August and October. This reversal in successional status could 

 be related to both physical disturbance and surface erosion of 

 the dredged material mound, as well as developing hypoxia in 

 near-bottom waters throughout this region of the Sound. At 

 CLIS-REF, the number of replicates that showed Stage III seres 

 also decreased progressively throughout 1985 (March = 87%, June = 

 61%, August = 55%). In REMOTS® surveys prior to 1985, over 80% 

 of the CLIS-REF replicates revealed Stage III seres. The most 

 recent contributing factor to the "retrograde" status of CLIS-REF 

 in October was Hurricane Gloria. However, by August (when 

 CLIS-REF was surveyed during the CLIS disposal sites survey) , the 

 site already showed evidence of physical disturbance and 

 retrograde infaunal succession. It is possible that in August 

 this area was experiencing seasonal near-bottom hypoxia, a Sound- 

 wide phenomenon. It again becomes impossible to determine the 

 extent to which the retrograde status of the reference site in 

 October can be attributed to either the hurricane, seasonal 

 hypoxia or the long-term combined sampling effort of both DAMOS 

 and the FVP investigations by ERLN. 



The REMOTS® Organism-Sediment Indices (OS I) mapped at 

 the various FVP stations and at the CLIS-REF station (Figure 

 3-15) represent the lowest observed since the first post-disposal 

 FVP survey; this reflects both the extremely shallow RPD depths 

 and the low-order successional status. While the frequency 

 distributions of OSI values did not vary significantly between 

 the three regions surveyed in October (Figure 3-16) , there is a 

 trend of decreasing OSI values during 1985 (Figure 3-17) . Each 

 area exhibited a broad range of OSI values indicative of the 

 extreme patchiness in benthic conditions. This patchiness was 

 evident in June at the mound and edge and ambient stations. At 

 CLIS-REF, the patchiness in OSI values began to develop in June 

 and was most notable in October. 



Overall, the FVP site was significantly disturbed in 

 1985. This downturn in benthic conditions began subsequent to 

 the March survey, but it was clearly evident by June. The 

 September hurricane apparently enhanced the retrograde condition 

 of the benthic system. However, it is unclear how much of the 

 system disturbance measured by the various REMOTS® parameters 

 (successional stage, RPD depth, OSI, and boundary roughness) is 

 due solely to the storm. At CLIS-REF, the site was markedly 

 disturbed by August, possibly as a result of near-bottom hypoxia 

 and/or oversampling. The fact that some disturbance might be 

 attributable to over-sampling at the traditional CLIS-REF station 

 reinforces the new sampling protocol of using more than one 

 reference area. 



4.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



One month prior to the October REMOTS® survey, 

 Hurricane Gloria moved through central Long Island Sound. This 



