Research Poster Symposium
Student Summaries

Urban Water Supply Vulnerability
Crouch, M.
Physical Sciences
Mathematics, Sciences, and Engineering

In the United States 68% of the population relies on surface water (streams, reservoirs) for drinking water. 36% of large cities water supplies are vulnerable to failure in the future from overuse, and this number will increase to 44% in 2040 due to population growth. Raleigh and the surrounding metropolitan areas are rapidly expanding and rely upon Falls and Jordan Lakes for drinking water. These lakes develop anoxic bottom waters during the summer stratification periods. We have investigated this lower anoxic layer with a GOPRO anchor-cam and found bacterial mats on the floor of the lake, and “lake snow” or floating bacterial colonies in the anoxic bottom layer. This research provides shares information on the vulnerability of drinking water from Jordan and Falls Lake.

A Probable Deinosuchus Track: A First Record from the Upper Cretaceous Menefee Formation, San Juan Basin, Northern New Mexico
Giraldo, D., King, R., Smith, J., and Zanno, L.
Department of Natural Sciences, Wake Technical Community College
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Western Slope Paleontology, Grand Junction, CO, USA Paleontology, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University

The early Campanian Menefee Formation, San Juan Basin, northwestern New Mexico, preserves fossils from a poorly understood interval in Earth’s history. A brief survey in 2017 recovered new remains of turtles and dinosaurs and a variety of ichnofossils including a large, well-preserved track attributed to a crocodilian. Crocodilian tracks have not yet been reported for the Menefee Formation, and few are documented in Cretaceous deposits of the Western Interior Basin. Here we describe the newly discovered crocodilian track, create a 3D photogrammetric model of the track, and use measurements to estimate the body length of the track maker. In this study, the investigators conclude that the track from the Menefee Formation is likely attributable to Deinosuchus, one of the largest crocodilians to have inhabited North America.