• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.8
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• pp.981-994
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• 2014

Density currents formed by buoyancy discharges from rivers are numerically studied using non-dimensional two layer model including Coriolis acceleration, bottom stress, interfacial friction. Some typical numbers such as Froude number, densimetric Froude number and Kelvin number are obtained and some characteristic scales are defined as a result of non-dimensionalization of the governing equations. Besides the Coriolis effect, the configurations of bottom topography, bottom friction coefficient and interfacial friction are found to significantly affect the propagation of the warm water plume. Frontal position can fastly propagate in the case of large density difference between the two layers and small interfacial friction. Left side boundary current is easily formed under the small interfacial friction. With large Kelvin number, both right and left side boundary currents are formed. Wave-like disturbances and eddies are easily formed under the high Froude number.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.264-274
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• 2023

The Korea Strait comprises a continental shelf in a shallow sea that experienced glacio-eustastic sea-level changes during the Quaternary period. A long core of 76.6 m in length was acquired at the South Sea Drilling Project site (SSDP-101; 34°19.666'E and 128°16.335'N) with a 60 m water deep. The uppermost massive sand beds were interpreted as sandy sediments of the nearshore marine sand ridge in the shallow sea during the transgression of sea level, whereas the lower parts of alternating sandy and muddy beds were interpreted as deposits in marsh, estuary, and tidal flat environments. A three-layered geoacoustic model was reconstructed for the sedimentary succession in the high-resolution seismic profile based on a 140-grain size and sediment type of core SSDP-101. For the actual underwater simulation and experiments, the in-situ P-wave speeds were calculated using the sound speed ratio of the Hamilton method.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.585-596
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• 2020

The 2017 Pohang Earthquakes occurred near a drill site in the Pohang Enhanced Geothermal System. Water injected for well stimulation was believed to have reactivated the buried near-critically stressed Miocene faults by the accumulation of the Quaternary tectonic strain. However, surface expressions of the Quaternary tectonic activity had not been reported near the epicenter of the earthquakes before the site construction. Unusual, large-scale water-escaped structures were identified 4 km away from the epicenter during a post-seismic investigation. The water-escaped structures comprise Miocene mudstones injected into overlying Pleistocene coastal sediments that formed during Marine Isotope Stage 5. This indicates the vulnerable state of the mudstones long after deposition, resulted from the combined effects of rapid tectonic uplift (before significant diagenesis) and the development of an aquifer at their unconformable interface of the mudstone. Based on the detailed field analysis and consideration of all possible endogenic triggers, we interpreted the structures to have been formed by elevated pore pressures in the mudstones (thixotropy), triggered by cyclic ground motion during the earthquakes. This interpretation is strengthened by the presence of faults 400 m from the study area, which cut unconsolidated coastal sediment deposited after Marine Isotope Stage 5. Geological context, including high rates of tectonic uplift in SE Korea, paleo-seismological research on Quaternary faults near the study area, and historical records of paleoearthquakes in SE Korea, also support the interpretation. Thus, epicenter and surrounding areas of the 2017 Pohang Earthquake are considered as a paleoseismologically active area, and the causative fault of the 2017 Pohang Earthquakes was expected to be nearly critical state.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.333-341
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• 2014

Since distribution and preservation of cultural artifacts in the submarine sediments are directly affected by not only ocean currents and tides, but also their composition, it is very important to investigate geological characteristics of sediments and ocean-sediment interactions for maritime archaeological survey. Physical properties of submarine sediments, which are collected by grab sampler and vibro-corer, are analyzed in order to investigate effects of submarine environment on development of maritime archaeological survey techniques. Result of physical property analysis showed that bulk density, shear strength, and magnetic susceptibility increase with depth, while water contents and porosity decrease with depth. Since the magnetic susceptibility of bedrock is about 40 times that of submarine sediments, it might impact greatly on the response of magnetic survey. Physical properties of sediments with depth and sediment classification by Folk's ternary diagram indicate that submarine sediment mainly consists of silt, and cultural artifacts can not penetrate no deeper than 1.5 m in sediments.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.209-218
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• 2021

Studies of pore structure in shale gas reservoirs are essential to increase recovery rates, which is in the spotlight concerning unconventional resources. In this study, the distribution of pores in shale gas reservoir sample were observed using Scanning Electron Microscope Particle Analysis (SELPA), which is appropriate to analyze the distribution of particle or shape for sample in large area. A sample from the A-068 borehole drilled in the Liard Basin was analyzed; calcite is the main mineral. The pore size ranges from tens of nanometers to hundreds of micrometers and the contribution of each pore size to overall sample porosity was determined using SELPA. The distribution of pores was determined by observing the surface in the same area at magnifications of ×1000, ×3000 and ×5000. Pores less than 100 nm were observed at high magnifications and confirm that small-scale pore distribution can be analyzed and identified rapidly using SELPA. The method introduced in this study will be useful to understand pore structures in unconventional reservoirs.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.225-238
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• 2019

Migration velocity analysis (MVA) for creating optimum depth-domain velocities in seismic imaging was applied to marine long-offset multi-channel data, and the effectiveness of the MVA approach was demonstrated by the combinations of conventional data processing procedures. The time-domain images generated by conventional time-processing scheme has been considered to be sufficient so far for the seismic stratigraphic interpretation. However, when the purpose of the seismic imaging moves to the hydrocarbon exploration, especially in the geologic modeling of the oil and gas play or lead area, drilling prognosis, in-place hydrocarbon volume estimation, the seismic images should be converted into depth domain or depth processing should be applied in the processing phase. CMP-based velocity analysis, which is mainly based on several approximations in the data domain, inherently contains errors and thus has high uncertainties. On the other hand, the MVA provides efficient and somewhat real-scale (in depth) images even if there are no logging data available. In this study, marine long-offset multi-channel seismic data were optimally processed in time domain to establish the most qualified dataset for the usage of the iterative MVA. Then, the depth-domain velocity profile was updated several times and the final velocity-in-depth was used for generating depth images (CRP gather and stack) and compared with the images obtained from the velocity-in-time. From the results, we were able to confirm the depth-domain results are more reasonable than the time-domain results. The spurious local minima, which can be occurred during the implementation of full waveform inversion, can be reduced when the result of MVA is used as an initial velocity model.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.428-435
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• 2019

In the shallow coastal area, located off the northwestern Taean Peninsula of the eastern Yellow Sea, geoacoustic models with two layers were reconstructed for underwater acoustic experimentation and modeling. The Yellow Sea experienced glacio-eustasy sea-level fluctuations during Quaternary period. Coastal sedimentation in the Yellow Sea was characterized by alternating terrestrial and shallow marine deposits that reflected the fluctuating sea levels. The coastal geoacoustic models were based on data from piston, grab cores and the high-resolution 3.5 kHz, chirp seismic profiles (about 70 line-kilometers, respectively). Geoacoustic data of the cores were extrapolated down to 3 m in depth for geoacoustic models. The geoacoustic property of seafloor sediments is considered a key parameter for modeling underwater acoustic environments. For simulating actual underwater environments, the P-wave speed of the models was adjusted to in-situ depth below the sea floor using the Hamilton method. The proposed geoacoustic models could be used for submarine acoustic inversion and modeling in shallow-water environments of the study area.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.230-242
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• 2016

IS-Geo (International School for Geoscience Resources) was established with a purpose of developing domestic and international human resources within the field of geological resources, andit has been achieving its training goals well since its inception. This study conducted training needs analysis and training performance assessment to assure the objectivity of the performance outcome of IS-Geo. For the training needs analysis, Borich's equation and Locus for Focus method were used. A survey was utilized for the training performance assessment to analyze the satisfaction and the transfer of training based on gender, age, education, and attendance of the trainees. The results of this study showed that training needs of training course in the fields of geology, mineral resources, petroleum and marine, and geologic environment have been deducted, and the urgent need of training course development has been determined by locus for focus. As a result of performance assessment of training course, the fields of mineral resources and geologic environment's course showed a higher satisfaction with the learning achievement than the course of geology fields.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.143-156
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• 2015

In order to understand the dynamic characteristics of water column environments in the Western Pacific seamount area (approximately $150.2^{\circ}E$, $20^{\circ}N$), we investigated the water mass and the behavior of water column parameters such as dissolved oxygen, inorganic nutrients (N, P), and chlorophyll-a. Physico-chemical properties of water column were obtained by CTD system at the nine stations which were selected along the east-west and south-north direction around the seamount (OSM14-2) in October 2014. From the temperature-salinity diagram, the main water masses were separated into North Pacific Tropical Water and Thermocline Water in the surface layer, North Pacific Intermediate Water in the intermediate layer, and North Pacific Deep Water in the bottom layer, respectively. Oxygen minimum zone (OMZ, mean $O_2$ $73.26{\mu}M$), known as dysoxic condition ($O_2<90{\mu}M$), was distributed in the depth range of 700~1,200 m throughout the study area. Inorganic nutrients typified by nitrite + nitrate and phosphate showed the lowest concentration in the surface mixed layer and then gradually increased downward with representing the maximum concentration in the OMZ, with lower N:P ratio (13.7), indicating that the nitrogen is regarded as limiting factor for primary production. Vertical distribution of water column parameters along the east-west and south-north station line around the seamount showed the effect of bottom water inflowing at around 500 m deep in the western and southern region, and concentrations of water column parameters in the bottom layer (below 2,500 m deep) of the western and southern region were differently distributed comparing to those of the other side regions (eastern and northern). The value of Excess N calculated from Redfield ratio (N:P=16:1) represented the negative value throughout the study area, which indicated the nitrogen sink dominant environments, and relative higher value of Excess N observed in the bottom layer of western and southern region. These observations suggest that the topographic features of a seamount influence the circulation of bottom current and its effects play a significant role in determining the behavior of water column environmental parameters.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.169-181
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to develop geochemical tracers to identify a specific source desert of mineral dust in China using the published data. In addition, we tested the applicability of these tracers to wet-deposits and soil samples collected in Jeju, Korea. Because of similarity in trace elemental compositions of mineral dust from the major arid regions in China, such as Taklimakan, West Ordos (Badain Jaran), East Ordos (Mu Us and Hobq), East Northern China (Horqin), West Northern China (Gurbantunggut), and Chinese Loess Plateau, there has been limited to the use of geochemical data for source identification. Here we propose the four (4) plots using combination of seven (7) geochemical variables as a source indicator to distinguish one from other source regions in China: $\frac{Y}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\frac{Th}{{\Sigma}REE_N}$, $\(\frac{La}{Gd}\)_N$ vs. $\frac{Y}{{\Sigma}REE_N}$, $\frac{Th}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\frac{Y}{Nd_N}$, and $\frac{Th}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\(\frac{Ce}{Ce}\)_N^*$, where $_N$ and $\(\frac{Ce}{Ce}\)_N^*$ stand for values normalized to Post-Archean Average Shale composition and Ce anomaly, respectively. Mineral dusts from aforementioned six major deserts are distinguished one from the others by the combined use of these variables. Jeju rock and soil samples form a separate domain from Chinese mineral dusts in all four plots. In contrast, most of Jeju dust samples were comparable with the West Ordos desert (Badain Jaran) domain, indicative of strong influence of Badain Jaran dust in Jeju in spring season when the mineral dust was collected. A weak positive Ce anomaly in Jeju samples implies minimal local contribution. Our study suggests that the combination of $\frac{Y}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\frac{Th}{{\Sigma}REE_N}$, $\(\frac{La}{Gd}\)_N$ vs. $\frac{Y}{{\Sigma}REE_N}$, $\frac{Th}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\frac{Y}{Nd_N}$, and $\frac{Th}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\(\frac{Ce}{Ce}\)_N^*$ can be used to identify a specific source region of mineral dust in China as well as Jeju mineral particles.