• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.323-337
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• 1999

Seafloor morphology and manganese nodule occurrence were studied in the Korea Deep-sea Environmental Study (KODES) area, northeast equatorial Pacific, to understand their relationship. Study area is composed of three elongated valleys and hills with about 100~200 m height along NNE-SSW direction. Valley region is generally flat. However, hill region is very rugged with big cliffs of about 100m height and small depressions of several tens of meters depth. Tectonic movement along the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone, consequent formation of elongated abyssal hills and Valleys, erosion of siliceous bottom sediments by bottom currents, and dissolution of carbonate sediments on the abyssal hills below CCD result in the rugged morphology. Manganese nodule occurrence is closely related to the morphology of the study area; mostly rounded-shaped manganese nodules with about 5 cm diameter are abundant on the flat valley region, whereas irregular shaped nodules (or manganese crust) with less than 5 cm to about 1 m diameter occur on the hill. These results supports the previous reports that nodule abundance, composition, and morphology are variable both on regional and local small scales on the seafloor even within some abundant nodule provinces depending on oceanographic characteristics such as bathymetric features, surface sediment type, sediment thickness, and so on. We suggest that such oceanographic characteristics affect interrelatedly on the formation of manganese nodules, and tectonic movement of the Pacific plate ultimately constrain the nodule occurrence. A potential mining place in the KODES area seems to be the valley region, which is elongated to the NNW-SSE direction with 3-4 km width.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.37-50
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• 2024

The magnetotelluric (MT) survey can be affected by external environmental factors. In particular, when acquiring MT data in islands, it is essential to consider the combined effect of topography and sea to understand the results and make accurate interpretations. To analyze the MT response (apparent resistivity, phase) with consideration of the effect of topography and sea, a small cone-shaped island model surrounded by deep sea was created. Two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) forward modeling were performed on the terrain model considering topography and the island model considering both topography and sea. The 2-D MT response did not reflect the topographic and sea effect of the direction orthogonal to the 2-D profile. The 3-D MT response included topographic and sea effects in all directions. The XY and YX components of the apparent resistivity were separated on undulating topography, such as a hill. A conductor at 1 km below sea level could be distinguished from topographic and sea effects in the MT response, and low resistivity anomaly was attenuated at greater depths. This study will facilitate understanding of field data measured on small islands.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.475-482
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• 2010

Hydrothermal deposits on deep-sea floors are expected to provide potential metal resources for future demands. Korea was recently granted a prospecting licence to undertake exploration for hydrothermal metal deposits in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Kingdom of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The Korean Deep Seabed Mining Group (KDSMG), which consists of four Korean companies involved in marine technologies, oil and gas shipping, and smelter industries, has conducted research to evaluate the region's resource potential in cooperation with the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) of Korea. Here we present and reflect on the exploration results of these companies and their strategic plans. We also evaluate Research and Development (R&D) progress for the commercial development of seafloor hydrothermal deposits. Our own strategies and prospects for the commercial development of this potential resource are also outlined. We do acknowledge that other potentially important information regarding the amount of ore body, the inside structure, and the metal yields have not yet been clarified sufficiently. As such it is necessary to address these problems through experimental R&D and surveys.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.463-473
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• 2010

Inshore tests were performed in order to verify the design concept of deep sea manganese nodule miner at a site near Hupo at East Sea of Korea in June of 2009. Total mining tests of the test miner, named 'Minero$^{(R)}$', together with flexible hose, lifting pump and lifting hose were accomplished. In this study, the performances of three subsystems of testminer (vehicle, pick-up device, and launch-and-recovery device) were analyzed for feasibility assessment of self-propelled remotely controlled miner, and also to compile basic data for designing a pilotminer. Performances of the test miner were defined based on the Functional Requirements of Axiomatic Design. The inshore tests revealed that the test miner generally satisfies the functional performances. Feasibility assessment and reflection on results are discussed within.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2007

This study concerns the characteristics of helical flow in a concentric and eccentric annulus with a diameter ratio of 0.52 and 0.9, whose outer cylinders are stationary and inner ones are rotating. Pressure losses and skin friction coefficients have been measured for fully developed flows of water and 0.2% aqueous of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), respectively, when the inner cylinder rotates at the speed of 0-500 rpm. The effect of rotation on the skin friction is significantly dependent on the flow regime. In all flow regimes, the skin friction coefficient is increased by the inner cylinder rotation. The change of skin friction coefficient corresponding to the variation of rotating speed is large for the laminar flow regime, whereas it becomes smaller as Re increases for the transitional flow regime and, then, it gradually approach to zero for the turbulent flow regime.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2006

This paper proposes the new efficient system design strategies for the acoustic-based underwater multiple modem and media access control protocol. The system aims to establish the acoustic-based communication network of an underwater vehicles for deep sea mining, which ensures a certain level of maximum throughput regardless of the propagation delay of acoustic and allows fast data transmission through the acoustic-based multiple channel.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.487-494
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• 2014

Deep-seabed test miner operated by a self-propelled mining system moving on soft soil is an essential device to secure floating and towing performances. The performances of the tracked vehicle are seriously influenced by noise factors such as the shear strength of the seafloor, bottom current, seafloor slope, speed of tracked vehicle, reaction forces of flexible hose, steering ratio, etc. Due to uncertainties related to noise factors, the design of a deep-sea manganese nodules test miner that satisfies target reliabilities is difficult. Therefore, reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is required to guarantee system reliability under circumstances where uncertainties related to noise factors prevail. Among noise factors, the bottom current, a bimodal distribution, is censored due to the observation limit of measurement devices. Therefore, estimated distribution of the bottom current is inaccurate without considering these characteristics and the result of RBDO cannot be guaranteed. In this paper, we define censored data as unknown values over the limit of observation. If this data is estimated by using Akaike information criterion (AIC) that cannot consider the characteristics of censored data, the distribution of estimated data cannot guarantee accurate reliability. Therefore, censored AIC that can consider the characteristics of data is used to estimate accurate distribution of the bottom current. Finally, RBDO, under circumstances where uncertainties related to noise factors combined censored data are present, is performed on the mobility of a deep-sea manganese nodules test miner.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2009

Cobalt-rich manganese crusts on seamounts have received an increasing amount of attention as future resources for Co, Ni, Cu, and Mn. A dearth of detailed information regarding the relevant distribution characteristics, mining technologies, and ore processing technologies, however, has precluded potential evaluations of the technical and economic advantages of these crusts. In the past 4 years, Korea has undertaken a survey of the cobalt-rich manganese crusts in and around the Magellan Seamount and Mid-Pacific Mountains. This paper introduces the preliminary feasibility study of the distribution features and R&D results centered around the development of the cobalt-rich manganese crusts. The evaluation model was developed by modifying the model for the manganese nodules. In addition to considering the geological and geophysical differences between the manganese nodules and the cobalt-rich manganese crusts, an ore dressing subsystem was installed in the model. The mining subsystem is composed of a self-propelled collector--a pipeline with submersible hydraulic pumps for crust lifting. The smelting and chlorine leach method was selected for metallurgical processing. The production scales were established at 2,500t/y of cobalt metal. The production of three metals--cobalt, nickel, and copper--was considered in terms of metallurgical processing. The economic feasibility analyses demonstrated that the payback period was 11.4 years, the NPV was 36M$, and the IRR was 9.6% with the economic factors in the case of a cobalt price of US$ 25/lb. It was also demonstrated in this study that the payback period was 8.6 years, the NPV was 154M$, and the IRR was 14.0% in the case of a cobalt price of US$ 30/lb. This indicates that the approach under consideration appears to offer greater potential given the predicted metal prices.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1627-1633
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• 2012

A deep-sea pressure vessel needs to protect the internal electrical equipment from the high external pressure. Thus, the pressure vessel should be designed to be watertight and structurally safe. In this study, a cylindrical-type pressure vessel comprising a hollow cylinder and cover plates at both ends is investigated. For communication between the internal electronic equipment and the external device, holes are bored on the cover plate to install underwater connectors. Considering the type of internal equipment and underwater connector specifications, multiple holes may be required. These holes can affect the structural safety of the pressure vessel cover plate. In this study, the optimum design of the hole arrangement in consideration of the structural safety of the cover plate was performed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.421-428
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• 1996

The occurrence, optical property, chemical composition, crystal structure and formation environments of the phillipsite within deep-sea manganese nodules were systematically investigated in this study. Phillipsite in manganese nodules occurs in nucleus of nodules along with consolidated bottom sediments, weathered volcanic debris, and interstitial grains in the each layer of manganese encrusts. Phillipsite is predominantly pseudomorphs of volcanic shards, and occurs as white to pale yellow in color lath-shaped and equant crystals. These show aggregations of prismatic, blocky, and bladed of 2 to $20{\mu}m$ long, and 2 to $5{\mu}m$ thick. The simplified average chemical formula of phillipsite is $({Ca_{0.1}Mg_{0.3}Na_{1.1}K_{1.5}})_3{(Fe_{0.3}Al_{4.2}Si_{11.8})O_{32}{\cdot}10H_2O}$ with a very siliceous and alkalic. The $Si/(Al+Fe^{+3})$ ratio is 2.37 to 2.78 and alkalis greatly exceed the divalent exchangeable cations, and Na/K ratio is 0.59 to 0.81. The phillipsite is monoclinic ($P2_l/m$) with the unit-cell parameters, $a=10.005{\AA}$, $b=14.129{\AA}$, $c=8.686{\AA}$, ${\beta}=124.35^{\circ}$, and $V=1013.6{\AA}^3$. Phillipsites in manganese nodules formed apparently authigenically at a temperature less than $10^{\circ}C$, and they crystallized at a pressure of less than 0.7 kb, and pH of about 8 in deep-sea environments.