• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.381-392
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• 2023

Precipitation, runoff, and evapotranspiration are changing worldwide due to climate change and human activities. Because watershed runoff is an important component of the hydrological cycle, it is important to investigate the changes in watershed runoff for water resources management. This study collected observed data of runoff, precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration in the Geum River basin as well as their synthetic data according to Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios, investigated the trend of hydro-meteorological variables using the Mann-Kendall test, and quantitatively evaluated the effects of climate change and human activities on the watershed runoff using the climate elasticity approach and the Budyko framework. The results indicated that the relative contribution of climate change and human activity to changes in runoff varies from region to region. For example, the watershed with the greatest contribution from climate change and human activity were the Yongdam Dam (#3001) basin and the Daecheong Dam (#3008) basin, respectively. Future climate change showed an increase in precipitation and temperature in both RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios, resulting in changes in runoff in the Geum River basin from 44.8% to 65.5%, respectively. We concluded that the effect on watershed runoff can be separated into climate change and human activities, which will be important information in establishing sustainable water resource management plans.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.630-646
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• 2020

In rural areas, nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) pollution caused by agricultural activities is a major obstacle to the use of shallow groundwater as domestic water or drinking water. In this study, the water quality characteristics of shallow groundwater in Hyogyo-ri agricultural area of Yesan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do province was studied in connection with land use and chemical composition of soil layer. The average NO3-N concentration in groundwater exceeds the domestic and agricultural standard water qualities of Korea and is caused by anthropogenic sources such as fertilizer, livestock wastewater, and domestic sewage. The groundwater type mainly belongs to Ca(Na)-Cl type, unlike Ca-HCO3 type, a general type of shallow groundwater. The average NO3-N concentration (7.7 mg L-1) in groundwater in rice paddy/other (upstream, ranch, and residential) area is lower than the average concentration (22.8 mg L-1) in farm field area, due to a lower permeability in paddy area than that in farm field area. According to the trend analysis by the Mann-Kendall and Sen tests, the NO3-N concentration in the shallow groundwater shows a very weak decreasing trend with ~0.011 mg L-1yr-1 with indicating almost equilibrium state. Meanwhile, SO42- and HCO3- concentrations display annual decreasing trend by 15.48 and 13.15%, respectively. At a zone of 0 to 5 m below the surface, the average hydraulic conductivity is 1.86×10-5 cm s-1, with a greater value (1.03×10-4cm s-1) in sand layer and a smaller value (2.50×10-8 cm s-1) in silt layer.