• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.253-255
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• 2004

The mining-related damages such as ground subsidence, acid mine drainage(AMD), and deforestation in the abandoned underground coal mine areas become an object of public concern. Therefore, the system to manage the miningrelated damages is needed for the effective drive of rehabilitation activities. The management system for Abandoned Underground Coal Mine using GIS includes the database about mining record and information associated with the mining-related damages and application programs to support mine damage prevention business. Also, this system would support decision-making policy for rehabilitation and provide basic geological data for regional construction works in abandoned underground coal mine areas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.183-193
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• 2006

Several metalliferous and coal mines, including Seojin and Okdong located at the Kangwon province, were abandoned or closed since 1989 due to the mining industry promotion policy and thus disposed an enormous amount of mining wastes without a proper treatment facilities, resulting in water and soil pollution in the downstream areas. However, no quantitative assessment was made on soil and water pollution by the transport of mining wastes such as acid mine drainage, mine tailing, and rocky waste. In this research, total and fractional concentrations of heavy metals in mining wastes were analyzed and accordingly the degree of water and soil pollutions in the stream area were quantitatively assessed employing the several pollution indices. Concentrations of Ni, Cd, and Pb in soils near the abandoned coal mine areas were 1,240.0, 25.0 and 1,093.0 mg/kg, respectively, and these concentrations were higher than those in soils near the closed metalliferous mine areas. Also Cu concentrations in soils near the tailing dams were about 1967 mg/kg, which is considered as very polluted level. Results demonstrated that soil at the abandoned mine areas were highly contaminated by AMO, tailing, and effluents of the mining wastes. Therefore, a prompt countermeasure on the mining waste treatment and remediation of the codntaminated water and soil should be made to the abandoned or closed metalliferous and coal mines located at the abandoned mine area.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.584-588
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• 2016

The current study was carried out to investigate total and inorganic arsenic (As) concentrations in 112 rice samples (husked rice and polished rice) grown around the abandoned mining areas and to estimate the potential health risk through dietary intake of rice in Korea. Mean concentrations of total As in husked rice and polished rice were 0.23 and $0.13mg\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Also, average inorganic As concentrations in husked rice and polished rice were 0.09 and $0.05mg\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. These levels are lower than the standard guideline value ($0.2mg\;kg^{-1}$) for inorganic As in polished rice recommended by Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and Codex. For health risk assessment, the average values of cancer risk probability was $5.7{\times}10^{-5}$ which was less than the acceptable cancer risk of $10^{-6}{\sim}10^{-4}$ for regulatory purpose. Also, hazard quotient values were lower than 1.0. Therefore, these results demonstrated that human exposure to inorganic As through dietary intake of rice collected from abandoned mining areas might not cause adverse health effects.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.674-683
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• 2010

The current study was performed to examine the agricultural suitability of the cultivated upland nearby abandoned mining areas in Korea using three different scientific risk assessment models of Korea, USA and UK. For this, three mining sites DM, MG and KS were selected among 687 abandoned mines through preliminary risk assessment. A wide range of parameters were obtained through analysis of both soil and crop samples from the selected areas for heavy metal concentration and questionnaires to the communities along with the selected mining sites. Heavy metal concentration in soil samples was lower than the values previously reported by the Ministry of Environment (ME, 2002). However, both As and Cd concentration in the soil samples exceeded the concern level for agricultural area of the Soil Environment Conservation Act. Judging from the contaminant criteria for the crops, only Zn level in pepper, soybean and corn from the mining area DM exceeded the criteria whereas As, Cd, $Cr^{6+}$, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb did not exceed the criteria. It was demonstrated that there would be human health risk by Pb accumulated in crops from both mining areas MG and KS when estimated by the risk assessment models of Korea and USA. Against it, results of the risk assessment model of UK showed human health risk by Pb in the crops from all study areas.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.135-144
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• 2022

This paper aimed to analyze the type of urban shrinkage over the past 20 years for four case cities designated as abandoned mining area promotion zones and present the direction of future urban spatial policies through the analysis of shrinking status. According to the analysis of urban shrinkage in the past 20 years, all of the case cities were analyzed as fixed-type shrinking cities, showing a population decrease of more than 30% over the past 40 years compared to the peak population. Despite the decrease in population, the designated area of urbanization and non-urban areas is increasing every year, and the development permit and construction permit in non-urban areas are also increasing, requiring efficient management and operation of urban space. It is necessary to study military-level cities in the high-risk phase of extinction in the future, and to develop various indicators for segmentation of urban shrinkage types and analysis of status by type.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.33-46
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• 2023

In this study, carbon storage in the aboveground biomass, litter layer, and soil layer was calculated for abandoned mining restoration areas to determine the level of carbon storage after the restoration project through comparison with the ecological reference. Five survey sites were selected for each abandoned mining restoration area in Boryeong-si, Chungcheongnam-do, and the ecological reference that can be a goal and model for the restoration project. The carbon storage in the restoration area was 0~21.3Mg C ha^-1, the deciduous layer 3.3~6.0Mg C ha^-1, and the soil layer(0-30cm) 8.3~35.1Mg C ha^-1, showing a significant difference in carbon storage by target site. The total carbon storage was between 6.1 and 35.3% of the ecological reference, with restoration area ranging from 14.0 to 62.4 Mg C ha^-1. The total carbon storage in the restoration area and the ecological reference differed the most in the aboveground biomass and was less than 12%. Based on these results, forest restoration area need to improve the carbon storage of forests through continuous management and monitoring so trees can grow and restore productivity in the early stages of the restoration project. The results of this study can be used as primary data for preparing future forest restoration indicators by identifying the storage of abandoned mining restoration areas.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.29-36
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• 2010

Several mines including Namil, Solim and Jungbong which are located in the Gyeonggi and Kangwon province have been abandoned and closed since 1980 due to "The promotion policy of mining industry". An enormous amount of mining wastes was disposed without proper treatment, which caused soil pollution in tailing dam and ore-dressing plant areas. However, any quantitative assessment was not performed about soil and water pollution by transporting mining wastes such as acid mine drainage, mine tailing, and rocky waste. In this research, heavy metals in mining wastes were analyzed according to leaching method which used 0.1 N HCl and total solution method which used Aqua-regia to recognize the ecological effect of distance from hot spot. We sampled tailings, rocky wastes and soils around the abandoned mine. Chemical and physical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total organic carbon (TOC), soil texture and heavy metal concentration were analyzed. The range of soil's pH is between 4.3 and 6.4 in the tailing dam and oredressing plant area due to mining activity. Total concentrations of As, Cu, and Pb in soil near ore dressing plant area are 250.9, 249.3 and 117.2 mg/kg respectively, which are higher than any other ones near tailing dam area. Arsenic concentration in tailing dams is 31.0 mg/kg, which is also considered as heavily polluted condition comparing with the remediation required level(RRL) in "Soil environment conservation Act".

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.594-597
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• 2004

The ground subsidence that occurred in an abandoned coal mining area, Gaeun, Korea, was observed by using 25 JERS-1 SAR interferograms from November 1992 to October 1998. We estimated the subsidence on a subset of image pixels corresponding to point-wise permanent scatters (PSs) by exploiting a long temporal series of interferometric phases. The results were compared it with a distribution map of in situ examined crack level. PSs were identified by means of amplitude dispersion index and coherence of the interferograms. The measured subsidence rate represented the average velocity in a period of image acquisition and excluded complex nonlinear displacements such as an abrupt collapse. The mean line-of-sight velocity in the study area is 0.19cm/yr and an r.m.s. error is 0.18cm/yr. The center of the abandoned Gaeun coal mine (0.49cm/yr) and the area near to the Gaeun station (1.66cm/yr) were observed as most rapidly subsiding areas.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.515-517
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• 2003

In order to assess the risk of adverse health effects on human exposure to arsenic and heavy metals influenced by past mining activities, environmental geochemical surveys were undertaken in the abandoned metal mine areas (Dongil Au-Ag-Cu-Zn, Okdong Cu-Pb-Zn, Songcheon Au-Ag, Dongjung Au-Ag-Pb-Zn, Dokok Au-Ag-Cu and Hwacheon Au-Ag-Pb-Zn mines). Arsenic and other heavy metals were highly elevated in the tailings from the Dongil, the Songcheon and the Dongjung mines. High concentrations of heavy metals except As were also found in tailings from the Okdong, the Dokok and the Hwacheon mines. These significant concentrations can impact on soils and waters around the tailing dumps. Risk compounds deriving from mine sites either constitute a toxic risk or a carcinogenic risk. The hazard index (H.I.) of As in the Dongil, the Okdong, the Songcheon and the Hwacheon mine areas was higher value more than 1.0. In the Okdong and the Songcheon mine areas, H.I. value of Cd exceeded 1.0. These values of As and Cd were the highest in the Songcheon mine area. Therefore, toxic risks for As and Cd exist via exposure (ingestion) of contaminated soil, groundwater and rice grain in these mine areas. The cancer risk for As in stream or ground water used for drinking water from the Songcheon, the Dongil, the Okdong, the Dongjung and the Hwacheon mine areas was 3E-3, 8E-4, 7E-4, 2E-4 and 1E-4, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.167-174
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• 2004

Several metalliferous and coal mines, including Myungjin, Seojin and Okdong located at the upper watershed of Okdong stream, were abandoned or closed since 1988 due to the mining industry promotion policy and thus disposed an enormous amount of mining wastes without a proper treatment facilities, resulting in water pollution in the downstream areas. AMD and waste effluents from the closed coal mines were very strongly acidic showing pH ranges of 2.7 to 4.5 and had a high level of total dissolved solid (TDS) showing the ranges of 1,030 to 1,947 mg/L. Also heavy metal concentrations in these samples such as Fe, Cu, Cd and anion such as sulfate were very high. These parameters of AMD and effluents were considered to be highly polluted as compared to those in the main stream area of the Okdong river and be major pollutants for water and soil in tile downstream area. Pollution indices of the surface water at the upper stream of Okdong river where AMD of the abandoned coal mines was flowed into main stream were in the ranges of 16.3 to 47.1. On the other hand, those at the mid stream where effluents from tailing dams and coal mines flowed into main stream were in tile ranges of 10.6 to 19.5. However, those at the lower stream were ranged from 10.6 to 14.9 These results indicated that mining wastes such as AMD and effluents from the closed mines were tile major source to water pollution at the Okdong stream areas.