Desert Research Institute University and Community College System of Nevada P.O. Box 60220 Reno, Nevada 89506

Contact: John Doherty Public Information Office Reno (702) 673-7313 Las Vegas (702) 862-5414

A study of the role of forest fires, climate and geologic processes in altering the landscape of Yellowstone National Park has won a Desert Research Institute scientist a share of the prestigious Kirk Bryan Award from the geological Society of America (GSA). Dr. Stephen Wells, research professor and executive director of DRI's Quaternary Sciences Center, accepted the award with his co-authors at the GSA Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City in October.

Wells, with lead author Grant Meyer of Middlebury College and co-author A.J. Timothy Jull of the University of Arizona, published "Fire and alluvial chronology in Yellowstone National Park: Climatic and intrinsic controls on Holocene geomorphic processes," in the GSA Bulletin. The 1995 paper examined the significance of reent and ancient fires compared to geology and climate in the evolution of the popular park in the pas 10,000 years.

A geomorphologist, Wells studies how landscapes change in relation to climate change, to volcanic and earthquake activity, and to human activities such as forest fires and accelarated erosion. DRI's Quaternary Sciences Center studies the influence of these proceses during hte last 1.6 million years as well as relevant anthropological topics.


Return to News Release Headlines