1.0 INTRODUCTION 
The New London Disposal Site, located approximately two 
nautical miles south of the mouth of the Thames River, consists of 
a one nautical mile square centered at 41°16.1'N and 72°04.6'W. 
This disposal site has been monitored by the DAMOS program since 
1977. Initially, the monitoring was in response to concerns about 
possible environmental impacts resulting from the disposal of 
dredged material removed from the Thames River to accommodate deep 
draft submarines. Since that time, dredging has continued both in 
the Thames River and at other locations in the eastern Long Island 
Sound region, resulting in approximately 150,000 m> (200,000 yd*) 
of dredged material being deposited annually at the New London 
Disposal Site. 
During the periods 30 July to 29 August and 7 to 14 
November 1985 and 23 to 24 January, 1 to 14 July, and 23 September 
1986, field operations were conducted at the New London Disposal 
Site to provide information about the fates and effects of past 
dredged material disposal operations. The field operations 
included precision bathymetric surveys, side scan sonar surveys, 
sediment-profile photography (REMOTS®), and sediment sampling for 
chemical, benthic community, and contaminant body burden analyses. 
The primary objectives of the work performed during the 1985 and 
1986 studies were: 
2 to determine if management controls initiated by the New 
England Division, US Army Corps of Engineers had 
minimized dispersion of dredged material and subsequent 
environmental impacts both within and outside the site 
boundaries, 
a to define and survey a point within the site to determine 
its suitability for disposal of dredged material in the 
fall of 1985, 
5 to determine the concentrations of selected chemical 
constituents in sediments at both the disposal and 
reference sites, 
a to analyze the benthic community structure at the 
disposal site and reference station for comparison with 
future monitoring studies, 
a to perform in-situ observations of physical and 
biological conditions at the sediment surface within the 
disposal site and provide photo documentation of these 
conditions, and 
ry to collect baseline data on body burden levels of 
selected contaminants in local benthic fauna both within 
the disposal site and at nearby reference stations for 
al 
