Zachary F. M. Burton is the inaugural Assistant Professor of Critical Resources at Montana State University in Bozeman, and affiliate faculty of the ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration.
Alongside managing a highly active research program, Dr. Burton regularly speaks for audiences around the world. He has presented for The World Bank and IFC, TEDx, Amazon, NextEra, PG&E, CVX, SFPD, YC, ZSFG, US DOD, DOE, DOI, DOS, Kenya Ministry of Health, Federation of European Biochemical Societies, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and Museum of Science and the Cosmos in the Canary Islands, Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security, Vail Global Energy Forum, Yellowstone, and for corporations, universities, and news outlets worldwide.
He has also earned accolades and driven global impact as a mental health advocate and as creator of the internationally acclaimed play, The Manic Monologues.
Ph.D., Stanford University, 2021
A.B., Bowdoin College, 2015
17. Burton, Z. F. M. & Bishop, J. L. (2026). Basalt weathering to clays in a hot-desert Mars analog setting: Caldera de Gairía (Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain). Minerals 16: 501, doi: 10.3390/min16050501.
16. Burton, Z. F. M. & Seol, Y. (2026). Gas hydrate recycling: Overview and future directions. Frontiers in Marine Science 13: 1804991, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2026.1804991. (Invited submission.)
15. Burton, Z. F. M., Koeberl, C., Bishop, J. L., Englert, P. A. J., Smith, M. P., Foerder, A. B., & Gibson, E. K. (2025). Controls on cold-climate critical minerals: Regolith-hosted REE at three polar desert salt ponds (McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica). Cold Regions Science and Technology 239: 104583, doi: 10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104583.
14. Dafov, L. N., Burton, Z. F. M.*, Haines, S. S., Hosford Scheirer, A., Masurek, N., Boswell, R., Frye, M., Seol, Y., & Graham, S. A. (2025). Terrebonne Basin, Gulf of Mexico gas hydrate resource evaluation and 3-D modeling of basin-scale sedimentation, salt tectonics, and hydrate system evolution since the early Miocene. Marine and Petroleum Geology 176: 107330, doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2025.107330. (* = corresponding)
13. Burton, Z. F. M., McHargue, T. R., & Graham, S. A. (2024). Global Eocene-Oligocene unconformity in clastic sedimentary basins. Earth-Science Reviews 258: 104912, doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104912. (Invited Review.)
12. Foerder, A. B., Englert, P. A. J., Bishop, J. L., Koeberl, C., Burton, Z. F. M., Patel, S., & Gibson, E. K. (2024). Don Juan Basin, Antarctica: A chemically altering environment with martian analog potential. American Mineralogist 109: 682–700, doi: 10.2138/am-2022-8779.
11. Burton, Z. F. M., Bishop, J. L., Englert, P. A. J., Szynkiewicz, A., Koeberl, C., Dera, P., McKenzie, W., & Gibson, E. K. (2023). A shallow salt pond analog for aqueous alteration on ancient Mars: Spectroscopy, mineralogy, and geochemistry of sediments from Antarctica’s Dry Valleys. American Mineralogist 108: 1017–1031, doi: 10.2138/am-2022-8381.
10. Burton, Z. F. M. & Dafov, L. N. (2023). Salt diapir-driven recycling of gas hydrate. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 24: e2022GC010704, doi: 10.1029/2022GC010704.
9. Burton, Z. F. M., McHargue, T. R., Kremer, C. H., Bloch, R. B., Gooley, J. T., Jaikla, C., Harrington, J., & Graham, S. A. (2023). Peak Cenozoic warmth enabled deep-sea sand deposition. Scientific Reports 13: 1276, doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-27138-2.
8. Burton, Z. F. M. & Cao, X. E. (2022). Navigating mental health challenges in graduate school. Nature Reviews Materials 7: 421–423, doi: 10.1038/s41578-022-00444-x.
7. Burton, Z. F. M. (2022). Sediment organic contents required for gas hydrate formation: A survey of published basin and hydrocarbon system models. Fuels 3: 580–587, doi: 10.3390/fuels3040035. (Invited submission.)
6. Burton, Z. F. M. & Dafov, L. N. (2022). Testing the sediment organic contents required for biogenic gas hydrate formation: Insights from synthetic 3-D basin and hydrocarbon system modelling. Fuels 3: 555–562, doi: 10.3390/fuels3030033. (Invited submission.)
5. Bishop, J. L., Yeşilbaş, M., Hinman, N. W., Burton, Z. F. M., Englert, P. A. J., Toner, J. D., McEwen, A. S., Gulick, V. C., Gibson, E. K., & Koeberl, C. (2021). Martian subsurface cryosalt expansion and collapse as trigger for landslides. Science Advances 7: eabe4459, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abe4459.
4. Burton, Z. F. M., Kroeger, K., Hosford Scheirer, A., Seol, Y., Burgreen-Chan, B., & Graham, S. A. (2020). Tectonic uplift destabilizes subsea gas hydrate: A model example from Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand. Geophysical Research Letters 47: e2020GL087150, doi: 10.1029/2020GL087150.
3. Jacobson, M. Z., von Krauland, A.-K., Burton, Z. F. M., Coughlin, S., Jaeggli, C., Nelli, D., Nelson, A., Shu, Y., Smith, M., Tan, C., Wood, C., & Wood, K. (2020). Transitioning all energy in 74 metropolitan areas, including 30 megacities, to 100% clean and renewable wind, water, and sunlight (WWS). Energies 13: 4934, doi: 10.3390/en13184934.
2. Burton, Z. F. M., Moldowan, J. M., Magoon, L. B., Sykes, R., & Graham, S. A. (2019). Interpretation of source rock depositional environment and age from seep oil, east coast of New Zealand. International Journal of Earth Sciences 108: 1079–1091, doi: 10.1007/s00531-018-01675-6.
1. Burton, Z. F. M., Moldowan, J. M., Sykes, R., & Graham, S. A. (2018). Unraveling petroleum degradation, maturity, and mixing and addressing impact on petroleum prospectivity: Insights from frontier exploration regions in New Zealand. Energy & Fuels 32: 1287–1296, doi: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.7b03261.