identify dredged material, and as indicated above, there was no 

 direct physical evidence of either recent or relict dredged 

 material in the photographs from the site. 



The frequency distribution of mean apparent RPD depth 

 showed a major mode at the 4 cm class interval (mean RPD depth = 

 3.86 cm ± 0.72cm; Figure 3-83). These values were significantly 

 greater than those from the new CLIS reference station (p < 0.05, 

 Mann-Whitney U-test) . The areal distribution of RPD values showed 

 that mean apparent RPD depths were generally uniformly deep (Figure 

 3-82) . Two small areas exist where RPD values were less than 3 

 cm. ; stations Bl and CI fell within this shallow redox area and 

 also had high boundary roughness values. Station Gl, which had a 

 relatively thin RPD, also had sand-over-mud stratigraphy. Based 

 on physical criteria alone, these stations are potential locations 

 where "errant dumps" may have occurred during the original disposal 

 operation of Black Rock Harbor materials at the FVP mound. 



The map of successional stage (Figure 3-84) showed a 

 patchy mosaic of Stage I, Stage I-III and Stage III assemblages. 

 The absence of replicate photographs did not allow an evaluation 

 of within-station variation. However, if this map is an adequate 

 characterization of successional status, than stations Dl and Gl 

 (Stage I seres) also had thin RPD values, and station Gl showed 

 sand-over-mud stratigraphy. These REMOTS® parameters suggest that 

 these stations might have experienced disturbance in the recent 

 past, however, there was no evidence in the side-scan records to 

 support this possiblity (see section 3.2). 



The Organism-Sediment Index frequency distribution was 

 bimodal, with a major mode at +11 and a minor mode at +7 (Figure 

 3-83); the mean OSI value for this area was high (9.15 ± 1.98). 

 OSI values were not significantly different from those measured at 

 the new CLIS reference station. In our past REMOTS® work 

 associated with monitoring disposal mounds in central Long Island 

 Sound, we found that OSI values of +6 or less indicated recently 

 disturbed environments. This disturbance could be related to 

 disposal activities or natural events such as bottom erosion or 

 predation. The areal distribution of OSI values showed four 

 locations with values equal to or less than +6 (Figure 3-85) . 



3.4.2 Ghost Site-2 (GHOST-2) 



The sediment grain-size major mode at all the Ghost Site- 

 2 stations was silt-clay (> 4 phi) . Fourteen stations showed a 

 minor mode of sand within the surface layers (Figure 3-86) . It is 

 unclear if this sand component was related to past disposal events 

 or, as previously mentioned, to the onshore to offshore transport 

 of sand related to Hurricane Gloria. No other clear evidence of 

 exotic (i.e., disposed) materials was present (e.g., buried redox 



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