• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.44-51
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• 2010

Contamination of groundwater from point and non-point sources is one of major problems of water resource manangement in Jeju island. This study characterized groundwater and soil contamination in Hallim area which is one of the areas of significantly contaminated soil and groundwater in Jeju Island. The amount of loaded contaminant (ALC) of Jeju area was estimated as 13,212 ton N/yr and 3,210 ton P/yr, The ALC of Hallim area was amounted to 2,895 ton N/yr and 1,102 ton P/yr, which accounted for 21.9% and 34.3% of the Jeju's ALC, respectively. The soil pH values (5.6-5.9) were not much different in land use areas. By contrat, average cation exchange capacity (CEC) of 14.1 $cmol^+/kg$ was high comparing to the nationwide range of 7.7-10.9 $cmol^+/kg$. Further, Sodium adsorption ratios (SARs) of horse ranch, pasture, and cultivating land for livestock were as high as 0.19, 0.17, and 0.16 respectively, comparing to the other landuse areas. Nitrate nitrogen at 22.2% of total groundwater wells exceeded 10 mg/L (the criteria of nitrate nitrogen for drinking water), averaginged 6.62 mg/L with maximum 28.95 mg/L. Groundwater types belonged to Mg-$HCO_3$, Na-$HCO_3$, Ca-$HCO_3$, and Na-Cl, among which Mg-$HCO_3$ type occupied more than 70% of the total samples, indicating the presence of anthropogenic sources. The concentration of nitrate nitrogen was negatively related to altitude and well depth, and positively related to the concentration of Ca, Mg, and $SO_4$ which might originate from chemical fertilizer. The ratio of nitrogen isotopes was estimated as an average of 8.10$^{\circ}/_{\circ\circ}$, and the maximum value of 17.9$^{\circ}/_{\circ\circ}$. According to the nitrogen isotope ratio, the most important nitrogen source was assessed as chemical fertilizer (52.6%) followed by sewage (26.3%) and livestock manures (21.1%).