SECTION III. THE NEW YORK BIGHT ENVIRONMENT 

 1. Bottom and Subbottom Characteristics 



a. Geomorphology . New York Bight is the geographic name given to 

 the re-entrant Atlantic coast and Continental Shelf region extending from 

 Cape May, New Jersey, north and east to Montauk, Long Island (Figure 2). 

 The coastline is characterized by sandy beaches with numerous estuaries 

 which include Little Egg Inlet, Bamegat Inlet, Lower and Upper New York 

 Bay, East Rockaway Inlet, Fire Island Inlet, Moriches Inlet and Shinnecock 

 Inlet. Water depths generally exceed 100 feet within about 50 miles off- 

 shore. 



The Inner New York Bight covers about 250 square miles (Figure 3) and 

 was formed by the drowning of the lower Hudson and Raritan river valleys 

 by the post glacial rise of sea level. Lower Bay, the largest part of 

 New York York Harbor, is separated from the open ocean by Sandy Hook and 

 Rockaway Point. The lower parts of the Hudson and Raritan Rivers, their 

 tributaries (East River, Arthur Kill, Kill Van Kull, Harlem River), Newark 

 Bay, and Upper Bay are called the Inner Harbor. The part south of Staten 

 Island lying between the Narrows and the harbor entrance is considered 

 the Outer Harbor. 



The Continental Shelf, seaward of New York Harbor is a gently sloping 

 plain, 110 miles wide, marked by numerous submerged small relief ridges 

 and troughs which resemble remnant barrier islands and associated lagoons 

 dissected by subaerial glacially fed streams. (McKinney and Friedman, 

 1970) . Much of the present shelf morphology evolved during the past 

 15,000 years as the climate has moderated and sea level risen. The 

 Hudson Channel is a relict submarine channel that extends south from the 

 entrance of the Harbor continuously across the Shelf, to connect with the 

 head of Hudson Canyon at the Shelf edge. 



The surface morphology of the inner Continental Shelf in the ocean 

 dumping grounds of the N.Y. Bight has been significantly altered over the 

 past 85-90 years by anthropogenic deposition. Comparison of Figures 3 

 and 4 clearly shows that the Hudson Channel immediately east of Sandy 

 Hook has been modified as well as the Diamond Hill area about 2 miles 

 northeast. Historical records indicate that those areas have received 

 various types of disposed materials since at least 1885. Figure 5 shows 

 the limits of significant contour differences between the 1845 survey 

 (Figure 4) and the most recent chart (Figure 3) . 



b. Geologic History and Stratigraphy . CERC, as part of its Inner 

 Continental Shelf Study Program (ICONS) has collected 445 miles of high 

 resolution geophysical reflection records from the shallow shelf area in 

 the Inner Bight (Fig. 6). In addition, 61 pneumatic vibratory piston 

 cores averaging 10-feet long of recovered material and 4-inches in 

 diameter and have been obtained (Williams and Duane, in press). Some 

 cores were taken in the individual dump grounds, and showed small amounts 

 of apparent spoil. Also, borings, to depths in excess of 100 feet, were 



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