"stressed" benthic environment. This is likely due to the high 

 natural and anthropogenic inputs of organic-rich material and 

 restricted water movement characteristic of this region of Long 

 Island Sound. In general, higher-order successional infauna are 

 found only in the western portion of the survey area (away from 

 the most recent disposal operations) . Evidence of widespread 

 megafaunal bottom disturbance is apparent in many of the REMOTS 

 images. In- situ diver observations confirm that abundant motile 

 epifauna, e.g. decapods, are the major cause of bioturbation on 

 the disposal mounds. By increasing substratum complexity, 

 disposal activities appear to be providing refugia for juvenile 

 epibenthos. 



41. REMOTS imagery can detect small-scale seafloor 

 disturbance features from 0-20 cm in extent (the height of the 

 REMOTS window) . The post Hurricane Gloria REMOTS survey shows 

 widespread evidence of this small-scale physical disturbance, 

 e.g. mud clasts, shell lag layers, enhanced boundary roughness. 

 These features indicate that near-surface sediments in the survey 

 area were recently resuspended or eroded. Disturbance features 

 are most prevalent on the two larger mounds "A" and "C" . Severe 

 sediment oxygen demand is also apparent at the site; this is most 

 likely due to erosion of surface aerobic sediment layers which 

 exposes reduced sediments to the sediment -water interface. This 

 hurricane-induced near-surface disturbance appears to have 

 stressed the benthic community in the WLIS survey area. 



42. In terms of disposal site management, the post- 

 hurrdcane results indicate that despite evidence of small-scale 

 (<2 cm) disturbance of the disposal mounds and the associated 

 benthic community, no significant redistribution of dredged 

 materials occurred in the WLIS survey area. 



43. The pre- and post-storm distribution of dredged 

 material indicates that the passage of Hurricane Gloria did not 

 affect the stability of the disposal mounds or the containment 

 properties of the WLIS disposal site. Because the level of 

 contamination of the dredged material is the same or less than 

 the surrounding sediment, the movement of contaminants outside of 

 the immediate survey area was not detectable. 



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