• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.133-143
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• 2018

Liquefaction is one of secondary damages after earthquake and has been rarely reported until earthquake except Mw = 5.4 15 November 2017 Pohang earthquake in Korea. In recent years, Mw = 5.8 12 September 2016 Gyeongju earthquake and Mw = 5.4 15 November 2017 Pohang earthquake, which induced liquefaction, occurred in fault zone of Yangsan City located at south-eastern part of Korea. This explains that Korea is not safe against liquefaction induced by earthquake. In this study, the distance between the centroid of administrative district and the epicenter located at Yangsan fault, peak ground velocity (PGA) induced by both Mw = 5.0 and 6.5, and liquefaction potential index (LPI), which is calculated by using groundwater level and standard penetration test results of 274 in the area of Gimhae city located in adjacent to Nakdong river and across Yangsan fault, have been estimated and then kriging method using geographical information systems has been used to evaluate liquefaction effects on the damage of facilities. This study presents that Mw = 5.0 earthquake induces a small and low level of liquefaction resulting in slight damage of facilities but Mw = 6.5 earthquake induces a large and high level of liquefaction resulting in severe damage of facilities.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.126-137
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• 2021

Recently, the number of damages on social infrastructure has increased due to natural disasters and the frequency of earthquake events that are higher than magnitude 3 has increased in South Korea. Liquefaction was found near the epicenter of a 5.4 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Pohang, South Korea, in 2017. To explore increases in soil moisture index due to soil liquefaction, changes in the remote exploration index by the land cover before and post-earthquake occurrence were analyzed using liquefaction feasibility index and multi-cyclical Landsat-8 satellite images. We found that the soil moisture index(SMI) in the liquefaction region immediately after the earthquake event increased significantly using the Normal Vegetation Index(NDVI) and Surface Temperature(LST).

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.98-112
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• 2000

Discrimination between natural earthquakes and man-made explosions is very essential but critical matter in Seismology. In the CTBT Monitoring business, this is very crucial issue and sometimes could occur the international conflict. In this study, we analyzed seismic and infrasound data from Chulwon Seismo-Acoustic Array and would like to introduce routine data processing procedures at the Korea Institute of Geology, Mining and Materials(KIGAM) to discriminate the earthquakes and artificial explosions. We found analyzing acoustic data together with seismic data is very effective way to identify and discriminate man made explosion from natural earthquake. Recent earthquakes in and around the Korean Peninsula are concentrated in a narrow zone with N60-70$^{\circ}$W in southern Korea, and Pyungan and Hwanghae Province in northern Korea. The mechanism of 14 larger earthquakes in and around the Korean Peninsula since 1936 show predominant strike-slip faulting together with minor thrust component. This indicates horizontal compression is dominant in and around the Korean Peninsula.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.393-400
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• 2018

Despite some skeptical views on the possibility of earthquake prediction, observation and evaluation of precursory changes have been continued throughout the world. In Korea, the public concern on the earthquake prediction has been increased after 2016 $M_L5.8$ and 2017 $M_L5.4$ earthquakes occurred in Gyeongju and Pohang, the southeastern part in Korea, respectively. In this study, the abnormal increase of groundwater level was observed before the 2016 $M_L5.8$ Gyeongju earthquake in a borehole located in 52 km away from the epicenter. The well was installed in the Yangsan fault zone, and equipped for the earthquake surveillance. The abnormal change in the well would seem to be a precursor, considering the hydrogeological condition and the observations from previous studies. It is necessary to set up a specialized council to support and evaluate the earthquake prediction and related researches for the preparation of future earthquake hazards.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.821-831
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• 2019

The 9.12 earthquake (2016.9.12., M_L=5.8) and Pohang (2017.11.15., M_L=5.4) caused social and economic damage, resulting in a greater public interest in earthquakes than in the past. In the U.S., Japan and Chile, which have high frequency of earthquakes, infrastructure facilities are already managed based on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) and ground motion prediction equation (GMPE) to prepare for and respond to seismic disasters. In South Korea, the aforementioned PSHA and GMPE models have been developed independently through individual researchers. However, the limited disclosure of basic data, calculation methods, and final results created during the model development poses a problem of deploying new data without updating the earthquake that occurs every year. Therefore, this paper describes how to create flatfile, which is the basic data of GMPE, and how to process for seismic waves, and how to create intensity measures.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.307-314
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• 2018

It became clear that Korean peninsula is not a safe region anymore from an earthquake disaster after Gyeongju and Pohang Earthquake in 2016-2017. Unfortunately, building industry in Korea has not been well prepared for an earthquake disaster and the following problems exist. First, the rate of buildings with proper seismic performance is relatively low. Second, the number of piloti buildings which are vulnerable to earthquake and fire disaster has increased recently. Third, the proportion of small-scale buildings excluded from the application of the building law for securing safety is too high. Fourth, widespread corruption and poor construction impede safety. Therefore, measures to prepare for earthquake disaster are as follows. First, methods of reinforcing building structures and reducing the seismic load acting on a building should be utilized in order to secure the insufficient seismic performance of buildings vulnerable to earthquakes. Second, whistleblowers should be encouraged and protected to prevent defective construction due to corruption. To this end, whistleblowers should be recognized as an effective means of protecting public interest not the traitor to the organization.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.15-27
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanism about damages occurring at quay wall and backfill in Youngilman Port during Pohang earthquake (M5.4) on November 15, 2017. In the field investigation, the horizontal displacement of the caisson occurred between 5 cm and 15 cm, and the settlement at backfill occurred higher than 10 cm. 2D-effective Stress Analysis was performed to clarify the mechanism for the damage. The input earthquake motion used acceleration ($3.25m/s^2$) measured at bedrock of Pohang habor. Based on a numerical analysis, it was found that the effective stress decreased due to the increase of excess pore pressure in the backfill ground and the horizontal displacement of the caisson occurred by about 14 cm, and the settlement occurred by about 3 cm. In backfill, the settlements occurred between 6 cm and 9 cm. This is similar to field investigation results. Also, it was found that the backfill soil was close to the Mohr-Coulomb failure line due to the cyclic loading from the effective stress path and the stress-strain behavior. It may be related to decreasing of bearing capacity induced by the reduction of effective stress caused by the increase of the excess pore water pressure.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.211-217
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• 2018

The Pohang earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 occurred on November 15, 2018. The epicenter of this earthquake located in south-east region of the Korean peninsula. Since instrumental recording for earthquake ground motions started in Korea, this earthquake caused the largest economic and life losses among past earthquakes. Korea is located in low-to moderate seismic region, so that strong motion records are very limited. Therefore, ground motions recorded during the Pohang earthquake could have valuable geological and seismological information, which are important inputs for seismic design. In this study, ground motions associated by the 2018 Pohang earthquake are generated using the point source model considering domestic geological parameters (magnitude, hypocentral distance, distance-frequency dependent decay parameter, stress drop) and site amplification calculated from ground motion data at each stations. A contour map for peak ground acceleration is constructed for ground motions generated by the Pohang earthquake using the proposed model.

• Journal of the Geological Society of Korea
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.557-566
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• 2018

Pohang earthquake (Main shock magnitude = 5.4) occurred in Southeastern region of South Korea in November 15, 2017. Groundwater levels of 6 monitoring wells with 5 minutes interval measurements located in that region and stream water levels of 4 stations located along the Hyeongsan-gang stream are used for the analysis of earthquake induced effects. Four groundwater monitoring wells show a short-term decrease of groundwater level after a main shock and one well does an increase and the maximum change is about 42.0 cm. Especially, groundwater levels at two monitoring wells near the epicenter are consistently maintained after a decrease. There is little relationship between earthquake magnitude or a distance to epicenter and changing amount of groundwater level and it may be due to the inhomogeneity of geologic material and unconsolidated sediments distribution. The changes in permeability of fractured zone and groundwater levels occasionally cause changes in stream flow rate, and water level of the Hyeongsan-gang stream in the study area decreases just after the earthquake and increases again up to the normal level and next shows an more gentle decreasing slope. Total increasing flow rates at S1 (upstream site) and S4 (downstream site) stations are about $12,096m^3$ and $116,640m^3$, respectively, during the increasing period.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.57-71
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• 2020

Liquefaction-induced sand boils were observed during the Pohang earthquake (Moment magnitude, 5.4) on November 15, 2017, specifically in the region of agricultural fields and park areas near the epicenter. This was recorded as the first observed liquefaction phenomenon in Korea. This paper analyzes liquefaction potentials at the key sites at Pohang area. The simplified methods and current design standard were used to evaluate the occurrence of liquefaction. The seismic demand was estimated based on the NGA-WEST2 ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs). The liquefaction resistance of the ground was determined using the in-situ tests: standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test (CPT). The liquefaction potentials were quantified by liquefaction potential index (LPI), which were compared with those from the previous studies.