• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2016

Groundwater flow paths and groundwater ages at a radioactive waste repository located in a coastal area of South Korea were evaluated using the hydrochemical and hydrogeological characteristics of groundwater, surface water, rain water, and seawater, as well as by numerical modeling. The average groundwater travel time in the top layer of the model, evaluated by numerical modeling and groundwater age (34 years), approximately corresponds to the groundwater age obtained by chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-12 analysis (26-34 years). The data suggest that the groundwater in wells in the study area originated up-gradient at distances of 140-230 m. Results of CFC analyses, along with seasonal variations in the δ¹⁸O and δD values of groundwater and the relationships between ²²²Rn concentrations and δ¹⁸O values and between ²²²Rn concentrations and δD values, indicate that groundwater recharge occurs in the summer rainy season and discharge occurs in the winter dry season. Additionally, a linear relationship between dissolved SiO₂ concentrations and groundwater ages indicates that natural mineralization is affected by the dilution of groundwater recharge in the rainy summer season.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.28 no.spc
• /
• pp.1-17
• /
• 2023

Sustainability is commonly recognized as one of the new paradigms or norms that will reign the new era after the modern age of revolutionary economic development. This global trend calls for the adoption of the sustainability concept to soil and groundwater management. In fact, there are several such ongoing movements in practicing soil and groundwater management. Through literature review, this paper discusses the concept, practices, and future research needs of sustainable soil and groundwater management. We first discuss the definition of sustainable soil and groundwater management and possible methodologies to gauge or improve the sustainability of soil and groundwater management. Then, we introduce the research topics, exemplary practices, and propose solutions to elaborate sustainability in three representative subfields including soil and groundwater remediation, groundwater management, and soil management. We conclude with suggestions on the future research directions for successful adoption of sustainability concept to soil and groundwater management in the Republic of Korea.

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
• /
• 2002.04a
• /
• pp.83-85
• /
• 2002

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2003.11a
• /
• pp.344-351
• /
• 2003

Hydrogeological survey and geochemical analysis were carried out in Phra Yun area, Northeast Thailand, which is a typical salt-affected area for an understanding of hydrogeological groundwater behaviours. Geological survey reveals the presence of G1 and F1 faults. Electromagnetic ground conductivity prospecting shows that the high conductivity zones of 15 mS/cm or more are distributed at underground of the G1 and F1 faults where saline groundwater is discharged. The distribution patterns of tritium concentration show that high tritium concentration zones of groundwater were recharged from pond and river. On the assumption that the annual average tritium concentration of precipitation in Northeast Thailand is same as tritium concentration of precipitation in Tokyo and groundwater flows as piston flow, the age of recharging precipitation of groundwater with 15 TU in 1997 could be estimated at 1967-1970 years. The velocity of groundwater flow was calculated to be $5.3{\times}10^{-7}\;m/s\;and\;2.1{\times}x10^{-6}\;m/s$ respectively from a duration time of 30 years and distance of groundwater flow 500m -2000m from the pond and river to the investigation wells. Because the estimated values of velocity of groundwater flow are compatible with the hydraulic conductivities, it is considered that 30 years is a reasonable period for recharging groundwater.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.541-548
• /
• 2009

The Dongrae thermal water area located at the southeastern marginal part of the Korean Peninsula is one of the oldest hot springs in Korea. The Dongrae thermal water shows Na-Cl type of water chemistry, whereas the shallow cold groundwater is Ca(-Na)-$HCO_3$ type. In this paper, we discuss the age of the Dongrae hot spring, i.e. groundwater cycle among meteoric water-surface water-shallow groundwater-hot spring water. The $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratios of the thermal water in Dongrae area range from 0.705663 to 0.705688 and are lower than those of groundwater, surface water and rain water as well as aquifer bearing granite. These Sr isotopic signatures in the Dongrae thermal water indicate that the circulation rate between thermal water and current meteoric water including groundwater, surface water and rain water in the Dongrae area should be very slow. The $^{14}C$ age of the Dongrae hot spring water range from $1,271{\pm}36$ BP(before present) to $2,467{\pm}36$ BP whereas that of the shallow groundwater is $-495{\pm}33$ BP. This suggests that the period of groundwater cycle among meteoric water, surface water, shallow groundwater and hot spring should be more than 1,270 years. Then, it also indicates that the present Dongrae hot spring may be a mixed water between the old thermal water heated for at least 1,270 years and the present shallow cold groundwater.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.72-77
• /
• 1995

Flow times of the groundwater in the gneiss near Samkwang mine in Korea were estimated through the development of a mathematical model, the field hydraulic tests, and the analysis of tritium concentration of the groundwater and rainfall sampled in the study positions. Results of this study we as follows: (1) The mathematical model to calculate the age of groundwater was developed considering the tritium concentrations of rainfall precipitated in the studied area for period 1961 to 1993. (2) The ages of the groundwater in the tunnel 44, 92, 102, and 205 m below the surface were estimated at 2, 0, 4.0, 4.5, and 9.0 years, respectively. These results were verified by the data on the tritium concentrations of the groundwater in the tunnel for period 1991 to 1993.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.60-71
• /
• 2007

Groundwater from public wells was monitored during one year with two month interval for hydrogeochemical parameters and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as environmental tracers in Jeju Island. Concentrations of major cations and $SiO_2$ show variation less than 10% whereas $NO_3$ and dissolved oxygen (DO) showed larger variation though DO variation did not change oxic or suboxic condition. $NO_3$ concentration has no consistent seasonal pattern with the largest variation of 35%. Groundwater ages determined by CFCs became temporarily younger by 5 years in October for groundwater with ages of 15 to 25 years, which can be attributed to infiltrating water in rainy season. Compared to air temperature, groundwater temperature has much smaller variation with no phase difference, which can be accounted for by a two-component model consisting of infiltrating water from surface and deeper groundwater with negligible temperature variation. The relatively small variation in groundwater age and temperature indicates that groundwater recharge through fast flow-paths is much smaller compared with basal groundwater in terms of aquifer storage.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.59-68
• /
• 2012

This study provided sorption properties of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and elucidated potential application of CFC sorption data in hydrogeochemistry. Prior sorption studies were reviewed for hydrophobic organic compounds similar to the CFCs, because there were only few CFC sorption studies. The CFCs are regarded as relatively conservative chemicals in groundwater environments based on their moderate hydrophobicity. However, thermally altered carbonaceous matter (TACM) can significantly increase sorption capacity and nonlinearity for hydrophobic organic compounds such as CFCs, compared to general soil organic matter. CFC sorption behavior are close to the sorption for reviewed organic chemicals. Therefore, the CFC sorption data can be used for determining hydrogeochemical properties and predicting transport of organic contaminants in TACM-containing aquifer environments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.49-57
• /
• 1995

Areas of Chungyang in Chungcheongnamdo, Cheju island and Georgia in U.S.A. were selected to calculate their groundwater ages and dispersion parameters using tritium. Piston flow model, Completely mixing model and Dispersion binomial model which calculate men residence times, and Dispersion normal model and Dispersion model(C$\_$FF) which calculate mean residence times and dispersion parameters simultaneously were applied. Since the input data, tritium concentrations of rainwaters, lack in part, tritium input function was prepared using the correlation of tritium concentrations of rainwaters of Pohang, Korea and Ottawa, Canada. Similar results of PFM and DBM reflect the intrinsical similarity of two models, assumption of low dispersion. The ages of sites of showing relatively higher tritium concentrations than other sites in the sam, region were not calculated by CMM. Since the calculations of DNM and DM(C$\_$FF/) provide the combination of wide ranges of parameters and groundwater ages, the ranges of dispersion parameters were narrowed down under the assumption that ages calculated by PFM and DBM are correct. Since large variation of tritium concentrations of outflows in a same region may reflect the different characteristics of each groundwater flow regime, using only one specific model on a whole region is not recommended.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.67-73
• /
• 2011

Groundwaters were sampled from 730 wells being used for drinking purposes during 2007-2009. These samples were analysed using a gas-flow type GPC (Gas Proportional Counter) according to the USEPA method (900.0). We obtained a gross-alpha counting TDS (total dissolved solid) efficiency curve (Y = 0.0017X2 - 0.3122X + 19.165, X = TDS, Y = efficiency, $R^2$ = 0.9734) using natural uranium standard to get gross ${\alpha}$ value of the samples. The gross alpha values ranged from MDA (minimum detectable activity) to 14.88 pCi/L and 429 samples showed values higher than MDA (< 0.9 pCi/L). Correlations of the uranium values with the total alpha values and the gross-alpha values indicate that uranium values have high impacts on gross-alpha values. Groundwater samples of study areas were classified into four regions according to the rock types; plutonic (granite) rock region (427 areas), metamorphic rock region (181 aeras), sedimentary rock region (70 areas), volcanic rock region (52 areas). Groundwater of Cretaceous granite presented the highest gross-alpha value. Gross alpha in groundwaters showed no relationship with uranium in terms of the geological ages, rocks and minerals.