• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.43-51
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• 2010

In the downstream areas of the Nakdong river, Pusan clays are commonly found and thickness may reach to maximum of 100m. From geological point of view, Pusan clay are characterized as holocene clays, deposited for approximately 20,000 years ago. Recently, there have been many construction projects based on these soft ground areas. It is needed to know clearly soil properties of the areas for design and safety analysis, especially undrained shear strength of soft clays. However, Pusan clay have not been studied systematically because the clay layers are usually very deep, having high sensitivity characteristic. In this study, undisturbed UD samples obtained from the downstream areas of the Nakdong river were researched using laboratory tests (CthUE, CKcUC, CIUC, UU and UC) and in-situ tests (Field Vane, CPTu). The undrained shear strength characteristics of the samples were depicted using stress-strain relationship.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.427-437
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• 2012

A total of 100 groundwater samples were collected from the Nonsan area and the behaviors of uranium and radon as natural radionuclides were investigated with respect to other physicochemical components in the groundwater in order to understand their occurrence, properties, and origins. Radionuclide levels were used to construct detailed concentration maps. The concentration of uranium ranges from 0 to 378 ${\mu}g/L$, with an average of 8.57 ${\mu}g/L$, standard deviation of 42.88 ${\mu}g/L$, and median of 0.56 ${\mu}g/L$. The correlation coefficient between uranium and radon is 0.42, whereas these radionuclides show no relation with other physicochemical components in groundwater. It is noteworthy that the uranium level in most samples (97% of the samples) is less than 30 ${\mu}g/L$, where the bedrock of the aquifer is granite or complex rocks located along the boundary between granite and metamorphic rocks. In the Okcheon metamorphic belt, the uranium concentration of most groundwater is less than 1 ${\mu}g/L$. Radon levels varies from 128 to 9,140 pCi/L, with an average of 2,186 pCi/L, standard deviation of 1,725 pCi/L, and median of 1,805 pCi/L. High radon levels (> 4,000 pCi/L) are most common in regions of Jurassic granite, whereas low radon areas are found in regions of sedimentary rock. In conclusion, the distribution and occurrence of radionuclides are intimately related to the basic geological characteristics of the rocks in which the radiogenic minerals are primarily contained.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2021

Although underground works are essential to use underground spaces in urban areas efficiently, various damages caused by constructions have often occurred, making them major social problems. Since 2018, it is stipulated in the Special Act on Underground Safety Management that appropriate construction methods must be used in the design stage to prevent various damage cases. This Special Act includes establishing an area subject to underground safety impact assessment, analysis of ground and geological status, review of effects caused by changes in groundwater, review of ground safety, and establishment of measures to secure underground safety. This study area consists of various strata in order of landfill, sedimentary silt, sedimentary sand, sedimentary gravel, weathering zone, and foundation rock. Also, the slurry wall, a highly rigid underground continuous wall, was chosen as a construction method to consider high water table distribution and minimize the influence of the surroundings in this area. However, ground subsidence occurred on the road nearby in December 2019 due to the inflow of loosening soil to the construction area. Thus, several types of site investigations were conducted to suggest an appropriate analysis method and to find out loosed ground behavior and its area for the subsided site. As a result, new design soil properties were re-calculated, and the reinforcement measures were proposed through analytical verification.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.123-136
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• 2019

This study examines the effect of collector well installed to reduce groundwater level in the regions with the occurrence of landcreep, a soil mass movement triggered by instability on slopes. Slopes are prone to failure as a result of instability caused by its internal, topographic and geological properties as well as due to external factors such as rainfall and earthquake. In Korea during the rain season, rainfall infiltration affects the groundwater level in soil, building up porewater pressure and load, and finally drives slopes to collapse. Slope failure caused by rainfall infiltration has been leading to a drastic forest degradation. The studied slope is located adjacent to a valley, its terrain corresponds to piedmont gentle slope, while the upper part of the failure surface is steep. After reinforcing the terrain where landcreep had occurred and installing collector well on the slope, we measured the changes in the groundwater level. In order to analyze the relationship between the well and the slope, we calculated the ratio of groundwater level to rainfall before and after the installation of the collector well. As a result, it is confirmed that the ratio increases after the installation of the well, which in turn reduces the groundwater level. Analysis of the change in groundwater level after 3, 7, 15 days antecedent rainfall showed that the higher the overall groundwater level, the less the value ($r_p$) of groundwater level-rainfall ratio is, while the value becomes relatively greater when the groundwater level is low. In particular, if a slope has a large catchment basin as is in the case of the studied site, antecedent rainfall affects groundwater level in the order of 3 < 7 < 15 days.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.15 no.4 s.42
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• pp.447-462
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• 2005

The purposes of this study are to evaluate and discuss the importance of geochemical properties of soil materials that play an important role in the occurrence of the landslide, using analyses of microtexture, particle size distribution, XRC, and FE-SEM equipped with energy dispersive spectrum on soils collected from landslide slopes of gneiss, granite and sedimentary rock areas. Soils from gneiss and granite areas where landslides took place have much clay content relative to those from non landslide areas, particularly pronounced in the granite area. Therefore the clay content is considered a sensitive factor on landslide. Clay minerals contained in soils are illite, chlorite, kaolinite and montmorillonite. Especially the content of clay minerals in soils from the Tertiary sedimentary rocks is highest, with abundant montmorillonite as expandable species. It is believed that this area was much vulnerable to landslide comparable to other areas because of its high content of monoorillonite, even though there might be weak precipitation. Since no conspicuous differentiation in mineralogy between the landslide area and non landslide area can be made, the occurrence of landslide may be influenced not by mineralogy, but by local geography and mechanical properties of soils. Geochemical information on weathering properties, mineralogy, and microtexture of soils is helpful to better understand the causes and patterns of landslide, together with engineering geological analyses.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.940-948
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• 2006

Fluorescence measurements of dissolved organic matter(DOM) have the superior advantages over other analysis tools for applying to water quality management. They are simple and fast and require minimal pretreatment of samples. Fluorescence index($F_{450}/F_{500}$), synchronous spectra, and fluorescence excitation-emission matrices(EEM) of various DOM samples were investigated to discriminate autochthonous/allochthonous composition, protein-like fluorescence, fulvic-like fluorescence, humic-like fluorescence, terestrial humic-like fluorescence by comparing among the real DOM samples of different origins with the help of literature. The samples used included standard purified DOM, lake, river and wastewater treatment effluent. The relative distribution of various DOM composition was derived from the ratios of each fluorescence region. The results were very consistent with those expected from the sample properties. Allochthonous and terrestrial humic-like fluorescence were more prominent in the samples with abundant soil-derived DOM components. In addition, the protein-like fluorescence property was more pronounced in the samples where strong algal or microbial activities were expected. It was also shown that the ratio of protein-like/terrestrial humic-like fluorescence obtained from synchronous spectrum and fluorescence EEM could be used as an indicator for the evaluation of wastewater treatment on the downstream water quality of rivers and for the prediction of the degree of algal/microbial activities in lakes. It is expected that the results of this study will provide the basic information to develop the future water quality management techniques using DOM fluorescence measurements.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.2_2
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• pp.351-363
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• 2020

It is well known that alluvial sediment located in coastal region has been easily affected by geohazard like ground subsidence, marine or meteorological disasters which threaten invaluable lives and properties. The subsidence is a sinking of the ground due to underground material movement that mostly related to soil compaction by water extraction. Thus, continuous monitoring is essential to protect possible damage from the ground subsidence in the coastal region. Radar interferometric application has been widely used to estimate surface displacement from phase information of synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Thanks to advanced SAR technique like the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS), a time-series of surface displacement could be successfully calculated with a large amount of SAR observations (>20). Because the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 L-band observations maintain higher coherence compared with other shorter wavelength like X- or C-band, it has been regarded as one of the best resources for Earth science. However, the number of ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 observations might be not enough for the SBAS application due to its global monitoring observation scenario. Unfortunately, the number of the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap images in area of our interest, Busan which located in the Southeastern Korea, is only 11 which is insufficient to apply the SBAS time-series analysis. Although it is common that the radar interferometry utilizes multiple SAR images collected from same acquisition mode, it has been reported that the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometric application could be possible under specific acquisition mode. In case that we can apply the Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometry with the other 18 ScanSAR observations over Busan, an enhanced time-series surface displacement with better temporal resolution could be estimated. In this study, we evaluated feasibility of the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometric application using Gamma software considering differences of chirp bandwidth and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) between two acquisition modes. In addition, we analyzed the interferograms with respect to spectral shift of radar carrier frequency and common band filtering. Even though it shows similar level of coherence regardless of spectral shift in the radar carrier frequency, we found periodic spectral noises in azimuth direction and significant degradation of coherence in azimuth direction after common band filtering. Therefore, the characteristics of spectral bandwidth in the range and azimuth direction should be considered cautiously for the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometry.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.138-164
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• 2022

The Neolithic shell midden in Daejuk-ri, Seosan, is distributed on the gentle slope of a low hill close to the west coast. The bedrock of the area consists mainly of schist with various mafic minerals, but shows a partial gneiss pattern. The site consists of loamy topsoil and clay loam subsoil, and the degree of siallization is relatively low. Although the pottery excavated from the shell midden shares mostly similar features, a variety of shapes and patterns coexist. The surface colors, thickness and physical properties are slightly different. The pottery can be subdivided into three types (IA, IB and II) according to the composition of the body clay, the temper and the existence of a black core. Types IA and IB are colorless mineral pottery with a non-black or black core respectively. TypeII is colored mineral pottery with a non-black core. Type I pottery also contains non-plastic colored minerals, but type II contains a large amount of biotite, chlorite, talc, amphibole, diopside and tremolite, which include a large amount of Mg and Fe. The studied pottery contains a small amount of organic matter. Considering the grain size and relatively poor sorting and roundness of the non-plastic particles, the pottery appears to be made by adding coarse non-plastic tempers for special purposes to the untreated weathered soil around the site. The three types of pottery seem to have been incompletely fired in general. While type IB has the lowest degree of oxidation, typeII shows the highest degree of redness and oxidation. It can be interpreted that these differences depend on the firing temperature and the ratio of non-plastic particles. Through a synthesis of the minerals, geochemical data and thermal history, it can be determined that the firing temperature ranged from 600 to 700℃. The pottery types of the Daejuk-ri Shell Midden have slightly different production conditions, mineral compositions, and physical properties, but have undergone similar production processes with basically the same clay materials. The clay is almost identical to the composition of the bedrock and weathered soil distributed in the Daejuk-ri area. Currently, there is an industrial complex in the area, so it is difficult to confirm the soil and geological distribution of the site. However, it is highly probable that the area around the site was self-sufficient for the clay and tempers required for the production of the Neolithic pottery. Therefore, it can be interpreted that the group that left the shell midden in Daejuk-ri lived near the site, visited the site for the purpose of collecting and processing shellfish, and discarded the broken pottery along with shells.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.245-255
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• 2008

Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company(KHNP) conducted site investigations for a low and intermediate-level nuclear waste repository in the Gyeong Ju site. The site characterization work constitutes a description of the site, its regional setting and the current state of the geosphere and biosphere. The main objectives of hydogeological investigation aimed to understand the hydrogeological setting and conditions of the site, and to provide the input parameters for safety evaluation. The hydogeological characterization of the site was performed from the results of surface based investigations, i.e geological mapping and analysis, drilling works and hydraulic testing, and geophysical survey and interpretation. The hydro-structural model based on the hydrogeological characterization consists of one-Hydraulic Soil Domain, three-Hydraulic Rock Domains and five-Hydraulic Conductor Domains. The hydrogeological framework and the hydraulic values provided for each hydraulic unit over a relevant scale were used as the baseline for the conceptualization and interpretation of flow modeling. The current hydrogeological characteristics based on the surface based investigation include some uncertainties resulted from the basic assumption of investigation methods and field data. Therefore, the reassessment of hydrostructure model and hydraulic properties based on the field data obtained during the construction is necessitated for a final hydrogeological characterization.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.637-646
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• 2020

The shallow landslide-trigerred debris flow in hillslope catchments is the primary geological phenomenon that drives landscape changes and therefore imposes risks as a natural hazard. In particular, debris flows occurring in urban areas can result to substantial damages to properties and human injuries during the flow and sediment transport process. To alleviate the damages as a result of these debris flow, analytical models for flow and damage prediction are of significant importance. However, the analysis of debris flow model parameters is not yet sufficient, and the analysis of the entrainment, which has a significant influence on the flow process and the damage extent, is still incomplete. In this study, the effects of erosion and erosion process on the flow and the impact area due to the change in the soil parameters are analyzed using Deb2D model, a flow analysis model of debris developed in Korea. The research is conducted for the case of the Mt. Umyeon landslide in 2011. The resulting impacted area, total debris-flow volume, maximum velocity and inundated depth from the Erosion model are compared to the field survey data. Also, the effect of the entrainment changing parameters is analyzed through the erosion shape and depth. The debris flow simulation for the Raemian and Shindong apartment catchment with the consideration of entrainment effect and erosion has been successful. Each parameter sensitivity could be analyzed through sensitivity analysis for the two basins based on the change in parameters, which indicates the necessity of parameter estimation.