REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE 



Form approved 

 OMB No. 0704-0188 



Public reporting concern for the collection of Information It estimated to average 1 hour per response Including the time for reviewing Instructions, searching existing 

 data sources, gathering and measuring the data needed and correcting and reviewing the collection of Information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or 

 any other aspect of this collection of Information Including suggestions for reducing this burden to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information 

 Observations and Records, 1216 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302 and to the Office of Management and Support, Paperwork Reduction 

 Project (0704-0188), Washington, D.C. 20503. 



1. AGENCY USE ONLY (LEAVE BLANK) 



P. REPORT DATE 



January 1996 



3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED 



Final report 



4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 



Sediment Core Chemistry Data Summary from the MQR Mound, August & December 1991 



5. FUNDING NUMBERS 



6. AUTHORS) 



Peggy M. Murray 



7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESSES) 



Science Applications International Corporation 

 221 Thrid Street 

 Newport, Rl 02840 



B. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT 

 NUMBER 



SAIC-92&C105 



9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 



US Army Corps of Engineers-New England Division 

 424 Trapelo Road 

 Waltham, MA 02254-9149 



10. SPONSORING/ MONITORING AGENCY 

 REPORT NUMBER 



DAMOS Contribution 

 Number 103 



11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 



Available from DAMOS Program Manager, Regulatory Division 

 USACE-NED, 424 Trapelo Road, Waltham, MA 02254-9149 



12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 



Approved for public release; distribution unlimited 



12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE 



13. ABSTRACT 



Biological and chemical monitoring results from the Mill-Quinnipiac River Disposal Mound (MQR) have indicated slow, and 

 perhaps retrograde, recolonization rates relative to other mounds formed within the same time period. These results triggered a more 

 intensive investigation of the MQR mound. 



In August of 1991, sediment was collected for a bioassy test, and, at the same time, six gravity cores were collected from the 

 mound center. The cores were described, and sampled for inorganic and organic chemical analyses. Core samples were stored until 

 completion of the bioassy test; results showed that the MQR sediment caused significant amphipod toxicity. Following the tiered 

 approach to disposal mound monitoring, sediment samples from the coring cruise were analzyed in order to identify contaminant(s) 

 potentially responsible for the benthic conditions at MQR. 



Sediment core samples were analyzed for grain size, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's), priority pollutant 

 metals, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's), and volatile organics. Core descriptions indicated that two primary lithologies had 

 been recovered. The top 1-1.5 meters of each core consisted of black silt clay, overlying a sandier interval with clasts and plant 

 fragments. 



Physical and chemical analyses were used to construct a stratigraphy of the MQR mound in order to identify the origin of the 

 surface sediments. Trace metal results were compared with historical data complied from the sources of the dredged material. Trace 

 metal ratios indicated that most of the cored sediments were derived from the New Haven Harbor, the location of the capping material 

 used to cover the MQR mound. The sandier sediments in the lower part of the cores appeared to be either Mill or Quinnipiac River 

 sediments, or a combination of both. 



Both bathymetric and modelled dredged material thickness estimates were consistent with the presence of a thick (1.5m) New 

 Haven cap on the surface of MQR. The cap sediments contained relatively high PAH concentrations, indicating that the material 

 dredged from New Haven Harbor for the MQR cap contained these contaminants at the time of disposal. PAH's have been included as 

 part of the regional testing protocol since 1989, so that at the time of disposal (1982), the presence of PAH's would have been 

 overlooked by routine chemical testing. New Haven Harbor material has been used successfully as cap material at other CLIS capped 

 mounds. In the case of MQR, material may have been dredged from inner New Haven Harbor, which is influenced by the input of both 

 Mill and Quinnipiac River sediments. 



14. SUBJECT TERMS 



MQR REMOTS CLIS DAMOS PAH's PCB's 



bathymetric 



15. NUMBER OF PAGES 

 7D 



16. PRICE CODE 



17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF REPORT 



Unclassified 



18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS 

 PAGE 



19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF 

 ABSTRACT 



20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 



