location. A Stage III-I designation indicates the presence of 

 Stage I organisms on Stage III. Stage III seres (Figure 3-16) 

 predominated at this mound (79% of the station replicates) . This 

 compared with 65% in September 1984 and 82% in August 1983. This 

 mound has exhibited a relatively high-order successional assemblage 

 since the initiation of the REMOTS® monitoring program in 1983. 



The frequency distribution of Organism-Sediment Index 

 (OSI) values (a summary statistic based on the RPD and successional 

 stage, Figure 3-14) showed that most of the figures from August 

 were above +7 with a major mode of +11. The spatial distribution 

 of OSI values at this mound (Figure 3-17) showed relatively high 

 values spread over the entire area surveyed, reflecting the 

 relatively deep RPD values and the abundance of Stage III infauna. 



Post Storm Survey 



A REMOTS® survey of ten stations (Figure 3-18) at the 

 STNH-N disposal mound was performed on 1 November, approximately 

 one month after Hurricane Gloria. The effects of the hurricane on 

 the STNH-N disposal mound were clearly evident in the REMOTS® 

 images. The "process" map of STNH-N (Figure 3-18) includes any 

 erosional or depositional information obtained from the REMOTS® 

 images. These features include mud clasts, shell lag deposits, 

 exposed worm tubes, and bedforms (Figure 3-19) . Erosional features 

 were evident at all stations except for 200W. At stations 200N, 

 25W, 25E, and 200S, the extent of this erosion was estimated by 

 measuring the distance that large worm tubes extend above the 

 interface. These taxa characteristically build their tubes to the 

 level of the sediment-water interface. The sudden removal of 

 surface sediments resulted in these tubes being exposed above the 

 interface. As a result, a minimum depth of material removed could 

 be estimated. Approximately 0.5 cm of material was scoured from 

 the central portion of the disposal mound (Figure 3-18) . It is 

 unknown whether or not this erosion represented a net loss of 

 sediment from this region. Distinct depositional layers were not 

 evident in any post-storm images. 



Small-scale topographic relief increased significantly 

 since the August survey (Mann-Whitney U-test, p = 0.0154). This 

 increase was due to the presence of bedforms and scour surfaces, 

 results of the disturb-ance produced by Hurricane Gloria. 



The post-storm RPD depths at STNH-N (Figure 3-20) were 

 significantly shallower than those observed in August 1985 (compare 

 with Figure 3-15; Mann-Whitney U-test, p < 0.001). This decrease 

 was evidently due to the disturbance and erosion of the surface 

 sediments caused by Hurricane Gloria. The shallowest RPD values 

 were concentrated near the center of the disposal mound. This 



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