• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1C
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• pp.63-74
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• 2008

Site response analyses were performed based on equivalent linear technique using the local geologic and dynamic site characteristics, which include soil profiles, shear wave velocity profiles and depth to bedrock for 125 sites collected in Korean Peninsula. From the results of site response analyses, 2-parameters site classification system based on the combination of mean shear wave velocity of soil and depth to bedrock was newly recommended for regions of shallow bedrock depth in Korea. First, as the borders of bedrock depth (H) for site classification were determined as 10m and 20m, the soil sites were divided into 3 classes as $H_1$, $H_2$ and $H_3$ sites. And then, the 3 site classes were subdivided into 7 classes based on the mean shear wave velocity of soil ($V_{s,soil}$). The feasibility of new site classification system was verified and the representative site coefficients ($F_a$ and $F_v$) and design response spectrum were suggested by analyzing uniform trend and dispersion of site coefficients for each site class. The suggested site coefficients and the regression curves present the nonlinear characteristics of soils according to the change of rock outcrop acceleration with uniform trend effectively. From the comparison between the mean values of response spectrum which was acquired from the site response analysis and the suggested design response spectrum, there was a little difference in some of site classes and it was verified to adjust the integration interval to make it more suitable for the site condition in Korea.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.615-623
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• 2010

Seismic refraction survey is a geophysical method that delineates subsurface velocity structure using direct wave and critically refracted wave. The generalized reciprocal method(GRM) is an inversion technique which uses travel-time data from several forward and reverse shots and which can provide the geometry of irregular inclined refractors and structures underlain by hidden layer such as low velocity zone and thin layer. In this study, a simple Excel-GRM routine was tested for fast mapping of the interface between weathering layer and bedrock during the survey, with employing a pair of forward and reverse shots. This routine was proved to control the maximum dip of approximately $30^{\circ}C$ and maximum velocity contrast of 0.6, based on the panel tests in terms of dipping angle and velocity contrast for the two-layer inclined models. In contrast with conventional operation of five to seven shots with sufficient offset distance and indoor data analysis thereafter, this routine was performed in the field shortly after data acquisition. Depth to the bedrock provided by Excel-GRM, during the field survey for Cheongju granite area, correlates well with the elevation of the surface of soft rock from the drill core and SPS logging data. This cost-effective routine developed for quickly delineating the bedrock surface in the field survey will be readily applicable to mapping of weathering zone in narrow zone with small variation of elevation of bedrock.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.77-88
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• 2007

Following a successful bathymetric mapping demonstration in a previous study, the potential of airborne EM for seafloor characterisation has been investigated. The sediment thickness inferred from 1D inversion of helicopter-borne time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) data has been compared with estimates based on marine seismic studies. Generally, the two estimates of sediment thickness, and hence depth to resistive bedrock, were in reasonable agreement when the seawater was ${\sim}20\;m$ deep and the sediment was less than ${\sim}40\;m$ thick. Inversion of noisy synthetic data showed that recovered models closely resemble the true models, even when the starting model is dissimilar to the true model, in keeping with the uniqueness theorem for EM soundings. The standard deviations associated with shallow seawater depths inferred from noisy synthetic data are about ${\pm}5\;%$ of depth, comparable with the errors of approximately ${\pm}1\;m$ arising during inversion of real data. The corresponding uncertainty in depth-to-bedrock estimates, based on synthetic data inversion, is of order of ${\pm}10\;%$. The mean inverted depths of both seawater and sediment inferred from noisy synthetic data are accurate to ${\sim}1\;m$, illustrating the improvement in accuracy resulting from stacking. It is concluded that a carefully calibrated airborne TEM system has potential for surveying sediment thickness and bedrock topography, and for characterising seafloor resistivity in shallow coastal waters.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 1993

Two-dimensional gravity and magnetic models were constructed for seismic profiles in Block Ⅵ-2, offshore Korea. For each seismic profile, a longer length model showing geometric configurations of all employed polygonal bodies and an expanded version of the area of interests were made. The results of this modeling study indicate 1) that the depth to the deeper basement surface appear to be shallower than indicated in the seismic sections, 2) that the Middle Miocene section (the bottom formations in the models) appears to contain significant amounts of volcanic materials, 3) that identification and/or determination of depth to the top of basement is difficult in the study area due to thick volcanic materials in the lowermost formation (Middle Miocene), and 4) that the study area is unfavorable for hydrocarbon generation and accumulation due to wide spread volcanic activities during the Middle Miocene Epoch. The maximum calculated depth to the magnetic basement in the study area is approximately $4{\cal}km$ sub-sea.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.237-242
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• 2005

A seismic refraction study in estimation of depth to the bedrock demonstrates that 1) the average velocity in the medium is about 250 m/s in the surface layer (< 4 m), 2,500 m/s in the weathered formation, and greater than 3,000 m/s in the bedrock, 2) the depth to the deepest reflector assumed to be the bedrock is about 17 m; however, according to the cores collected in a borehole in study area, the bedrock (granite) occurred at depth 25 m, 3) according to the density and velocity logging, at depth 17 m, a measurable velocity and density increase are observed, and 4) the velocity of the weathered formation is relatively high and therefore, the acquisition offsets ($70{\sim}80m$) are turned out not to be long enough to record the refracted signal from the bedrock at depth 25 m as first arrivals.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2001

Until recently, limestone yield production is mainly depend on geological investigation and boring. In the study seismic and electrical method are applied to calculate the basic data of limestone yield production. the result of geophysical prospecting, the depth of bed rock is approximately 17m. And there is a slightly difference between the limestone layer boundary which is drawn by electrical prospecting method and that of geological investigation.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.2 s.48
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• pp.51-62
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• 2006

In the companion paper (I-Problem Statements of the Current Seismic Design Code), the current Korean seismic design code is required to be modified considering site characteristics in Korea for the reliable estimation of site amplification. In this paper, three site classification methods based on the mean shear wave velocity of the top 30m $V_{S30}$, fundamental site periods $(T_G)$ and bedrock depth were investigated and compared with each other to determine the best classification system. Not enough of a difference in the standard deviation of site coefficients $(F_a\;and\;F_v)$ to determine the best system, and neither is the difference between the average spectral accelerations and the design response spectrum of each system. However, the amplification range of RRS values based on $T_G$ were definitely concentrated on a narrow band than other classification system. It means that sites which have a similar behavior during earthquake will be classified as the same site category at the site classification system based on $T_G$. The regression curves between site coefficients and $T_G$ described the effect of soil non linearity well as the rock shaking intensity increases than the current method based on $V_{S30}$. Furthermore, it is unambiguous to determine sue category based on $T_G$ when the site investigation is performed to shallower depth less than 30m, whereas the current $V_{S30}$ is usually calculated fallaciously by extrapolating the $V_s$ of bedrock to 30m. From the results of this study, new site classification system based on $T_G$ was recommended for legions of shallow bedrock depth in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 1998

Gravimetric and magnetic surveys were conducted in order to reveal near-surface structures such as basements, faults, and fracture zones in an area near Angang, where the Yangsan fault is believed to pass through. Along two lines approximately perpendicular to the strike of the major fault, gravity and magnetic data were measured at 67 stations with a 15 m interval and at 296 stations with a 3 m interval, respectively. Average depth to the magnetic basement is estimated using the spectral analysis method to be 8.5 and 10.0 m along lines located to the east and the west of the Hyeongsan river, respectively. Average value of reduced gravity on the east line is higher than that on the west by the amount of 1.71 mGal, which indicates that the basement rocks are more severely fractured in the western part. Forward gravity modeling along the east line indicates that a fracture zone extends westward from a fault located 210 m west of the eastern end. Density and depth to the bottom of the fracture zone are estimated to be 2.44 g/cm3 and 70 m, respectively. The gravity model study also indicates presence of a small graben, 190 m wide and 3.5 m deep on an average, on the basement surface. The earth surface above the graben is approximately 44 cm lower than the nearby surface. This indicates that the graben might have been formed by recent fault movements.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.188-198
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• 2022

Some deep faults do not reach the ground surface and are seldom recognized. Gokgang Fault area in the east of the Heunghae area of the Pohang basin has been selected to confirm the feasibility of the Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) approach to identify blind faults. Densely spaced microtremor data have been acquired along two lines in the study area and processed to obtain resonance frequencies. An empirical relationship between the resonance frequency and the bedrock depth was proposed using borehole data available in the study area. Resonance frequencies along two lines were then converted to bedrock depths. The resulting depth profiles show significant lateral variations in the bedrock depth. As expected, considerable variation in the resonance frequency is observed near the Gokgang fault. The depth profiles also present additional significant variations in the resonance frequencies and the bedrock depths. The feature is presumably related to a blind fault that is previously unknown. Therefore, this case study confirms the feasibility of the HVSR technique to identify faults otherwise not recognized on the surface.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.37-51
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• 2018

The slope failure due to the rainfall infiltration occurs frequently in Korea, since the depth of the weathered residual soil layer is shallow in mountainous region. Depth of the failure surface is shallow and tends to pass near the interface between impermeable bedrock and soil layer. Soil parameters that have a significant impact on the instability of unsaturated slopes due to rainfall infiltration inevitably include large uncertainties. Therefore, this study proposes a probabilistic analysis procedure by Monte Carlo Simulation which considers the hydraulic characteristics and strength characteristics of soil as random variables in order to predict slope failure due to rainfall infiltration. The Green-Ampt infiltration model was modified to reflect the boundary conditions on the slope surface according to the rainfall intensity and the boundary condition of the shallow impermeable bedrock was introduced to predict the stability of unsaturated soil slope with shallow bedrock under constant rainfall intensity. The results of infiltration analysis were used as inputs of infinite slope analysis to calculate the safety factor. The proposed analysis method can be used to calculate the time-dependent failure probability of soil slope due to rainfall infiltration.