I am a geologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at ETH Zürich. I use a diverse geological toolkit to interrogate the expression of Earth surface processes in the stratigraphic record, with the goal of characterizing and constraining the interfaces between tectonics, life, and climate throughout Earth history. Currently, my research program is centered around the improvement of (bio)geochemical models through the contextualization of sedimentary geochemical datasets with high-precision geochronology, physical sedimentology, and detailed field observations at a variety of scales. Specifically, I am interested in the evolution of the organic carbon and phosphorus cycles throughout Earth history, with an emphasis on elucidating the drivers and behavior of these cycles during periods of global change (e.g. the late Neoproterozoic and early Cambrian, the late Cretaceous, the Miocene, and the anthropogenic modern).

RESEARCH AREAS

  • Preservation and burial of organic carbon

    Constraining the mechanisms and magnitudes of organic carbon burial and preservation in the geologic past.
    Photo: Phosphate nodules and volcanic ash horizons within an organic-rich shale; Arroyo Burro, CA, USA.

  • Drivers of Miocene climate change

    Testing hypothesesized drivers of Miocene climate change using the natural laboratory of the Monterey Formation.
    Photo: Condensed phosphorites of the Monterey Formation, Tajiguas Beach, CA, USA.

  • Phosphogenesis

    Constraining the age, depositional context, and drivers of phosphogenesis at both ends of the Phanerozoic.
    Photo: Mapping an outcrop of the phosphorite-bearing Kheseen Formation, Khuvsgul Aimag, Mongolia.

  • Neoproterozoic-Cambrian stratigraphy and tectonic evolution of western Laurentia

    Distal Laurentian marginal strata provide a source-to-sink test of hypotheses for the timing and driving mechanisms of the generation of the Great Unconformity.
    Photo: Mapping the McCoy Creek Group, Schell Creek Range, NV, USA.

  • Volcanism along an evolving transform margin

    Constraining drivers of volcanism above a growing slab window via a spatiotemporal model for the evolution of the Coast Range Volcanics, CA, USA.
    Photo: Cliff exposure of the volcaniclastic Blanca Formation, Santa Cruz Island, CA, USA.

  • Tectonic and paleogeographic evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic System

    Tectonostratigraphic, paleomagnetic, and geochronological constraints on the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic evolution of the Mongolian portion of the Central Asian Orogenic System.
    Photo: Paleolatitudinal constraints, plotted vs. time, for several crustal components of the Central Asian Orogenic System.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Anttila, E.S.C., Macdonald, F.A., Schoene, B., Gaynor, S., 2024. Cambrian foreland phosphogenesis in the Khuvsgul Basin of Mongolia. American Journal of Science, in press. Pre-print DOI:10.31223/X5V141.
  • Anttila, E.S.C., Macdonald, F.A., Zinto, J., and Britt, M.D., 2024. The Real McCoy: Great Unconformity source-to-sink on the rifted passive margin of Laurentia. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v.642, 118852. DOI:10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118852.
  • Anttila, E.S.C., Macdonald, F.A., Szymanowski, D., Schoene, B., Kylander-Clark, A., Danhof, C. and Jones, D.S., 2023. Timing and tempo of organic carbon burial in the Monterey Formation of the Santa Barbara Basin and relationships with Miocene climate. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v.620, 118343. DOI:10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118343.
  • Anttila, E.S.C., Macdonald, F.A., and Bold, U., 2021. Stratigraphy of the Khuvsgul Group, Mongolia. Mongolian Geoscientist, 26(52), pp. 2-15. DOI:10.5564/mgs.v26i52.1516.
  • Park, Y., Maffre, P., Goddéris, Y., Macdonald, F.A., Anttila, E.S.C., and Swanson-Hysell, N.L., 2020. Emergence of the Southeast Asian islands as a driver for Neogene cooling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(41), pp. 25319-25326. DOI:10.1073/pnas.2011033117.
  • Park, Y., Swanson-Hysell, N.L., MacLennan, S.A., Maloof, A.C., Gebreslassie, M., Tremblay, M.M., Schoene, B., Alene, M., Anttila, E.S.C., Tesema, T. and Haileab, B., 2020. The lead-up to the Sturtian Snowball Earth: Neoproterozoic chemostratigraphy time-calibrated by the Tambien Group of Ethiopia GSA Bulletin, 132(5-6), pp. 1119-1149. DOI:10.1130/B35178.1.
  • MacLennan, S., Park, Y., Swanson-Hysell, N., Maloof, A., Schoene, B., Gebreslassie, M., Anttila, E.S.C., Tesema, T., Alene, M. and Haileab, B., 2018. The arc of the Snowball: U-Pb dates constrain the Islay anomaly and the initiation of the Sturtian glaciation. Geology, 46(6), pp. 539-542. DOI:10.1130/G40171.1.