Carlton E. Brett

Biography

Dr. Brett's research focuses on relating regional and global changes in sea level, climate, and the carbon cycle to episodes of biotic change (bioevents) and extinction, and time-specific sedimentary facies. Projects involve establishing regional and global patterns of Paleozoic sequence stratigraphy and relating them to prolonged intervals of relative biotic stability, or "coordinated stasis", and episodes of abrupt change. He also maintains active research in taphonomy, including comparative fossil preservation and modern experimental approaches designed to test the concept of taphofacies, pursuing studies of ancient organism interactions including organism-substrate relationships and the mid Paleozoic predator revolution, and the paleobiology of marine invertebrates, especially echinoderms and arthropods.

Research Interest

Carl Brett's research lies at the interface between paleontology and sedimentary geology. He has spent some four decades researching the paleontology and stratigraphy of the mid Paleozoic strata of eastern North America and elsewhere and is presently a member of the international Subcommissions on Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian Stratigraphy. He is pursuing studies relating regional and global changes climate, sea level and the carbon cycle to episodes of biotic change (bioevents) and extinction, as well as time-specific facies. He is particularly interested in the paleoecology and evolution of Paleozoic echinoderms, trilobites, brachiopods, and trace fossils. Carl also maintains active research interests in taphonomy, including ancient taphofacies and modern experimental approaches, paleoecology, evolutionary paleobiology, and sequence stratigraphy; his research has led to the introduction of concepts of taphofacies, coordinated stasis, and the mid Paleozoic predator revolution. Among the highlights of his career are the receipt the Paleontological Society’s Schuchert Award; his election as a fellow of the Paleontological Society and of the Geological Society of America; his receipt in 2008 of the Digby McClaren Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Stratigraphic Paleontology; and his receipt in 2005 of an Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize. He is the 2012 recipient of the Raymond C. Moore Medal of SEPM for excellence in paleontological research and 2013 recipient of the AAPG’s Grover Murray Outstanding Geological Educator award. Carl has published some 300 peer-reviewed papers and guidebooks, and five edited books, and has supervised 55 graduate students.