• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.323-324
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• 2012

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.301-312
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• 2010

Geochemical data have been regarded as one of the important environmental variables in the environmental management. Since they are often sampled at sparse locations, it is important not only to predict attribute values at unsampled locations, but also to assess the uncertainty attached to the prediction for further analysis. The main objective of this paper is to exemplify how indicator geostatistics can be effectively applied to geochemical data processing for providing decision-supporting information as well as spatial distribution of the geochemical data. A whole geostatistical analysis framework, which includes probabilistic uncertainty modeling, classification and risk analysis, was illustrated through a case study of cadmium mapping. A conditional cumulative distribution function (ccdf) was first modeled by indicator kriging, and then e-type estimates and conditional variance were computed for spatial distribution of cadmium and quantitative uncertainty measures, respectively. Two different classification criteria such as a probability thresholding and an attribute thresholding were applied to delineate contaminated and safe areas. Finally, additional sampling locations were extracted from the coefficient of variation that accounts for both the conditional variance and the difference between attribute values and thresholding values. It is suggested that the indicator geostatistical framework illustrated in this study be a useful tool for analyzing any environmental variables including geochemical data for decision-making in the presence of uncertainty.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.847-870
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• 2023

The safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste requires accurate predictions of the long-term geochemical behavior of radionuclides. To achieve this, the present study was conducted to model geochemical behaviors of uranium (U), plutonium (Pu), and palladium (Pd) under different hydrogeochemical conditions that represent deep groundwater in Korea. Geochemical modeling was performed for five types of South Korean deep groundwater environment: high-TDS saline groundwater (G1), low-pH CO₂-rich groundwater (G2), high-pH alkaline groundwater (G3), sulfate-rich groundwater (G4), and dilute (fresh) groundwater (G5). Under the pH and Eh (redox potential) ranges of 3 to 12 and ±0.2 V, respectively, the solubility and speciation of U, Pu, and Pd in deep groundwater were predicted. The result reveals that U(IV) exhibits high solubility within the neutral to alkaline pH range, even in reducing environment with Eh down to -0.2 V. Such high solubility of U is primarily attributed to the formation of Ca-U-CO₃ complexes, which is important in both G2 located along fault zones and G3 occurring in granitic bedrocks. On the other hand, the solubility of Pu is found to be highly dependent on pH, with the lowest solubility in neutral to alkaline conditions. The predominant species are Pu(IV) and Pu(III) and their removal is predicted to occur by sorption. Considering the migration by colloids, however, the role of colloid formation and migration are expected to promote the Pu mobility, especially in deep groundwater of G3 and G5 which have low ionic strengths. Palladium (Pd) exhibits the low solubility due to the precipitation as sulfides in reducing conditions. In oxidizing condition, anionic complexes such as Pd(OH)₃^-, PdCl₃(OH)₂^-, PdCl₄^2-, and Pd(CO₃)₂^2- would be removed by sorption onto metal (hydro)oxides. This study will improve the understanding of the fate and transport of radionuclides in deep groundwater conditions of South Korea and therefore contributes to develop strategies for safe high-level radioactive waste disposal.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.539-552
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the trends of model and modeling-related research in science education from 1989 to 2016 in Korea. Eighty-five (85) models and modeling-related journal articles were extracted from the KCI-listed journals and analyzed according to the criteria such as participants, research fields, research design, methods, data collection and elements of metamodeling knowledge. According to research participants, three out of four (3/4) were studied for students and the rest were for teachers. More than half of the studies for students were conducted with middle and high school students. The research fields of models and modeling-related researches in science education were comprised of earth science, chemistry, biology science, physics and science course. With regards to research design, the highest type is qualitative research and followed by hybrid research and quantitative research. According to research methods, the most numerous researches that were analyzed was the effectiveness of program, which was a developed model and modeling-related research. The analysis from the elements of the metamodeling knowledge showed most of model and modeling-related research utilized for the change of scientific concept or understanding.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.151-159
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• 2010

The effect of calcite and gypsum on the hydration of Portland cement was investigated using GEM-PSI, a geochemical model. Addition of calcite and gypsum up to 5 wt% of total cement clinker into Portland cement was found to influence the hydrate assemblage of the hydrated cement in different ways. The results of geochemical modelling showed that the fraction of calcium monocarbonate increased by the hydration of cement with the increase of calcite addition. The results of modelling also indicated that gypsum increased the fraction of ettringite in the assemblage of hydrated cement as the amount of gypsum added increases. This study showed that porosity generated by the hydration of cement had a significant relation with the amount of calcite and gypsum added. The porosity of hydrated cement was lower when calcite added up to 3 wt% of cement clinker compared to the hydrated cement with the same amount of gypsum addition. However, when calcite added more than 3% of cement clinker, the porosity of hydrated cement were higher than that of hydrated cement with the same amount of gypsum addition.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.737-760
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• 2022

For the geological disposal of high-level radioactive wastes (HLW), an understanding of deep subsurface environment is essential through geological, hydrogeological, geochemical, and geotechnical investigations. Although South Korea plans the geological disposal of HLW, only a few studies have been conducted for characterizing the geochemistry of deep subsurface environment. To guide the hydrogeochemical research for selecting suitable repository sites, this study overviewed the status and trends in hydrogeochemical characterization of deep groundwater for the deep geological disposal of HLW in developed countries. As a result of examining the selection process of geological disposal sites in 8 countries including USA, Canada, Finland, Sweden, France, Japan, Germany, and Switzerland, the following geochemical parameters were needed for the geochemical characterization of deep subsurface environment: major and minor elements and isotopes (e.g., ³⁴S and ¹⁸O of SO₄^2-, ¹³C and ¹⁴C of DIC, ²H and ¹⁸O of water) of both groundwater and pore water (in aquitard), fracture-filling minerals, organic materials, colloids, and oxidation-reduction indicators (e.g., Eh, Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺, H₂S/SO₄^2-, NH₄⁺/NO₃^-). A suitable repository was selected based on the integrated interpretation of these geochemical data from deep subsurface. In South Korea, hydrochemical types and evolutionary patterns of deep groundwater were identified using artificial neural networks (e.g., Self-Organizing Map), and the impact of shallow groundwater mixing was evaluated based on multivariate statistics (e.g., M3 modeling). The relationship between fracture-filling minerals and groundwater chemistry also has been investigated through a reaction-path modeling. However, these previous studies in South Korea had been conducted without some important geochemical data including isotopes, oxidationreduction indicators and DOC, mainly due to the lack of available data. Therefore, a detailed geochemical investigation is required over the country to collect these hydrochemical data to select a geological disposal site based on scientific evidence.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.353-364
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• 2021

Since the mid-twentieth century, geology has gradually evolved as an interdisciplinary context in South Korea. The journal of Economic and Environmental Geology (EEG) has a long history of over 52 years and published interdisciplinary articles based on geology. In this study, we performed a literature review using topic modeling based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), an unsupervised machine learning model, to identify geological topics, historical trends (classic topics and emerging topics), and association by analyzing titles, keywords, and abstracts of 2,571 publications in EEG during 1968-2020. The results showed that 8 topics ('petrology and geochemistry', 'hydrology and hydrogeology', 'economic geology', 'volcanology', 'soil contaminant and remediation', 'general and structural geology', 'geophysics and geophysical exploration', and 'clay mineral') were identified in the EEG. Before 1994, classic topics ('economic geology', 'volcanology', and 'general and structure geology') were dominant research trends. After 1994, emerging topics ('hydrology and hydrogeology', 'soil contaminant and remediation', 'clay mineral') have arisen, and its portion has gradually increased. The result of association analysis showed that EEG tends to be more comprehensive based on 'economic geology'. Our results provide understanding of how geological research topics branch out and merge with other fields using a useful literature review tool for geological research in South Korea.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.719-729
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• 2008

In this study, the speciation, adsorption, and transport of uranium in groundwater environments were simulated using geochemical models. The retarded transport of uranium by adsortption was effectively simulated using 3-D groundwater flow and reactive transport models. The results showed that most uranium was adsorbed(up to 99.5%) in a neutral pH(5.5$pCO_2(10^{-3.6}atm)$ condition. Under the higher $pCO_2(10^{-2.5}atm)$ condition, however, the pH range where most uranium was absorbed was narrow from 6 to 7. Under very low $pCO_2(10^{-4.5}atm)$ condition, uranium was mostly absorbed in the relatively wide pH range between 5.5 and 8.5. In the model including anion complexes, the uranium adsorption decreased by fluoride complex below the pH of 6. The results of this study showed that uranium transport is strongly affected by hydrochemical conditions such as pH, $pCO_2$, and the kinds and concentrations of anions($Cl^-$, ${SO_4}^{2-}$, $F^-$). Therefore, geochemical models should be used as an important tool to predict the environmental impacts of uranium and other hazardous compounds in many site investigations.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.423-433
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• 2017

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and Department of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration in Myanmar have explored the Kalaymyo chromitite deposit, Myanmar since 2013. It is now necessary to find a geochemical indicator for efficient mineral exploration in the future and building a 3D geological model for this ore deposit. Mantle podiform chromitite is a major type of Cr ore in this region, which is considered to be formed by mantle-melt interaction beneath the mantle-crust boundary of oceanic lithosphere. In this study we measured major element composition of spinels in harzburgite, dunite and chromitite, and examined the hypothesis that spinel Cr#(molar Cr/(Cr+Al)${\times}$100) can be used as a geochemical indicator in exploration for the Kalaymyo chromitite. The results show that there is a clear correlation between spinel Cr# and distribution of chromitite. The spinel Cr# of harzburgite increases with decreasing the distance from the chromitite bodies. The spinel composition is also closely associated with texture and occurrence of spinels. The high Cr# spinels (30-48) are subhedral to euhedral and enclosed by olivine whereas the low Cr# spinels (16-27) are anhedral and commonly associated with pyroxenes. Often the low Cr# spinels show symplectite intergrowths with pyroxenes, indicating their residual nature. These petrological and geochemical results suggest that the high Cr# spinels have resulted from mantle-melt interaction. We suggest that spinel Cr# can be used as a geochemical indicator for Cr ore exploration and as one of critical factors in 3D geological model in the Kalaymyo chromitite deposit.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.359-370
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• 2010

$CO_2$ leakage from a geological formation utilized for $CO_2$ storage could result in failure of the facility and threaten the environment, as well as human safety and health. A reactive transport model of a $CO_2-H_2O$-cement reaction was constructed to understand chemical changes in the case of $CO_2$ leakage through a cement crack in an injection well, which is the most probable leakage pathway during geological storage. The model results showed the dissolution of portlandite and CSH (calcium silicate hydrate) within the cement paste, and the precipitation of secondary CSH and calcite as the $CO_2$ plume migrated along the crack. Calcite occupied most of the crack after 3 year of reaction, which could be maintained until 30 years after crack development. The present results could be applied in the development of technology to prevent $CO_2$ leakage and to enhance the integrity of wells constructed for $CO_2$ geological storage.