Kenneth Pierce's Publications

Books

Good, J.D., and Pierce, K.L., 2010 (first edition 1996), Interpreting the Landscapes of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, Recent and Ongoing Geology: Grand Teton National History Association, 66 p., 70 illustrations. Fifth revised printing, 2010.
Creation of the Teton Landscape, a Geological Chronicle of Jackson Hole & the Teton Range, by J. David Love, John C. Reed, Jr., and Kenneth L. Pierce (ISBN 0-931895-57-x, third edition 2007)

Available at the Grant Teton Association's online book store.

Some featured publications of geologist Kenneth L. Pierce are now available online:

Pierce, K.L., Muhs, D.R., Fosberg, M.A., Mahan, S.A., Rosenbaum, J.G., Licciardi, J.M., and Pavich, M.J., 2011, A loess-paleosol record of climate and glacial history over the past two glacial-interglacial cycles (~150 ka), southern Jackson Hole, Wyoming: Quaternary Research 26, 119-141.

Nine meters of loess accumulated on ~ 150 ka outwash gravel (Bull Lake) of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 age in northwest Wyoming. Buried soils separate the loess into 8 units. Our age-depth model is constrained by thermoluminescence, meteoric 10Be accumulation, and cosmogenic 10Be surface exposure ages. At the base of the loess section, a tripartite soil-loess complex (~154-76 ka) correlates with MIS 5, with the oldest soil (MIS 5e?) showing the greatest development. Loess deposition ~76-69 ka (MIS 4) was followed by mollic, non-calcic soil development. Loess deposition ~51-43 ka (mid-MIS 3) was followed by calcic soil development. Loess deposition ~25-12 ka (MIS 2) correlates with the last (Pinedale) glaciation and was followed by the modern, calcic soil development (MIS 1).

Pierce, K.L. and L.A. Morgan. 2009. Is the track of the Yellowstone hotspot driven by a deep mantle plume? — Review of volcanism, faulting, and uplift in light of new data. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 188:1-25.


Morgan, L.A., W.C. Pat Shanks III, and K.L. Pierce. 2009. Hydrothermal Processes above the Yellowstone Magma Chamber: Large Hydrothermal Systems and Large Hydrothermal Explosions. GSA Special Papers 2009, v. 459, p. 1-95.


Morgan, L.A., Pierce, K.L., and Shanks, W.C.P., 2008, Track of the Yellowstone hotspot: Young and ongoing geologic processes from the Snake River Plain to the Yellowstone Plateau and Tetons, in Raynolds, R.G., ed., Roaming the Rocky Mountains and Environs: Geological Field Trips: Geological Society of America Field Guide 10, p. XX–XX, doi: 10.1130/2007.fl d010(XX). For permission to copy, contact editing@geosociety.org. ©2008 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved.


Pierce, K.L., Despain, D.G., Morgan, L.A., and Good, J.M. 2007. The Yellowstone Hotspot, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and Human Geography, in, Lisa A. Morgan, Integrated Geoscience Studies in the Greater Yellowstone Area—Volcanic, Tectonic, and Hydrothermal Processes. in the Yellowstone Geoecosystem, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, Chapter A. p. 1-39.

The report shows how the processes of volcanism, faulting, and uplift associated with Yellowstone Hotspot have greatly influenced the landscapes of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and act as strong controls on the ecology of the greater Yellowstone area, including its human history.

Pierce, K.L., Cannon, K.P., Meyer, G.A., Trebesch, M.J., and Watts, R.D. 2007. Postglacial inflation-deflation cycles, tilting, and faulting in the Yellowstone caldera based on Yellowstone Lake shorelines. in Lisa A Morgan, Integrated Geoscience Studies in the Greater Yellowstone Area—Volcanic, Tectonic, and Hydrothermal Processes in the Yellowstone Geoecosystem, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1717, Chapter E. p. 128-168.

Studies of Yellowstone Lake and River levels show the Yellowstone Caldera has experienced about 7 inflation-deflation cycles since deglaciation about 14,000 years ago. This "heavy breathing" has not resulted in a volcanic eruption, and is suggested to result from geothermal pressure buildup and release. Local doming at Storm Point has tilted shorelines 6 m in a kilometer.

Pierce, K.L., 2003. Pleistocene glaciations of the Rocky Mountains. in Development in Quarternary Science, Vol 1, DOI:10.1016/S1571-0866(03)01004-2.

This chapter presents the status of Rocky Mountain glacial studies in 1965 and progress from that time to the present.

Pierce, K.L., Despain, D.G., Whitlock, Cathy, Cannon, K.P., Meyer, Grant, Morgan, Lisa, and Licciardi, J.M. 2003. Quaternary geology and ecology of the Greater Yellowstone area, in Easterbrook, D. J., editor, Quaternary Geology of the United States , INQUA 2003 Field Guide Volume, Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada. p. 313-344.

A field guide for a 7 day field trip through the greater Yellowstone area from Bozeman, Montana to Jackson, Wyoming and return. This field guide includes glacial geology, cosmogenic dating, relation between ecology and geology, paleoecology, archeology, fire history and associated sedimentation, and caldera unrest.

Pierce, K.L, Cannon, K.P., Meyer, G.A. w J. Trebesch, M.J., and Watts, Raymond. 2002. Post-glacial inflation-deflation cycles, tilting, and faulting in the Yellowstone caldera based on Yellowstone Lake shorelines, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-0142. 62 p.

A history of heavy breathing of the Yellowstone caldera on a millennial time scale is developed by study of Yellowstone Lake and Yellowstone River level changes through time. This history and negative cumulative overall inflation of caldera support a driving process of buildup and release of pressure associated with geothermal fluids. In press as chapter in USGS Professional Paper.

Pierce, K.L., Morgan, L.A., and Saltus, R.W. 2002. Yellowstone plume head: postulated tectonic relations to the Vancouver slab, continental boundaries, and climate (PDF 930KB). in Bill Bonnichsen, C.M. White, and Michael McCurry, editors, Tectonic and Magmatic Evolution of the Snake River Plain Volcanic Province : Idaho Geological Survey Bulletin 30. p. 5-34.

The Yellowstone hotspot starts with flood basalts and extensive rhyolite eruptions 17-14 Ma considered to indicate a plume head. Implications are explored including: 1) interaction of the plume head with eastward inclined Vancouver slab, 2) decompression melting producing flood basalts through Mesozoic oceanic crust but rhyolite by melting of silicic crust, 3) plume-head association with Basin and Range uplift and extension, and 4) plume head uplift followed by subsidence as the plume tail and associated uplift migrate northeastward to Yellowstone.

Pierce, K.L., and Morgan, L.A. 1992. The track of the Yellowstone hot spot--volcanism, faulting and uplift (PDF 14.6mb). in Link, P.K., Kuntz, M.A., and Platt, L.W., eds., Regional geology of eastern Idaho and western Wyoming: Geological Society of America Memoir 179 p. 1-53, 24 figs., 1 color map.

This report documents the progression of the three processes of volcanism, faulting, and uplift that define the Yellowstone the hotspot track, and a mantle plume explanation most compatible with the surface geologic history.

• Hotspot Map (PDF 10.4MB, printable at 11x17")

Pierce, K.L., and Good, J.D. 1992. Field guide to the Quaternary geology of Jackson Hole, Wyoming (PDF 10MB): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 92-504, 49 p.

This field guide documents changing interaction of three glacial lobes entering Jackson Hole in the last (Pinedale) glaciation and the much bigger (Bull Lake) glaciation that filled Jackson Hole.

Pierce, K.L. 1979. History and dynamics of glaciation in the northern Yellowstone National Park area : U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 729 F. 91 p.

This report reconstructs the complex sequence of glaciation of the encompassing mountains and the Yellowstone plateau during the last (Pinedale) glaciation, and contrast with the penultimate (Bull Lake) glaciation. Given the Kirk Bryan Award in 1982.

• History and dynamics of glaciation in the northern Yellowstone National Park area (PDF 46MB)
• Northern Yellowstone Glaciation Map 1 (PDF 3.1MB)
• Northern Yellowstone Glaciation Map 2 (PDF 2.4MB)

Other Publications

Licciardi, J.M., and Pierce, K.L., 2008, Cosmogenic exposure-age chronologies of Pinedale and Bull Lake glaciations in greater Yellowstone and the Teton Range, USA: Quaternary Science Reviews, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.12.005

Saunders, A.D., Jones, S.M., Morgan, L.A., Pierce, K.L., Widdowson, M., and Xu, Y.G., 2007, Regional uplift associated with continental large igneous provinces: The roles of mantle plumes and the lithosphere: Chemical Geology, v. 241, p. 282-318. Includes Yellowstone as one of 5 continent based Large Ingeous Provinces.

Parrett, Charles, Cannon, Susan, and Pierce, K.L., 2004, Wildfire-related floods and debris flows in Montana in 2000 and 2001: U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Investigations Report WRIR 03-4319, 22 p.

Pierce, K.L., Despain, D.G., Whitlock, Cathy, Cannon, K.P., Meyer, Grant, Morgan, Lisa, and Licciardi, J.M., 2003, Quaternary geology and ecology of the Greater Yellowstone area, in Easterbrook, D. J., editor, Quaternary Geology of the United States, INQUA 2003 Field Guide Volume, Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada, p. 313-344.

Machette, M.N., Pierce, K.L., McCalpin, J.P., Haller, K.M., and Dart, R.L., 2001, Map and data for Quaternary faults and folds in Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 01-461, map and 155 pages.

Licciardi, J.M., Clark, P.U., Brook, E.J., Pierce, K.L., Kurz, M.D., Elmore, D., and Sharma, P., 2001, Cosmogenic 3He and 10Be Chronologies of the Northern Outlet Glacier of the Yellowstone Ice Cap, Montana, USA, Quaternary Research, v. 29, no 12, p. 1095-1098.

Pierce, K.L., and Friedman, Irving, 2000, Obsidian hydration dating of Quaternary events, in Noller, J.S., Sowers, J.M., and Lettis. W.R. editors, Quaternary Geochronology, Methods and Applications: AGU Reference Shelf 4, p. 223-240.

Pierce, K.L., Lundstrom, Scott, and Good, John, 1998, Geologic setting of archeological sites in the Jackson Lake area, Wyoming, in Connor, Melissa, Final Report on the Jackson Lake Archeological Project, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming: Midwest Archeological Center, National Park Service, Lincoln, Neb., Technical Report No. 46, p. 29-48 and 19 figures on p. 222-242.

Good, J.D., and Pierce, K.L., 1996, Interpreting the Landscapes of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, Recent and Ongoing Geology: Grand Teton National History Association, 58 p. 57 illus., Second printing, revised and reprinted, 1998.

Sturchio, N.C., Pierce, K.L., Morrell, M.T., and Sorey, M.L., 1994, Uranium-series ages of travertines and timing of the last glaciation in the northern Yellowstone area, Wyoming-Montana: Quaternary Research, v. 41, p. 265-277.

Smith, R.B., Pierce, K.L., and Wold, R.J., 1993, Seismic surveys and Quaternary history of Jackson Lake, Wyoming, in Snoke, A.W., Steidtmann, J.R., and Roberts, S.M., Geology of Wyoming: Wyoming Geological Survey Memoir No. 5, p. 668-693.

Pierce, K.L., and Good, J.D., 1992, Field guide to the Quaternary geology of Jackson Hole, Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 92-504, 49 p.

Pierce, K.L., and Morgan, L.A., 1992, The track of the Yellowstone hot spot--volcanism, faulting and uplift, in Link, P.K., Kuntz, M.A., and Platt, L.W., eds., Regional geology of eastern Idaho and western Wyoming: Geological Society of America Memoir 179 (in honor of Steve Oriel), p. 1-53, 24 figs., 1 color map.

Colman, S.M., and Pierce, K.L., 1992, Varied records of early Wisconsin Alpine glaciation in the Western United States derived from weathering-rind thicknesses, in Clark, P.U., and Lea, P.D., eds., The last interglacial-glacial transition in North America: Geological Society of America Special Paper 270, p. 269-278.

Pierce, K.L., Adams, K.D., and Sturchio, N.C., 1991, Geologic setting of the Corwin Springs Known Geothermal Resource area-Mammoth Hot Springs area in and adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, in M.L. Sorey, editor, Effects of potential geothermal development in the Corwin Springs Known Geothermal Resource Area, Montana, on the thermal features of Yellowstone National Park: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 91-4052, p. C-1 to C-37.

Colman, S.M., and Pierce, K.L., 1991, Summary of Quaternary dating methods, chapter 3 of Rosholt, J.N., ed., Dating methods applicable to the Quaternary, in Morrison, R.B., Quaternary nonglacial geology of the conterminous United States: Geological Society of America, DNAG V. K-2, p. 45-46, and large chart 35 x 28 inches.

Pierce, K.L., and Colman, S.M., 1986, Effect of height and orientation (microclimate) on geomorphic degradation rates and processes, late glacial terrace scarps in central Idaho: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 97, p. 869-885.

Colman, S.M., and Pierce, K.L., 1986, The glacial sequence near McCall, Idaho--weathering rinds, soil development, morphology, and other relative-age criteria: Quaternary Research, v. 25, p. 25-42.

Pierce, K.L., 1986, Dating methods, in Active tectonics: National Research Council, Geophysics Study Committee, Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, p. 195-214.

Scott, W.E., Pierce, K.L., and Hait, M.H., Jr., 1985, Quaternary tectonic setting of the 1983 Borah Peak earthquake, central Idaho: Seismological Society of America Bulletin, v. 75, p. 1053-1066.

Porter, S.C., Pierce, K.L., and Hamilton, T.D., 1983, Late Pleistocene glaciation in the Western United States, in Porter, S.C., ed., The Late Pleistocene, v. 1, of Wright, H.E., Jr., ed., Late Quaternary Environments of the United States: Minneapolis, Minn., University of Minnesota Press, p. 71-111.

Pierce, K.L., Covington, H.R., Williams, P.W., and McIntyre, P.L., 1983, Geologic map of the Cotterel Mountains and northern Raft River valley, Cassia County, Idaho: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1450, scale 1:48,000, 18 ms.-p. text, 2 cross sections, 3 figs., 1 table.

Pierce, K.L., and Scott, W.E., 1982, Pleistocene episodes of alluvial-gravel deposition, southeastern Idaho, in Bonnichsen, Bill, and Breckenridge, R.M., eds., Cenozoic geology of Idaho: Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 26, p. 685-702.

Pierce, K.L., Fosberg, M.A., Scott, W.E., Lewis, G.C., and Colman, S. M., 1982, Loess deposits of southeastern Idaho--age and correlation of the upper two loess units, in Bonnichsen, Bill, and Breckenridge, R.M., eds., Cenozoic geology of Idaho: Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 26, p. 717-725.

Colman, S.M., and Pierce, K.L., 1981, Weathering rinds on andesitic and basaltic stones as a Quaternary age indicator, Western United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1210, 56 p., 21 figs., 7 tables, 3 app.

Pierce, K.L., 1979, History and dynamics of glaciation in the northern Yellowstone National Park area: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 729 F, 91 p., 4 pls., 51 figs., 8 tables.

Schmidt, P.W., and Pierce, K.L., 1976, Mapping of mountain soils west of Denver, Colorado, for land-use planning, in Coates, D.R., ed., Geomorphology and engineering: Binghampton, N.Y., Geomorphology, State University of New York, p. 43-54, 7 figs., 1 table.

Pierce, K.L., Obradovich, J.D., and Friedman, Irving, 1976, Obsidian hydration dating and correlation of Bull Lake and Pinedale glaciations near West Yellowstone, Montana: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 87, p. 703-710, 5 figs.

Pierce, K.L., 1971-1974, 4 sole authored and 5 co-authored maps of the surficial geology of Yellowstone National Park.

Pierce, K.L., and Armstrong, R.L., 1966, Tuscarora fault, an Acadian (?) bedding-plane fault in the central Appalachian Valley and Ridge province: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 50, no. 2, p. 385-390, 3 figs.

Pierce, K.L., 1966, Bedrock and surficial geology of the McConnellsburg quadrangle, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Atlas 109a, 4th series, 111 p., 3 pls., 19 figs.

Pierce, K.L., 1965, Geomorphic significance of a Cretaceous deposit in the Great Valley of southern Pennsylvania, in Geological Survey Research 1965: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 525-C, p. C152-C156, 4 figs.