• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 2009

The main compositions of "Seokganju", a Korean traditional red mineral pigment, are iron oxides. To investigate its mineralogical and functional properties, we had got its ore from Juto cave in Ulreoung island, which was a famous field of it in Korean documents. The ore occurs as a paleosol between the olivine basalt and amphibole trachyte in discontinuously. It is reddish brown and yellowish brown and consists mainly of clay minerals with minor debris. Its reddish and yellowish brown color are due to the hematite and ferrihydrate, respectively. These iron oxides are precipitated as ferrihydrate from the ferrous water in the paleosol and partly changed to hematite. The color reproduced in timber by using seokganju pigment with traditional tools and methods is similar to that in heritage building. The moistureproofing and fire resistance of Ulreungdo seokganju is far better than that of artificial seokganju. Moreover, the combustion tests show that the artificial seokganju promote the ignition and combustion of the timber. Ulreungdo seokganju is regarded as a pigment with fungicidal efficacy because growth of two wood decay fungi (cov. and typ.) are inhibited in solid medium with it.