• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.415-424
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• 2009

Artificial injection of surplus surface water during wet seasons and recovery is one of possible solutions for conjunctive uses of surface water and groundwater. The methodology is especially attractive for regions of monsoon type weather. In this work a simulation-optimization model is developed to identify an optimal injection system to sustain an over-exploiting freshwater pumping well. The injection well is to be operated during wet seasons only while the pumping well is to be operated throughout an entire year. The objective function is the minimization of injected volume of freshwater. Saltwater intrusion and dry wells are considered as constraints. An example application is made on a small hypothetical island with poor hydrogeologic conditions. The optimization model is successful in determining optimal injection locations and rates for various cases.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2018

The recent increase in demand for lithium has led to the development of new brine prospects, The brines are hosted in closed salar basin aquifers of two types that are mature halite salars and immature clastic salars. Salar brines also contain other elements of commercial interest, most notably potassium and boron. As a result, there has been a plethora of new exploration projects focused on the brines hosted in the aquifers of the intermontane-closed basins. The estimate of lithium resources and reserves in these salars depends on a detailed knowledge of aquifer geometry, porosity, and brine grade. Because the resource is in a fluid state, it has the propensity to move, mix, rearrange itself relatively rapidly during the course of a project lifetime, and lower recovery factors compared with most metalliferous and industrial mineral deposits due to reliance on pumping of the brine from wells for extraction. This is unlike any other type of metallic mineral resource and hence a different approach specially focusing on hydrogeology and brine hydrology is required for these prospects.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.25-35
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• 2023

This study aimed to classify spring types based on the hydrogeological characteristics of springs in Yongsu-ri~Hamo-ri coastal area in western part of Jeju Island. The springs in study area can be broadly categorized into three groups: perched groundwatrer springs (soil type), perched groundwater springs (sediment type), and basal groundwater springs. The perched groundwater springs of soil type correspond to springs where groundwater seeps out from the perched aquifer formed in the soil layer due to the development of clayey Kosan Formation beneath the surface. Because of the low hydraulic conductivity of soil layer, the average of spring discharge is less than 1 m³/day. The quality of spring water is significantly influenced by agricultural activities, resulting in high nitrate nitrogen concentrations and electrical conductivity. While the perched groundwater springs (sediment type) of the Suwolbong Tuff, which are located in the upper part of Kosan Formation, exhibited relatively higher discharge rates, their water quality was similar to soil-type springs. Basal groundwater springs are located in the zone of basal groundwater, mostly near the coastline. This type of spring appears to discharge of up to 3,707 m³, and the salinity content varies with the tidal fluctuations, especially increasing significantly during dry seasons.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.3 s.184
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• pp.277-293
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• 2007

Seasonal and spatial variations in the concentrations of trace elements, pH and Eh were found in a creek watershed affected by mine drainage and leachate from several waste rock dumps within the As-Pb-rich Indae mine site. Because of mining activity dating back to about 40 years ago and rupture of the waste rock dumps, this creek was heavily contaminated. Due to the influx of leachate and mine drainage, the water quality of upstream reach in this creek was characterized by largest seasonal and spatial variations in concentrations of Zn(up to $5.830 mg/{\ell}$), Cu(up to $1.333 mg/{\ell}$), Cd(up to $0.031 mg/{\ell}$) and $SO_4^{2-}$(up to $173 mg/{\ell}$), relatively acidic pH values (3.8-5.1) and highly oxidized condition. The most abundant metals in the leachate samples were in order of Zn($0.045-13.909 mg/{\ell}$), Fe($0.017-8.730mg/{\ell}$), Cu($0.010-4.154mg/{\ell}$) and Cd($n.d.-0.077mg/{\ell}$), with low pH(3.1-6.1), and high $SO_4^{2-}$(up to $310 mg/{\ell}$). The mine drainage also contained high concentrations of Zn, Cu, Cd and $SO_4^{2-}$ and remained constantly near-neutral pH values(6.5-7.0) in all the year. While the leachate and mine drainage might not affect short-term fluctuations in flow, it may significantly influence the concentrations of chemicals in the stream. The abundance and chemistry of Fe-(oxy)hydroxide within this creek indicated that the Fe-(oxy)hydroxide formation could be responsible for some removal of trace elements from the creek waters. Spatial and seasonal variations along down-stream reach of this creek were caused largely by the influx of water from uncontaminated tributaries. In addition, the trace metal concentrations in this creek have been decreased nearly down to the background level at a short distance from the discharge points without any artificial treatments after hydrologic mixing in a tributary. The nonconservative(i.e. precipitation, adsorption, oxidation, dissolution etc.) and conservative(hydrologic mixing) reactions constituted an efficient mechanism of natural attenuation which reduces considerably the transference of trace elements to rivers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2008

The hydrochemical and isotopic (stable isotopes and noble gas isotopes) analyses for hot spring waters, cold groundwaters and surface water samples from the Seokmodo hot spring area of the Ganghwa province were carried out to characterize the hydrogeochemical characteristics of thermal waters and to interpret the source of thermal water and noble gases and the geochemical evolution of hot spring waters in the Seokmodo geothermal system. The hot spring waters and groundwaters show a weakly acidic condition with the pH values ranging from 6.42 to 6.77 and 6.01 to 7.71 respectively. The outflow temperature of the Seokmodo hot spring waters ranges from $43.3^{\circ}C\;to\;68.6^{\circ}C$. Relatively high values of the electrical conductivities which fall between 60,200 and $84,300{\mu}S/cm$ indicate that the hot spring waters were mixed with seawater in the subsurface geothermal system. The chemical compositions of the Seokmodo hot spring waters are characterized by Na-Ca-Cl water type. On the other hand, cold groundwaters and surface waters can be grouped into three types such as the Na(Ca)-$HCO_3$, Na(Ca)-$SO_4$ and Ca-$HCO_3$ types. The ${\delta}^{18}O\;and\;{\delta}D$ values of hot spring waters vary from -4.41 to -4.47%o and -32.0 to -33.5%o, respectively. Cold groundwaters range from -7.07 to -8.55%o in ${\delta}^{18}O$ and from -50.24 to -59.6%o in ${\delta}D$. The oxygen and hydrogen isotopic data indicate that the hot spring waters were originated from the local meteoric water source. The enrichments of heavy isotopes ($^{18}O\;and\;^2H$) in the Seokmodo hot spring waters imply that the thermal water was derived from the diffusion Bone between fresh and salt waters. The ${\delta}^{34}S$ values ranging from 23.1 to 23.5%o of dissolved sulfate are very close to the value of sea water sulfate of ${\delta}^{34}$S=20.2%o in this area, indicating the origin of sulfate in hot springs from sea water. The $^3H/^4He$ ratio of hot spring waters varies from $1.243{\times}10^{-6}\;to\;1.299{\times}10^{-6}cm^3STP/g$, which suggests that He gas in hot spring waters was partly originated from a mantle source. Argon isotopic ratio $(^{40}Ar/^{36}Ar=298{\times}10^{-6}cm^3STP/g)$ in hot spring waters corresponds to the atmospheric value.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.441-455
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• 2003

The most common water types are found to be Ca-$HCO_3$, Ca-Na-$HCO_3$ and Ca-Na-$HCO_3$-Cl in Gwangju groundwater. Groundwater near the Gwangju stream are characterized Ca-Cl water type, with over 50 mg/L of C1- and 400 ${\mu}$S/cm of EC. The systematic variation of $Cl^-$, $HCO_3^-$,- EC and ${\gamma}^{18}O$ values in groundwater with distance away from drainages is caused by streamwater infiltration. Stable isotope data indicate that ${\gamma}$D and ${\gamma}^{18}O$ values of groundwaters near drainages were enriched by evaporation effect, showing a equation of ${\gamma}$D=7. 1${\times}{\gamma}^{18}O$-1. ${\gamma}^{18}O$ values over -6${\textperthansand}$ are anomalous in the unconfined groundwater zones, which are influenced by the local surface water enriched in $^{18}O$ composition. Groundwater in highland shows remarkably light ${\gamma}^{18}O$ values below -8$\textperthousand$. The infiltration of streamwater is dominant in unconfined alluvium aquifer near drainages. ${\gamma}^{13}$CDIC values (-17.6∼-15.2$\textperthousand$) of groundwaters near drainages revealed that dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is predominantly originated from natural soil-derived $CO_2$. ${\gamma}^{15}N$ and ${\gamma}^{18}O$ values of nitrate are 0∼17.0${\textperthansand}$ and 6.6∼17.4${\textperthansand}$, respectively. Relationship between ${\gamma}^{15}N$ and ${\gamma}^{18}O$ shows a systematic isotopic fractionation caused by denitrification of 40∼60%, suggesting that the major source of groundwater nitrate originated from nitrate of soils, and mixing nitrate of soil and sewage or manure.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2012

A long-term R&D program for HLW disposal technology development was launched in 1997 in Korea and Korea Reference disposal System(KRS) for spent fuels had been developed. After then, a recycling process for PWR spent fuels to get the reusable material such as uranium or TRU and to reduce the volume of radioactive waste, called Pyro-process, is being developed. This Pyro-process produces several kinds of wastes including metal waste and ceramic waste. In this study, the characteristics of the waste from Pyro-process and the concepts of a disposal container for the wastes were described. Based on these concepts, thermal analyses were carried out to determine a layout of the disposal area of the ceramic wastes which was classified as a high level waste and to develop the disposal system called A-KRS. The location of the final repository for A-KRS is not determined yet, thus to review the potential repository domains, the possible layout in the geological characteristics of KURT facility site was proposed. These results will be used in developing a repository system design and in performing the safety assessment.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.16 no.1 s.47
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• pp.15-21
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• 2006

Sandy soils obtained from the field were examined by the way of particle analyses. The hydraulic conductivity values of the disturbed soil samples were measured by the falling head method. Then the correlations between the hydraulic conductivity and particle distribution were defined. The soil which was a product of the weathering of the granitic rocks belonged to sand and loamy sand area in a sand-silt-clay triangular diagram. The measurements of hydraulic conductivity were $1.15X10^{-5}\sim7.31X10^{-4}cm/sec$ which is the range of sand and silt. It was clearly observed that the hydraulic conductivity measurements of the sandy soils showed stronger correlations with the particle variances rather than the mean grain sizes. The larger the variances, the smaller the hydraulic conductivity measurements. The sandy soil which was a product of weathered granite and whose mean grain size was $0.38\sim1.97mm$ showed regression curves of $y=6.0E-5x^{-1.4}$ in a correlations between hydraulic conductivity and particle variances. Accordingly, it is clearly concluded that making estimates with-out any consideration about particle variances can produce serious errors.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.51-65
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• 2003

A series of numerical simulations were carried out using STOMP( Subsurface Transport over Multiple Phase) simulator. The flow and distribution of LNAPL were analyzed in homogeneous fine and coarse sand. Vertical movement of LNAPL is faster in the coarser sand. But the total volume of LNAPL retained in the unsaturated zone is larger in the finer sand. A fine layer in the coarse sand domain is also simulated. The results showed that the retained LNAPL volume and shape are highly influenced by the Position of the fine layer. Flow and distributions of LNAPL were simulated when there were heterogeneous lenses in the sand domain. Water table fluctuation was also considered. In these cases, it was found that the heterogeneous lens was a barrier to LNAPL flow, and water table fluctuation stimulated the downward movement of retained LNAPL. The LNAPL flow and distribution observed in these numerical experiments show that in the subsurface environment, the behaviors of LNAPL highly depend on heterogeneities of unsaturated zone and the dynamic hydrogeologic condition such as water table fluctuation. These results can explain some of the complexity of LNAPL flow and distribution Patterns in LNAPL contaminated field sites.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.138-146
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• 2007

This paper describes 2.5D induced polarization (IP) modeling and inversion algorithms using complex resistivity. The complex resistivity method has merits for acquiring more valuable information about hydraulic parameters and pore fluid than the conventional IP methods. The IP modeling and inversion algorithms are developed by allowing complex arithmetic in existing DC modeling and inversion algorithms. The IP modeling and inversion algorithms use a 2.5D DC finite-element algorithm and a damped least-squares method with smoothness constraints, respectively. The accuracy of the IP modeling algorithm is verified by comparing its responses of two synthetic models with two different approaches: linear filtering for a three-layer model and an integral equation method for a 3D model. Results from these methods are well matched to each other. The inversion algorithm is validated by a synthetic example which has two anomalous bodies, one is more conductive but non-polarizable than the background, and the other is polarizable but has the same resistivity as the background. From the inverted section, we can cleary identify each anomalous body with different locations. Furthermore, in order to verify its efficiency to the real filed example, we apply the inversion algorithm to another three-layer model which includes phase anomaly in the second layer.