Surprise LCLU Coffee Discussion! Eliel Anttila on "Volcanigenic mineral-associated organic carbon preservation in marginal marine sediments"

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• Eliel Anttila (ETH Geology)
• Wednesday 26 November 2025, 16:00-17:00
• RDC Seminar East.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Paul B. Rimmer.

In person.

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Organic carbon burial is one of the major pathways by which carbon is removed from Earth’s ocean-atmosphere system, and is a principal process in the determination of Earth’s atmospheric composition and climate. Studies of modern sediments suggest that much of the organic carbon buried in margin-proximal marine basins, which host a major fraction of the global organic carbon burial flux, is preserved through physical protection afforded by the close association of buried organic carbon with reactive and high-surface-area minerals. However, the dominant mechanisms of organic carbon preservation deeper in Earth history remain the subject of scientific debate. Here, I will present new mineralogical, sedimentological, and geochemical data from the organic-rich marginal marine sediments of the Miocene Monterey Formation, CA, USA , which demonstrate that most of the organic carbon preserved in Monterey Formation shales is intimately associated with a suite of clay and zeolite minerals. Furthermore, these data suggest that many of the organic-associated minerals in the Monterey Formation are most-parsimoniously derived from the alteration of volcanic ash, pointing to a previously underappreciated role for volcanic ash flux in modulating the protection-based preservation of organic carbon. Finally, I will briefly discuss the environments, depositional settings, and time periods in which volcanic ash flux to sedimentary deposystems may have significantly impacted organic carbon preservation and burial throughout Earth history

This talk is part of the LCLU Coffee Meetings series.

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• LCLU Coffee Meetings
• RDC Seminar East

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