• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.457-470
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• 2019

This study aims to present the characteristics of marine physics, water quality, and sediment quality around offshore wind farm near the Gochang and Buan sea areas through the analysis of monitoring data. The relationships between suspended solid and wave height as well as suspended solid and flow velocity were analyzed. We found that Correlation Coefficient values of 0.61~0.69 between wave height and suspended solid, and suspended solid concentration reaches 75 mg/L or higher when wave height of more than 1m occurred in the spring (1 month). The water quality index (WQI) was used to identify the status of the water quality in the study area. Most of the measured points were rated first grade (very good). The variation of chlorophyll-a was relatively hight compared to the other criteria, indicating that it is a major factor affecting the quality index. In the sediment column, all heavy metals were detected below the Threshold Effects Level(TEL), and ignition loss and grain size show a positive correlation.

• 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.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.8-31
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• 2023

To understand the distribution and formation mechanism of benthic foraminiferal assemblages, grain size analysis, ¹⁴C radiocarbon dating, and benthic foraminifera analysis were conducted on thirty-two surface sediments collected from the continental shelf of the northern East China Sea, respectively. Surface sediment was composed of sandy mud~muddy sand facies with an average of 52.04% of sand, 13.72% of silt, and 34.20% of clay. These sedimentary facies are palimpsest sediment. Benthic foraminifera was classified into a total of 48 genera and 104 species, including agglutinated foraminifera, calcareous-hyaline, and calcareous-porcelaneous foraminifera. The production rate of agglutinated foraminifera increased toward the Yangtze River area while that of planktonic foraminifera increased toward Jeju Island. Dominant species are Ammonia ketienziensis, Bolivina robusta, Eggella advena, Eilohedra nipponica, Pseudorotalia gamardii, Pseudoparrella naraensis. ¹⁴C radiocarbon datings of Bolivina robusta and Pseudorotalia gamardii with the highest production rate were 2,360±40 yr B.P. and 2,450±40 yr B.P., respectively. In the result of cluster analysis, three assemblages composed of P. gaimardii, B. robusta, and A. ketienziensis-P. naraensis were classified broadly. P. gaimardii assemblage is thought to be formed from about 2.5 yr B.P. at the sea area of the Yangtze River to 50 m in water depth affected by fresh water. B. robusta assemblage is thought to be formed from about 2.4 yr B.P. at the sea area of Jeju Island to 50~100 m affected by offshore water. And then, A. ketienziensisP. naraensis assemblage was formed in the northwest sea area (Central Yellow Sea Mud). These distributions and composition of benthic foraminiferal assemblages formed from about 2.5 yr B.P. in the northern East China Sea are thought to be due to the change of benthic ecology environment that occurred by the sea level increase during the late Holocene.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.235-247
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• 2019

The Central South Sea Mud (CSSM), developed in the Seomjin River estuary, is known to be supplied with sediments from Heuksan Mud Belt (HMB) and Seomjin River. However, in order to form a mud belt, more sediments must be supplied than supplied in the above areas. Therefore, research on additional sources should be conducted. In this study, clay minerals, major elements analyzes were performed on cores 16PCT-GC01 and 16PCT-GC03 in order to investigate the transition in the provenance and transport pathway of sediments in CSSM. The Huanghe sediments are characterized by higher smectite and the Changjiang sediments are characterized by higher illite. Korean river sediments contain more kaolinite and chlorite than those of chinese rivers. Korean river sediments have higher Al, Fe, K concentraion than Chinese river sediments and Chinese rivers have higher Ca, Mg, Na than those of Korean rivers. Therefore, clay minerals and major elements can be a useful indicator for provenance. Based on our results, CSSM can be divided into three sediment units. Unit 3, which corresponds to the lowstand stage, is interpreted that sediments from Huanghe were supplied to the study area by coastal or tidal currents. Unit 2, which corresponds to the transgressive stage, is interpreted to have a weaker Huanghe effect and a stronger Changjiang and Korean rivers effect. Unit 1, which corresponds to the highstand stage when the sea level is the same as present and current circulation system is formed, is interpreted that sediments from Changjiang and Korean rivers are supplied to the research area through the current.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.2E
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• pp.30-45
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• 2001

This study considers the environmental factors affecting propagation loss and sonar performance in the continental regions of the East Coast Sea of Korea. Water mass distributions appear to change dramatically in a few weeks. Simple calculation with the case when the NKCW (North Korean Cold Water) develops shows that the difference in propagation loss may reach in the worst up to 10dB over range 5km. Another factor, an eddy, has typical dimensions of 100-200km in diameter and 150-200m in thickness. Employing a typical eddy and assuming frequency to be 100Hz, its effects on propagation loss appear to make lower the normal formation of convergence zones with which sonars are possible to detect long-range targets. The change of convergence zones may result in 10dB difference in received signals in a given depth. Thermal fronts also appear to be critical restrictions to operating sonars in shallow waters. Assuming frequency to be 200Hz, thermal fronts can make 10dB difference in propagation loss between with and without them over range 20km. An observation made in one site in the East Coast Sea of Korea reveals that internal waves may appear in near-inertial period and their spectra may exist in periods 2-17min. A simulation employing simple internal wave packets gives that they break convergence zones on the bottom, causing the performance degradation of FOM as much as 4dB in frequency 1kHz. An acoustic experiment, using fixed source and receiver at the same site, shows that the received signals fluctuate tremendously with time reaching up to 6.5dB in frequencies 1kHz or less. Ambient noises give negative effects directly on sonar performance. Measurements at some sites in the East Coast Sea of Korea suggest that the noise levels greatly fluctuate with time, for example noon and early morning, mainly due to ship traffics. The average difference in a day may reach 10dB in frequency 200Hz. Another experiment using an array of hydrophones gives that the spectrum levels of ambient noises are highly directional, their difference being as large as 10dB with vertical or horizontal angles. This fact strongly implies that we should obtain in-situ information of noise levels to estimate reasonable sonar performance. As one of non-stationary noise sources, an eel may give serious problems to sonar operation on or under the sea bottoms. Observed eel noises in a pier of water depth 14m appear to have duration time of about 0.4 seconds and frequency ranges of 0.2-2.8kHz. The 'song'of an eel increases ambient noise levels to average 2.16dB in the frequencies concerned, being large enough to degrade detection performance of the sonars on or below sediments. An experiment using hydrophones in water and sediment gives that sensitivity drops of 3-4dB are expected for the hydrophones laid in sediment at frequencies of 0.5-1.5kHz. The SNR difference between in water and in sediment, however, shows large fluctuations rather than stable patterns with the source-receiver ranges.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.203-215
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• 2006

Field observations on the spatio-temporal distribution of organic matter of the surface sediment were carried out at 15 stations in the central parts of the South Sea of Korea from April 2002 to January 2003. The range of water temperature and salinity in bottom waters, mud content and water content of surface sediment were $8.06{\sim}23.35^{\circ}C,\;29.20{\sim}34.51\;psu,\;71.2{\sim}99.9%$ and $38.7{\sim}68.9%$, respectively. Measured parameters on the surface sediments of ignition loss (IL), chemical oxygen demand (CODs), phaeopigment, particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) also ranged in $3.9{\sim}l2.5%,\;9.60{\sim}44.05\;mgO_2/g-dry,\;1.58{\sim}29.51\;{\mu}g/g-dry,\;3.12{\sim}13.01\;mgC/g-dry$ and $0.49{\sim}2.00\;mgN/g-dry$, respectively. The spatio-temporal distribution of organic matter demonstrated higher concentrations offshore than at lesions near the coastal line. Higher concentrations occurred in the summer and spring. The results indicated that the origin of organic matter in surface sediments in the central part of the South Sea was autochthonous rather than allocthonous because the organic matter had an average C/N ratio of 6.44 (${\pm}0.51$). However, the composition of autochthonous organic matter was mainly derived from detritus rather than living phytoplankton, which was Indicated by the results of the POC/phaeopigment ratio. A principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that 73.2% of the variability in the data was described by two factors: 1) an 'environmental factor concerning the accumulation of materials (57.3%)' and 2) 'origin of organic matter and the composition by primary production (15.9%)'. The sedimentary environment in the central part of the South Sea was divided into four regions from the factor score of the PCA by the concentrations of organic matter and the composition ratio of organic matters from phytoplankton in surface sediments.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.173-184
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• 2019

Variations in grain size distribution and clay mineral assemblage are closely related to the sedimentary facies that reflect depositional conditions during the glacial and interglacial periods. Gravity cores BS17-GC15 and BS17-GC04 were collected from the continental shelf and rise in the eastern Bellingshausen Sea during a cruise of the ANA07D Cruise Expedition by the Korea Polar Research Institute in 2017. Core sediments in BS17-GC15 consisted of subglacial diamicton, gravelly muddy sand, and bioturbated diatom-bearing mud from the bottom to the top sediments. Core sediments in BS17-GC04 comprised silty mud with turbidites, brownish structureless mud, laminated mud, and brownish silty bioturbated diatom-bearing mud from the bottom to the top sediments. The clay mineral assemblages in the two core sediments mainly consisted of smectite, chlorite, illite, and kaolinite. The clay mineral contents in core GC15 showed a variation in illite from 28.4 % to 44.5 % in down-core changes. Smectite contents varied from 31.1 % in the glacial period to 20 % in the deglacial period and 25.1 % in the interglacial period. Chlorite and kaolinite contents decreased from 40.5 % in the glacial period to 30.3 % in the interglacial period. The high contents of illite and chlorite indicated a terrigenous detritus supply from the bedrocks of the Antarctic Peninsula. Core GC04 from the continental rise showed a decrease in the average smectite content from 47.2 % in the glacial period to 20.6 % in the interglacial period, while the illite contents increased from the 21.3 % to 43.2 % from the glacial to the interglacial period. The high smectite contents in core GC04 during the glacial period may be supplied from Peter I Island, which has a known smectite-rich sediment contributed by Antarctic Circumpolar Currents. Conversely, the decrease in smectite and increase in chlorite and illite contents during the interglacial period was likely caused by a higher supply of chlorite- and illite-enriched sediment from the eastern Bellingshausen Sea shelf by the southwestward flowing contour current.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.249-258
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• 2001

Compressional wave velocity and electrical resistivity of muddy sediments in the southeastern inner shelf of Korea were studied using nine piston core samples. The acoustic and physical properties were measured with 10 cm depth interval. Sediment structures were examined by x-radiographs of the cored sediments. Subbottom profiles were obtained by a high-resolution acoustic subbottom profiler. Acoustic turbid layers are clearly seen on the profiles, and x-radiographs of the sediments showed degassying structures formed by gas escaping. On the basis of x-radiographic images, velocities, electrical resistivities and physical properties, the sediments are divided into gassy and non-gassy sediments. The presence of gas and degassying structures result in a marked variation in velocity and electrical resistivity. It can be concluded that velocity and electrical resistivity arep arameter to recognize gassy sediment. The velocity is important parameter to indicate gassy sediment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.207-215
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• 2004

Recently, securing a vast land in the land region becomes more difficult and efforts to seek its alternation in the sea area have been increased. As a consequence, the coastal region has been faced to extensive beach erosion problems. In planning offshore structures such as artificial islands, it is necessary to forecast the influence of the structure construction exerting on the beach erosion of the adjacent coast. In the present study, the sediment movement pattern behind offshore structure was examined through a series of three dimensional movable bed experiments, so as to develop the numerical model which forecasts morphological change including beach erosions. The experimental results reveal that the sediment movement patterns of the beach line side and the depth region are separated at a certain boundary line. In details, at the beach side including swash zone the sediment movement becomes dominant, which is governed by a relation between depth contours and incident wave directions, while at the depth region the bed load and suspended load due to the orbit motion of waves are carried by nearshore currents, and both movements are clearly separated at a specified boundary that is related to partial standing wave from the beach. It is expected that these results can be effectively used for verification of a numerical model on morphological change of the coast.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2020

In order to investigate current characteristics at the Gungpyung beach, which is a macrotidal flat, field measurements were carried out in the summer and winter at the intertidal and the subtidal zones. The distribution of residual current at intertidal flat was dominant in the northward direction in the summer and dominant in the northward and southwestern directions in the winter. The direction and speed of the residual current in the winter are highly correlated with the significant wave height, and the turbidity is also highly correlated with the significant wave height. Therefore, in the winter, high sediment rates are suspended by high waves, and sediments are transporting due to the residual current in the southwest direction. On the other hand, it is expected that the northward residual current is predominant due to the small wave in the summer, and sediment transport does not occur largely due to less suspended sediments. In addition, sediment transport in the southern direction is blocked by the dock, which is the artificial structure, and the erosion occurs in the south side of the dock. The erosion pattern in the macrotidal zone of Yellow sea is dominated by seasonal waves, and blocking of sediments by artificial structure is very important.