approximately 1600 meters west of the eastern boundary of the 

 WLIS Disposal Site (Figure 2-1) , this dredged material is likely 

 contained well within the disposal site. In general, the dredged 

 material observed in the western portion of the survey area was 

 fine-grained and did not exhibit a sharp contrast to the 

 surrounding sediments in terms of its reflectance and many of the 

 layers were discontinuous (Figure 4-1) . This "weathered" dredged 

 material apparently represents sediments deposited in past years 

 (at points "A" and "B"). 



Dredged material was also detected in 35% (7 of 20) of 

 the WLIS Reference images. In August 1985, dredged material was 

 observed in 50% of the Reference images. Based on its very low- 

 contrast optical signature and discontinuous layering (Figure 4- 

 1) , this sediment is inferred to represent relict dredged 

 material. The Reference station is located near the edge of an 

 historically-used disposal site (Eatons Neck) . These inferences 

 regarding "relict" dredged material are further supported by the 

 lack of sandy sediments at the Reference station. Sands were 

 concentrated only around disposal point "C". Based on scow logs, 

 this coarse-grained material represents the most recently 

 deposited material. The placement of the WLIS Reference station 

 near a previously-used disposal site (Eatons Neck) is the 

 unavoidable result of several constraints encountered during 

 station designation. These constraints included locating a 

 station near the WLIS Disposal Site of comparable water depth, 

 bottom topography, and sediment type. In addition, several 

 formerly used disposal sites are present in the region. 

 Consequently, an area satisfying the above environmental criteria 

 that did not occur in or immediately adjacent to an historic 

 disposal site could not be found. 



Some infaunal recolonization of the survey area has 

 occurred between the 1985 and 1986 surveys. Stage III taxa were 

 more widespread in the region of the active disposal point in 

 1986 (50% of the images) than in 1985 (33% of the images) . 

 Overall, however, OSI values in the WLIS survey area have not 

 changed. Moreover, RPD depths across the survey area have become 

 shallower since 1985. This change appears to reflect bottom- 

 water oxygen depletion. Near-bottom hypoxia was prevalent 

 throughout much of the Sound in August 1986 (this is discussed 

 further below) . 



This is the second REMOTS® survey at the WLIS disposal 

 site since August 1985. The previous survey was conducted in 

 October 1985, one month after Hurricane Gloria. This post-storm 

 survey was concentrated on, and around, the three disposal 

 mounds. The post-storm survey indicated that massive sediment 

 transport or erosion of existing mounds did not occur. However, 

 many stations experienced surface erosion which was deep enough 

 to strip-off the aerated surface and expose reduced sediment to 

 the water column. This phenomenon caused a major downward shift 



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