• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.125-137
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• 1997

To study the vertical variation of heavy metal and Rare Earth Element (REE) contents in deep-sea sediments, eighteen cores were sampled from the Korea Deep-sea Environmental Study (KODES)-96 area in the C-C zone (Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone), northeast equatorial Pacific. Sediment columns can be divided into three units based on sediment colors and geochemical characters; uppermost Unit I with brown color, middle Unit II with pale brown color and smaller Ni/Cu ratio than the ratio in Unit I, and lowermost Unit III with dark (brown) colors and higher contents of Mn, Ni, Cu, and REEs than those in Unit I and II. Unit II can be divided more into two layers of upper Unit IIa and lower Unit IIb. Unit IIb is characterized by high contents of Cu, 3+REEs (REEs except Ce), smectite, and severely deteriorated fossil tests. Unit III can also be divided into two units; upper Unit IIIa with dark brown color, and lower Unit IIIb with black color and enriched Mn and Fe. The KODES area was located near from the East Pacific Rise (EPR) When Unit III Sediments were deposited, considering the hiatus between Unit II and III (Quaternary-Tertiary boundary) and the spreading rate (10 cm/yr) and direction (north southern west) of the Pacific plate from the EPR. High contents of Mn and Fe in Unit IIIb may be related with hydrothermal influence from the EPR. Meanwhile, Unit IIb (about 2~3 Ma) and Unit III (11~30 Ma) layers were probably formed near (or under) the equatorial high productivity zone, and accordingly received a lot of organic materials. As a result, Cu and 3+REEs, closely associated with organic materials, are enriched in smectite and/or Ca-P composites (fish bone debrise, biogenic apatite) after decomposition and reprecipitation on the sea floor. Higher contents of Cu and 3+REEs in Unit IIb and III are suggested to be the result of abundant supply of organic substances in the equatorial high productivity zone.

• 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.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.215-225
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• 1999

To study the vertical variations of major elements, trace elements and rare earth elements(REEs) contents in deep-sea sediments, six cores from Korea Deep-sea Environmental Study area(KODES) were analyzed. Topmost sediment layers of KODES area are divided into two Units; brown-colored and peneliquid Unit I and pale brown-colored and relatively solidified Unit II. Contents of major elements, REEs, Cu, Sr and Rb in each Unit are almost same, while contents of Mn, Ni and Co in Unit I are two or three times higher than those in Unit II. R-mode factor analysis represents that surface sediments are composed of alumino-silicate phase (AI-Ti-K-Mg-Fe-Rb-Ce), apatite phase (Ca-P-Cu-Sr-Trivalent Rare Earth Elements) and Mn-oxide phase(Mn-Ni-Co). Factor scores in silicate and apatite phases in each Unit are nearly same, whereas those in Mn-oxide phase in Unit I is higher than those in Unit II. While NilCu ratio in Unit I is two times higher than that in Unit II. We interprete the geochemical fractionation of Ni and Cu as a result that Ni can be remobilized in oxygen-depleted micro-environment in Units I and II and then easily reprecipitated in Unit I, while most of Cu supplied together with organic material is decomposed mostly in Unit I and sorbed into apatite.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.377-384
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• 2004

Annual variations of inorganic nutrients such as nitrate(+nitrite), phosphate and silicate in association with thermocline were investigated in the upper 200 m of the water column at KODES Long-term Monitoring (KOMO) station in the northeast equatorial Pacific from 1995 to 2002. Global climatic disturbances such as El Nino and La Nina, should have affected KODES area during the study period. In 1995-97 and 2000-2002, a thermocline where temperatures rapidly decrease with depth, was formed at 50-70 m water depth. Nutrient depletion, specially for nitrate and phosphate, was extended down to approximately 50 m depth, which coincided with the surface mixed layer depth. In 1998 and 1999, however a very fluctuating thermocline was observed at 20-100 m water depth. In the photic zone (up to 100 m depth), depth integration of nitrate, phosphate and silicate ranged from 2.02 to $23.14\;gN/m^2$, from 0.87 to $4.05\;gP/m^2$ and from 35.67 to $176.21\;gSi/m^2$, respectively. As a result of changes in the water column structures, nutrient concentrations also showed fluctuation parallel to the changes of thermocline in the study area.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.87-99
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• 2007

This study was conducted to understand the source and behavior of organic matter using the fluorescent technique (excitation-emission matrix) as a part of environmental monitoring program in the Korea manganese nodule mining site in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. Water samples were collected at $0^{\circ},\;6^{\circ}N$, and $10.5^{\circ}N$ along $131.5^{\circ}W$ in August 2005. The concentration of total organic carbon (TOC) ranged from 58.01 to $171.93\;{\mu}M-C$. The vertical distribution of TOC was characterized as higher in the surface layer and decreased with depth. At $6^{\circ}N$, depth-integrated (from surface to 200 m depth) TOC was $337.1\;gC/m^2$, which was 1.4 times higher value than other stations. The exponential decay curve fit of vertical profile of TOC indicated that 59% of organic carbon produced by primary production in the surface layer could be decomposed by bacteria in the water column. Dissolved organic matter is generally classified into two distinctive groups based on their fluorescence characteristics using three-dimensional excitation/emission (Ex/Em) fluorescence mapping technique. One is known as biomacromolecule (BM; protein-like substance; showing max. at Ex 280/Em 330), mainly originated from biological metabolism. The other is geomacromolecule (GM; humic-like substance; showing max. at Ex 330/Em 430), mainly originated from microbial degradation processes. The concentration of BM and GM was from 0.42 to 7.29 TU (tryptophan unit) and from 0.06 to 1.81 QSU (quinine sulfate unit), respectively. The vertical distribution of BM was similar to that of TOC as high in the surface and decreased with depth. However, the vertical distribution of GM showed the reverse pattern of that of BM. From these results, it appeared that BM occupied a major part of TOC and was rapidly consumed by bacteria in the surface layer. GM was mainly transformed from BM by microbial processes and was a dominant component of TOC in the deep-sea layer.