• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.401-414
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• 2017

Vegetation and landscape characteristics at the three highest summits of Republic of Korea, i.e. Seoraksan, Jirisan and Hallasan, are analyzed on the basis of species composition, physiognomy, vegetation distribution and structure of alpine plants, along with landform, geology, soil and habitat conditions. Dominant high mountain plants at three alpine and subalpine belts contain deciduous broadleaved shrub, Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum (31.6%), and evergreen coniferous small tree, Pinus pumila (26.3%) at Seoraksan, deciduous broadleaved tree, Betula ermanii (35.3%), evergreen coniferous tree, Picea jezoensis (23.5%) at Jirisan, and evergreen coniferous tree, Abies koreana (22.6%), deciduous broadleaved shrub, Rhododendron mucronulatum var. ciliatum, and Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii (19.4%) at Hallasan, respectively. Presence of diverse landscapes at the peak of Seoraksan, such as shrubland, grassland, dry land along with rocky areas, and open land may be the result of hostile local climate and geology. High proportion of grassland and wetland at the top of Jirisan may related to gneiss-based gentle topography and well developed soil deposits, which are beneficial to keep the moisture content high. Occurrence of grassland, shrubland, dry land, conifer vegetation, and rocky area at the summit of Hallasan may due to higher elevation, unique local climate, as well as volcanic origin geology and soil substrates. Presences of diverse boreal plant species with various physiognomy at alpine and subalpine belts, and wide range of landscapes, including rocky, grassland, shrubland, wetland, and conifer woodland, provide decisive clues to understand the natural history of Korea, and can be employed as an relevant environmental indicator of biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.38-39
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• 2005

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.34-35
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• 2008

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.13-25
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• 2017

To reconstruct the paleo-temperature quantitatively and to overcome limitation of traditional qualitative pollen analysis, this study was performed pollen analysis using the modern surface soil at Yulha-dong, Gimhae-si of southeastern part of Korean peninsula. Canonical Correspondence Analysis(CCA) was done to identify the most important environment variable about composition of modern surface pollen sample. Also, Weighted Average-Partial Least Square(WA-PLS) was analyzed to obtain modern surface pollen-temperature transfer function. The transfer function was applied to the results of qualitative fossil pollen analysis at Yulha-dong, Gimhae-si, Sampyung-ri, Ulsan-si and Taewha-dong, Ulsan-si. Therefore, the paleo-temperature was reconstructed during the Holocene since 6,200 yr BP. According to the results of the research, it is $1{\sim}2^{\circ}C$ lower than the current average annual temperature at the study area in 6,200 yr BP, since then it increased to the same level to the current temperature and decreased again until 2,600 yr BP. From the 2,600 yr BP, the temperature was fluctuated to the present.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.66-73
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• 2017

Empirical erosion models like Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) models have been widely used to make spatially distributed soil erosion vulnerability maps. Even if the models detect vulnerable sites relatively well utilizing big data related to climate, geography, geology, land use, etc within study domains, they do not adequately describe the physical process of soil erosion on the ground surface caused by rainfall or overland flow. In other words, such models are still powerful tools to distinguish the erosion-prone areas at large scale, but physics-based models are necessary to better analyze soil erosion and deposition as well as the eroded particle transport. In this study a physics-based soil erosion modeling system was developed to produce both runoff and sediment yield time series at watershed scale and reflect them in the erosion and deposition maps. The developed modeling system consists of 3 sub-systems: rainfall pre-processor, geography pre-processor, and main modeling processor. For modeling system validation, we applied the system for various erosion cases, in particular, rainfall-runoff-sediment yield simulation and estimation of probable maximum sediment (PMS) correlated with probable maximum rainfall (PMP). The system provided acceptable performances of both applications.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.280-291
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• 2021

The study examined the influence of climate and soil dynamics on vegetation health across the ecological zones in Rivers State, Nigeria. MODIS imagery was used to assess the vegetation health through NDVI and point grid pattern of meteorological data for total precipitation (TP), air temperature (AT), soil moisture (SM) and soil temperature (ST) of 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015 were used for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Findings showed that NDVI ranged between 0.420 and 0.612 in the freshwater swamp (FWS) while between 0.465 and 0.611 in the rainforest and the NDVI in the mangrove was generally low. The highest mean AT was experienced in the mangrove ecological zone and the least was experienced in the rainforest. The mean SM was generally highest in the rainforest with highest value in 2000 (774.44 m³/m³). The ST was highest in the mangrove and the least was experienced in the rainforest while the TP was highest in the mangrove. NDVI correlated significantly with SM (r=0.720; p<0.05) and ST (r= -0.493; p<0.05). NDVI, SM, TP and ST significantly varied among the ecological zones. Regression analysis showed that vegetation health was significantly related to the combination of soil temperature and soil moisture (R²=0.641; p=0.000). Thus, monitoring the factors that affect vegetation health in a changing climate and soil environments is highly required.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.4-6
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• 2007

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2011

Phytolith of soil in earthenware buried in the wooden chamber tombs at the archaeological site in Hwangseong-dong, Gyeongju along Hyeongsan River are analyzed. The study area has adjoined the seat of government during approximately thousand years in Shilla Dynasty and can be regarded as being closely related to the agricultural activities using the floodplains of Hyeongsan River. By the analytical results, Phragmites, Paniceae and Andropogoneae as well as Oryza sativa are found in the lower horizons, indicating the agricultural activities in the nearby areas. It is suggested for understanding the use of earthenware that the comparisons of buried soils in the site and soils in the earthenware and analysis on the macro plant fossils of soil in the earthenware are needed.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-33
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• 2021

Successful sediment management at the watershed scale requires an understanding of the erosion, transport and sedimentation processes at the specific site scale. However, studies on the sediment runoff characteristics in a small uppermost watershed, which serves as a sediment supply function, are very rare. Therefore, this study attempted to investigate the fluctuations in major sediment supply areas and sediment runoff in the uppermost mountain small watershed, and for this purpose, ArcSWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tools with GIS interface) was applied to the Woldong reservoir catchment located in Gosam-myeon, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. The model results were manually calibrated using the monitoring data of the Woldong reservoir sedimentation rate from 2005 to 2007. It was estimated that annual average of 34.4 tons/year of sediment was discharged from the Woldong reservoir basin. This estimate almost coincided with the monitoring data of the Woldong reservoir during the low flow period but tended to be somewhat underestimated during the high flow period. Although the SWAT model does not fully reflect the erosion process of gully and in-channel, this underestimation is probably due to the spatial connectivity of sediment transport and the storage and reactivation of the sediment being transported. Most of the forested hillslopes with a well-developed organic horizon were evaluated as having a low risk of erosion, while the places with the highest risk of erosion were predicted to be distributed in the logged area with some weeds or shrubs (classified as pasture) with relatively steeper slopes, and in the bare land. The results of this study are expected to be useful in developing strategies for sediment control and reservoir management.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.533-550
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• 2002

Soil organic matter (SOM) content and other physical soil properties were extracted from a digital soil database, the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database, to map the amount of SOM and determine its relationship with topographic positions in floodplain areas along a river basin in Douglas County, Kansas. In the floodplains, results showed that slope and SOM content had a significant negative relationship. Soils near river channels were deep and nearly level, and they had the greatest SOM content in the floodplain areas. For the whole county, SOM content was influenced primarily by soil depth and percent SOM by weight. Among different slope areas, soils on mid-range slopes (10-15%) and ridgetops had the highest SOM content because they had relatively high percent SOM content by weight and very deep soils, respectively. SOM content was also significantly variable among different land cover types. Forest/woodland had significantly higher SOM content than others, followed by cropland, grassland, and urban areas.