sediments. When dredged material layers are less than prism 

 penetration depth, the relict or pre-disposal sediment surface 

 (relatively high reflectance) can also be seen beneath the black 

 dredged material layer (Figure 3-2) . In the WLIS survey area, 

 "ambient" sediments are highly reduced (extremely low 

 reflectance) and generally exhibit shallow RPD depths; this is 

 due to high levels of organic loading, restricted water exchange 

 and the severe sediment oxygen demand characteristic of the 

 western Long Island Sound region. As a result, disposed dredged 

 materials do not markedly contrast with ambient, reduced 

 subsurface sediments. Also, the signature of buried pre-disposal 

 oxidized layers may not be distinct or persistent. 



13. The data given in Figure 3-1 should be examined in 

 light of this caveat. Dredged material is concentrated across 

 the central and southeastern portions of the survey area. This 

 is expected given the locations of the recently used and active 

 disposal points. Some dredged material may also be present along 

 the northern edge and in the southwestern portion of the sampling 

 grid. Dredged material may extend eastward beyond the area 

 surveyed. However, this material would still be contained within 

 the boundaries of the WLIS disposal site (see Figure 2-1) . It is 

 important to note that dredged material is evident as a distinct 

 depositional layer in 50% (10 of 20) of the REMOTS replicates 

 from the WLIS reference station (Figure 3-3) . This station is 

 located approximately 2000 meters east of the survey area near an 

 historically-used disposal site (Eatons Neck) . The observed 

 dredged material apparently represents sediments derived from 

 previous disposal operations in the region. 



14. A benthic "process" map of the survey area is shown in 

 Figure 3-4. A process map presents features observed in REMOTS 

 images which are indicative of bottom disturbance. The scale of 

 these disturbance features is on the order of the REMOTS window 

 height (up to 2 cm) . The WLIS survey area consists 

 predominantly of silt-clay sediments (>4 phi) . Additionally, 

 very fine to fine sand layers (ranging from 4 to 2 phi) are 

 present at a number of stations. Five of the six stations along 

 the southern transect reveal a coarse-grained surface layer on 

 the order of 1 cm thick (Figure 3-5) . These stations also 

 exhibit shell lag deposits and mud clasts, and REMOTS prism 

 penetration was shallow relative to the rest of the site. These 

 features indicate that this portion of the grid represents a 

 relatively high kinetic region. Based on the bathymetric survey 

 discussed in Section 2.0, it is apparent that this southernmost 

 row of stations lies outside the WLIS trough in an area where the 

 seafloor begins to shoal. Near-surface sand layers are also 

 apparent at four stations in the northeast quadrant of the grid 

 (Figure 3-6) . These stations are located close to disposal 

 mounds "A", "B", and "C". The sand layers may represent lag 

 deposits produced by the winnowing action of bottom currents in 

 the immediate vicinity of the disposal mounds. Alternately, 

 these sands may represent dredged material. 



