report has documented the effects of the hurricane on the FVP 

 disposal site in October, and these results have been compared 

 with the March and June 1985 FVP REMOTS® data to provide an 

 assessment of long-term changes in benthic conditions. 



Although the FVP site consisted predominately of 

 silt-clay sediments, thin sand layers were evident at stations 

 CTR, 150E and 100W. This material represents lag deposits which 

 indicate current scouring of the central mound area. In 

 addition, patches of reduced sediment were evident at or near the 

 sediment-water interface in many of the REMOTS® images from both 

 FVP and CLIS-REF. Small-scale topographic relief has also 

 increased throughout the region for the first time since December 

 1984. All these features indicate recent seafloor erosion, an 

 apparent result of Hurricane Gloria. 



The apparent RPD depths observed in this survey were 

 the lowest observed at FVP and CLIS-REF since the monitoring 

 program began. Again, this is partially attributable to the 

 effects of Hurricane Gloria; a number of images revealed 

 truncated redox layers indicating that aerated surface layers had 

 been removed by erosion. However, even prior to the Hurricane, 

 RPD values in June were relatively shallow throughout the FVP 

 site. This suggests that the region was experiencing disturbance 

 factors during much of 1985. At the CLIS-REF station, it is 

 proposed that one potential major disturbance factor was the 

 intense FVP-DAMOS sampling program over the previous two years. 



Low-order successional infauna dominated the FVP and 

 CLIS-REF sites. The abundance of Stage III infauna at FVP has 

 been relatively low throughout 1985. While the most recent 

 contributing factor to this "retrograde" status was Hurricane 

 Gloria, it is also possible that at certain times the area 

 experienced near-bottom hypoxia as part of a Sound-wide 

 phenomenon. At CLIS-REF, the progressive decrease in the number 

 of high-order successional stages indicates that the area has 

 changed relative to its historical status due to one or more of 

 the disturbance factors discussed above. 



Reflecting the shallow RPD depths and low-order 

 successional status, the Organism-Sediment Indices observed at 

 FVP and CLIS-REF in October 1985 were extremely low. By June, 

 both the FVP site and CLIS-REF were exhibiting evidence of 

 disturbance. This marked a reversal of a trend which started 

 with the first post-disposal REMOTS® survey in May 1983 and 

 continued through March 1985, during which time there appeared to 

 be a convergence of benthic conditions between the FVP disposal 

 site and CLIS-REF. Although the origins of this reversal are 

 unclear, localized erosion of the disposal mound and the 

 development of seasonal near-bottom hypoxia are possible 

 explanations. Subsequently, the strong disturbance effects of 

 Hurricane Gloria have enhanced the retrograde conditions at the 



