KEN PIERCE: INSPIRATION AND MENTORSHIP OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF GEOSCIENTISTS

During his long career with the U.S. Geological Survey, Ken Pierce contributed major cross-disciplinary scientific insights and inspired research among a new generation of scientists. Ken’s work on Quaternary dating methods, soils, and the sequence and timing of glaciations in Yellowstone provided early contributions to what is now termed ‘critical zone’ science. Jen Pierce and her students continue his work on soils and landform evolution (Pierce and Scott, 1982) and the importance of dust to soil development (Pierce et al., 2011). With colleague Lisa Morgan, research on the Yellowstone hotspot track linked time-transgressive faulting, volcanism, and uplift has provided major insights into mantle plume dynamics. Pierce and Morgan refined concepts, ideas, and understanding of the hotspot over 25 years. Ken’s drive to understand mantle plume convection mechanisms and the influence of the Yellowstone hotspot on the region’s neotectonics, topography and subsequent orographic controls on Quaternary climate and glaciation continued until the week prior to his death.

Ken’s exhaustive work on glacial history and dynamics of the northern Yellowstone ice complex (Pierce, K.L., 1979) received the GSA Kirk Bryan Award (1982). This paper remains the definitive example of thorough field observations and resultant conceptual models of glaciation in the western U.S. Ken and Joe Licciardi combined cosmogenic dating with Ken’s mapping to date glacial features. Ken’s work on soils and Quaternary geomorphology provided the framework for a variety of studies. His research with Cathy Whitlock and students revealed the history of Quaternary glaciation and vegetation change in the Greater Yellowstone Region. Grant Meyer and his students were informed by Ken’s work on fluvial geomorphology and wildfire in the Yellowstone region. In archeology, with colleague Ken Cannon, Ken combined his meticulous field mapping and careful dating to understand how ‘heavy breathing’ and deformation of the Yellowstone Caldera influenced lake shorelines of Yellowstone Lake. Ken, Jack Reed, John Good, and Dave Love published popular books on the Geology of Jackson Hole and Yellowstone found in most gift shops in the Greater Yellowstone region. Finally, Ken supported women in geoscience, in an era where female geoscientists were few and far between.