• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.233-242
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• 2023

The objective of this study was to develop a management strategy for the recovery of carbon storage capacity of abandoned coal mine forest rehabilitation area. For the purpose, the biomass and stand carbon storage over time after the forest rehabilitation by tree type for Betula platyphylla, Pinus densiflora, and Alnus hirsuta trees which are major tree species widely planted for the forest rehabilitation in the abandoned coal mine were calculated, and compared them with general forest. The carbon storage in abandoned coal mine forest rehabilitation areas was lower than that in general forests, and based on tree species, Pinus densiflora stored 48.9%, Alnus hirsuta 41.1%, and Betula platyphylla 27.0%. This low carbon storage is thought to be caused by poor growth because soil chemical properties, such as low TOC and total nitrogen content, in the soil of abandoned coal mine forest rehabilitation areas, were adverse to vegetation growth compared to those in general forests. DBH, stand biomass, and stand carbon storage tended to increase after forest rehabilitation over time, whereas stand density decreased. Stand' biomass and carbon storage increased as DBH and stand density increased, but there was a negative correlation between stand density and DBH. Therefore, after forest rehabilitation, growth status should be monitored, an appropriate growth space for trees should be maintained by thinning and pruning, and the soil chemical properties such as fertilization must be managed. It is expected that the carbon storage capacity the forest rehabilitation area could be restored to a level similar to that of general forests.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.527-532
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• 2010

Exposure to lead, particularly at chronic low-dose levels, is still a major public health concern. The present study is aimed to evaluate the blood lead levels in populations resident in some abandoned mine areas of Chungbuk, Korea. Eight hundreds and sixty-six subjects who reside in abandoned mine area located in Chungbuk, Korea, were enrolled this study. We evaluated the blood lead level according to the age, gender, and working history in mines. For statistical analysis, SPSS ver 12.0 was used. The geometric mean blood lead levels was $2.93\;{\mu}g/{\ell}$ and nobody showed levels over the guidelines of WHO. Ex-smokers and current-smokers showed significantly higher blood lead levels compared to that of non-smokers. The blood lead levels in individuals with a history of working in a mine was higher than those in individuals without such histories. The populations resident in some Chungbuk abadoned mine area showed low levels of lead in blood. This suggest that lead poisoning might not be induced by abandoned mine in Chungbuk, Korea.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.465-472
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• 1993

The heavy metal contents are more abundant in stream waters, paddy soils and rice plants in the vicinity of abandoned mines compared to the surrounding areas in the Kyungpook province. However, these contents tend to decrease with distance from mines, and show some variation under different geological and geochemical environments. The Sin-stream waters have high contents of Cu=4.9 ppm, Pb=0.1 ppm, Zn=3.5 ppm and other heavy metals (Ni, Co, Cd) at Dalsung abandoned mine and low contents of Cu=0.4 ppm, Pb=0.1 ppm, Zn=0.1 ppm and other metals= 0.002 ppm in the surrounding area. The high contents decrease in the downstream in the area of calcareous sedimentary rocks. The paddy soils have high contents of approximately Cu=51 ppm, Pb=83 ppm, Zn=211 ppm, and Cd=11.3 ppm in the vicinity of Gunwi abandoned mine but low contents of Cu=4.5 ppm, Pb=2.9 ppm, Zn=60 ppm and Cd=0.4 ppm in the surrounding area. The Dadeog abandoned mine also shows similar trends to Gunwi mine. The contents of heavy metals of rice plants are high in the roots but trends to decrease through stem+leaf and become low in brown rices.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.143-156
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• 2007

This study has researched the management status and the pollution level of water, soil, stream sediments of 11 abandoned coal mines out of a total of 12 within Obong-Dam area except Bukyung mine, which was submerged when constructing Obong-Dam, and selected areas which are in needs to have pollution control facilities in the first place. From the results of examination on the runoff at the waste rock pile and mineheads, the runoff from Sueun mine (pH, Fe, Al), Samwon mine (pH, Al), Wangdo mine (pH, Al), Mose mine (pH, Fe, Al) and Daeryeong mine (pH) exceeded the permissible discharge standards of the water quality, but the water at merging point with Obong-Dam after joined with Doma branch satisfied both Water Quality Standards and Drinking Water Quality Standards. In regard to groundwater contamination, it is found that areas where exceeded the Drinking Water Quality Standards are Wangdo mine (pH), Jangjae mine (pH, Zn), Daeryeong mine (pH) whereas all areas satisfied Soil Contamination Warning Standards of Soil Environmental Conservation Law. When comparing a research result on underwater sediments of branches of abandoned mines to the EPA Guidelines for classification of great lakes harbor sediments, Dongguk Gaerim (Fe), Jungwon mine (Fe), Daebo mine (Mn), Samwon mine (Mn) and Daeryeong mine (Mn) showed mid-level of contamination, whereas Sueun (Fe, Mn), Daebo mine (Fe), Woosung mine (Fe, Mn), Wangdo mine (Fe, Mn), Mose mine (Fe) and Daeryeong mine (Fe) showed high-level of contamination. In addition, contamination levels of underwater sediments in Wangsan and Doma branch where abandoned mine's branches merge together, Wangsan branch showed no contamination at all whereas Doma branch shows mid-level of contamination which reflect the Doma branch is affected by waste rock pile and minehead runoff of the abandoned mines in the Doma branch area. It is concluded that Mose mine and Sueun mine required treatment of acid mine drainage. and Wangdo, Jungwon, and Samwon mines were in need of mine tailing and erosion control work. The Samwon mine additionally required a control system for closed minehead runoff. Although the Samwon mine reached a high concentration of Al, Mn $Ca^{2+}$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$ in the runoff, the levels decreased after it was combined with a tributary. It has been concluded that after further monitoring of the cause of pollution, a preventive measure system may be needed to be built.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.197-204
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• 1999

The extent of heavy metal pollution in agricultural in soils near the abandoned mine land site was investigated using their concentrations from the 47 sampling sites in B mine. Samples were prepared using 0.1N HCI - Korean Standard Methods - and then analysed for Cd, Cu, Pb, As and Cr by Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer. In addition, soil and mine tailing samples were sequentially extracted to investigate the chemical speciation of heavy metals in them. The soils in the vicinity of mining area are highly contaminated by heavy metals ranging up to 5.96mg Cd/kg, 253.3mg Cu/kg, 76.7mg Pb/kg, and 15.45 mg As/kg, according to the analysis of Korean Standard Methods. The heavy metal levels by the sequential extraction are much higher than its level by Korean Standard Methods, and little correlated with each other. Based on the results, it is suggested that the As pollution in agricultural soils near the AMLS should be dealt as of prior significance in establishing reclamation strategies for the area.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.186-191
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• 1998

This study was investigated the distributions of heavy metal concentration in a soil near abandoned mine in Chung thong Nam Do. The abandoned mines were Gubong gold mine and Sinsung coal mine. The results were as follows : 1) The concentration of As and Pb in Gubong mine were 309.2mg/kg and 1163.5mg/kg, that is exceeded the countermeasure criteria. Cadmium concentration was 14.70mg/kg, that is exceeded anxiety criteria. But all items in Sinsung coal mine was detected below criteria. 2) The heavy metals contamination of riverbed soil by gold mine showed higher than coal mine. 3) The heavy metals contamination in the vicinal paddy and dry field soil area was higher than other mine. Arsenic concentration was 29.29mg/kg, that is exceeded the anxiety criteria as 10.22mg/kg.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.87-96
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• 2010

This study was conducted to select environmentally-friendly and low-cost mulching material that could replace soil molding which can be used to restore vegetation in an abandoned coal mine area. To this end, we established 20 experimental plots (4m ${\times}$ 10m in size) on the steep, south west-facing slope of the abandoned coal mine area in Hwangji-Dong, Taebaek City, Gangwon Province in April 2006. We planted two-year-old 1,600 seedlings (at intervals of 0.6m ${\times}$ 0.8m) of drought-resistant tree species including Betula schmidtii, Betula platyphylla var. japonica, Amorpha fruticosa, and Quercus mongolica in the plots. After planting seedlings, mulching was applied by using five different kinds of material such as HWAP (Teracotem), peat moss, straw mats, wood chips, and control (no-mulching) and the effects of different mulching material on the survival rate and growth performance were compared. Three years after planting, the survival rate was the highest in wood chip mulching, followed by straw-mat, peat moss, HWAP, and control. The survival rate was the highest in Quercus mongolica, followed by Betula schmidtii, Betula platyphylla var. japonica, and Amorpha fruticosa. Meanwhile the height growth was the best in Betula platyphylla var. japonica, followed by Betula schmidtii, Quercus mongolica, and Amorpha fruticosa. The height growth of seedlings was the best in HWAP mulching, followed by peat moss, woody chips, straw mat, and control. From an economic point of view, wood chips are considered to be the best mulching material. The results showed that mulching without soil molding and/or mixing applications would be effective for restoring vegetation in an abandoned 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.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.339-346
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• 2002

Efficient database and DBMS are essential for GIS analysis of subsidence in the abandoned mine area. A data structure and a suitable analysis method were proposed for an efficient analysis of subsidence in the abandoned mine area. Data models for the location of mine, ground water level, subsidence measurement and subsidence cracks were defined and structured to the database.

• 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".