Joerg-Maletz
18.06.2026 | 13:15, Lecture hall C.011 | Dr. Jörg Maletz (Freie Universität Berlin) will give a lecture in the Geocolloquium series.
Dr. Jörg Maletz (Freie Universität Berlin)
Graptolites - Seriously!
Abstract: Graptolites - the most important group of the macroplankton in the Palaeozoic, remain one of these types of fossils, every student has to learn about, but very few will ever use during their career. Thus, I will provide here an overview of the impact that graptolites have in the Geological Sciences and how personal research at various levels (Batchelor, masters, PhD theses, etc.) can and will influence a career in Palaeontology, even if it is not based on one of the most talked-about fossil groups.
Vita: My research focussed for more than 40 years on graptolites, a peculiar fossil group of the Palaeozoic (Cambrian - Carboniferous), to which recently the extant Rhabdopleuridae and Cephalodiscidae (extant Pterobranchia) were added, modifying the understanding of the fossil graptolites considerably. Graptolites are used in a number of scientific aspects in the Geological Sciences and their use will not be easily understood at first. They are highly important for dating marine sedimentological successions and tracing intervals for oil and gas, as is very frequently done in the Sichuan Basin of the Yangtze Platform of China for example, one of my most recent areas of research, but also in numerous other regions. Graptolites may be essential for the interpretation of regional geology and plate tectonics. In the Chronostratigraphy of the Palaeozoic, graptolites provide the most important index fossils. Graptolites provide highly useful insight into the evolution of the marine ecosphere in the Palaeozoic, producing the first marine macroplankton moving freely in the water column.