Puget Sound Naval Shipyard - NOAA's Ocean Service Office of ...

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104 • Region 10Note: Shading of individual site areasis used for distinguishing boundaries.Puget Sound Naval Shipyard boundarySite 7Site 8Site 11Site 10EastSite 6Site 10CentralSite 12 3Site 9PIER 8Site 10WestSite 1PIER 7PIER 6Site 6PIER 5PIER 4Site 6PIER 3Site 3Site 6MOORING GMOORING FMOORING EPIER DSUPPLYPIERPIER BDRYDOCK 6MOORING ASinclair InletN0 100 200 300 400metersAdapted from U.S. Navy, 1989Figure 3. Locations of eleven sites where site inspections were performed at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.104 • Coastal Hazardous Waste Site Review / Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Region 10 • 105Two different sand and gravel aquifers have beendescribed near PSNS (URS 1992). The upperaquifer overlies a silt and clay aquitard throughoutthe area. The base of the aquifer ranges fromnear sea level to 90 m above sea level. Thesaturated thickness of the upper aquifer rangesfrom 6 m to more than 60 m. The lower aquiferoccurs at elevations ranging from slightly abovemean sea level to approximately 90 m belowmean sea level, and ranges in thickness from a fewmeters to 90 m. Despite the predominance ofimpervious surfaces, contaminants may haveentered the groundwater via leaking undergroundstorage tanks and cracked floors.Previous investigations at the site indicate that thethree fill areas that constitute Site 10 (Figure 3;Table 1) are hydraulically connected to SinclairInlet, and that groundwater in both aquifersmoves toward Sinclair Inlet (URS 1992). Contaminantsfrom the majority of the sites listed inTable 1 may have entered the groundwater andcould subsequently be transported to SinclairInlet.NOAA Trust Habitats and SpeciesHabitats of concern to NOAA are surface waterand associated bottom substrates of Sinclair Inlet.Compared with other regions of Puget Sound,Sinclair Inlet is relatively shallow, an average of13 to 22 m deep (U.S. Department of Commerce1979). Substrates are predominantly mud, withareas of sand deposits along the southern shore ofSinclair Inlet (WDNR 1977). Currents nearPSNS are weak and variable (average currentspeed is 0.08 knots; Tetra Tech 1988); tidalamplitude averages 2.5 m. Surface waters are cool(6.6 to 16.6°C), saline (24 to 31 ppt), and welloxygenated(average 7.9 mg/l; WDNR 1977).Shallow nearshore depths and tidal wetlandscombined with deeper, cooler troughs in thecenter of the inlet provide a diverse habitat.A variety of anadromous, estuarine, and invertebrateNOAA trust resources use Sinclair Inlet(Table 2: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1981;Freymond personal communication 1991; Fyfepersonal communication 1991; WDF 1992;Zichke personal communication 1992). SinclairInlet and its drainages support various salmonids,including wild stocks of early and late chumsalmon, sea-run cutthroat trout, and steelheadtrout (Brooks personal communication 1992).Chum salmon is the most abundant and widelydistributed species, followed by coho salmon.Chinook salmon are also present, but not as wildfall stocks. Chinook populations are limited byavailable upstream spawning habitat. Mostupland drainages associated with Sinclair Inletprovide important salmon spawning habitats,especially the Gorst Creek (at the head of theinlet) and Blackjack Creek watersheds (Figure 2).The Anderson and Ross creek systems mayoccasionally support salmonids as well. Cutthroattrout are suspected to use all salmon habitat,while steelhead are less widely distributed(Freymond personal communication 1991).Several streams are stocked regularly by either theCoastal Hazardous Waste Site Review / Puget Sound Naval Shipyard • 105
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