and Smith, 1979, Dzurisin and Yamashita, 1987). From 1985 until 1995-6, it subsided at about two cm/yr (...
Pierce, Kenneth L.; Cannon, Kenneth P.; Meyer, Grant A.; Trebesch, Matthew J.; Watts, Raymond D.
Field guide to the quaternary geology of Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Pierce, K.L.; Good, J.D.
Inside USGS, No. 5, Pleistocene Glaciations of Greater Yellowstone
Dr. Kenneth Pierce studied the geology and geomorphology of the greater Yellowstone area for nearly his entire career with the U.S. Geological Survey. From 1965 to present, Dr. Pierce has mapped glacial deposits, pioneered Quaternary dating techniques, conducted research on the Yellowstone Hot Spot, studied the geothermal areas, explored the geology of archaeological sites
Inside USGS, No. 6, Ken Pierce, Heavy Breathing of Yellowstone Caldera
Dr. Kenneth Pierce studied the geology and geomorphology of the greater Yellowstone area for nearly his entire career with the U.S. Geological Survey. From 1965 to present, Dr. Pierce has mapped glacial deposits, pioneered Quaternary dating techniques, conducted research on the Yellowstone Hot Spot, studied the geothermal areas, explored the geology of archaeological sites