• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.365-372
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• 2021

Pebble-bearing clastic carbonate rock which has been found in and around the Jeongseon and Okgye through the field survey was studied in petrological and mineralogical characteristics. We define the clastic carbonate rocks as 'Dolomite-pebble bearing fine sand-sized dolostone, or grainstone', which are characterized by the existence of dolomite single grains and Mg-phengite, and by the subsequent formation of secondary calcite cements. These attributes correspond well with those of the typical Haengmae Formation from Haengmae-dong, Mitan-myeon, Jeongseon-gun, thus the carbonate rocks in the Jeongseon and Okgye areas must belong to the Haengmae Formation. The result suggests that the Haengmae Formation is an independent unit among the Paleozoic lithostratigraphic units in Taebaek basin and lies in the upper part of Jeongseon and Sukbyungsan Formations under the Hongjeom Formation of Pyeongan Supergroup.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.731-739
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• 2021

This research aimed to analyze the characteristics of topsoil for soil conservation and promote the process of turning subsoil into topsoil. The physicochemical characteristics of topsoil and subsoil of different types of soil were compared, and their quantitative differences were examined. 204 soil samples were collected from a total of 102 areas according to rock types. These samples were tested to measure grain size, water content, and unit weight, along with XRF and XRD analyses. The topsoil and subsoil of the soil samples were also analyzed. The results of this research showed that the topsoil and subsoil had different physical characteristics, and that the chemical alteration index of the topsoil was higher than that of the subsoil. This would imply that the topsoil was high in clay minerals since it was directly affected by weathering more than the subsoil. In particular, vermiculite, one of the final products generated from weathering, was common in the topsoil.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.617-632
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• 2022

In recent years, environmental pollution and determining the main factors causing this pollution have become an important issue. This study investigates the relationship between the agricultural sector and environmental pollution in Azerbaijan for 1992-2018. The dependent variable in the study is the agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂ equivalent). Eight variables were selected as explanatory variables: four agricultural inputs and four agricultural macro indicators. Unit root tests, ARDL boundary test, FMOLS, DOLS and CCR long-term estimators, Granger causality analysis, and variance decomposition analyses were used to investigate the effect of these variables on agricultural emissions. The results show that chemical fertilizer consumption, livestock number, and pesticide use positively and statistically significantly affect agricultural emissions from agricultural input variables. In contrast, agricultural energy consumption has a negative and significant effect. From agricultural macro indicator variables, it was found that the crop and animal production index had a positive and significant effect on agricultural emissions. According to the Granger causality test results, it was concluded that there are a causality relationship from chemical fertilizer consumption, livestock number, crop and livestock production index variables towards agricultural emissions. Considering all the results obtained, it is seen that the variables that have the most effect on the increase in agricultural emissions in Azerbaijan are the number of livestock, the consumption of chemical fertilizers, and the use of pesticides, respectively. The results from the research will contribute to the information on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and will play an enlightening role for policymakers and the general public.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2022

The factors influencing landslide occurrence were analyzed for six points on the upper slope and the 24 points on the lower slope along a forest road around Sangsan village in Chungju, Korea, where landslides have occurred due to heavy rainfall. In terms of physico-mechanical properties of the soil layer, the lower slope seemed to loosen owing to the higher porosity, lower unit weight, and lower friction angle compared with the upper slope. With respect to topographic characteristics, the lower slope had thicker regolith, more concave profile and plan curvatures, lower slope angles, and higher topographic wetness index values than the upper slope. Therefore, all the properties (except for the slope angle) appear to make the lower slope of the forest road more vulnerable to landslides than the upper slope. Apart from the physico-mechanical and topographic characteristics, inadequate maintenance and management of drainage facilities are also considered as further major factors influencing landslide occurrence.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.414-431
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• 2016

There are numerous closed and abandoned mines in Korea, from which diverse heavy metals (e.g., As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) are released into the surrounding soil, groundwater, surface water, and crops, potentially resulting in detrimental effects on the health of nearby residents. Therefore, we performed human risk assessments of two abandoned metal mines, Yanggok (YG) and Samsanjeil (SJ). The exposure parameters used in this assessment were specific to residents near mines and the included exposure pathways were relevant to areas around metal mines. The computed total excess carcinogenic risks for both areas exceeded the acceptable carcinogenic risk ($1{\times}10^{-6}$), indicating that these areas are likely unsafe due to a carcinogenic hazard. In contrast, the non-carcinogenic risks of the two areas differed among the studied receptors. The hazard indices were higher than the unit risk (=1.0) for male and female adults in YG and male adults in SJ, suggesting that there are non-carcinogenic risks for these groups in the study areas. However, the hazard indices for children in YG and female adults and children in SJ were lower than the unit risk. Consumption of groundwater and crops grown in the area were identified as major exposure pathways for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic hazards in both areas. Finally, the dominant metals contributing to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were As and As, Cu, and Pb, respectively. In addition, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of YG were evaluated to be 10 and 4 times higher than those of SJ, respectively, resulted from the relatively higher exposure concentration of As in groundwater within SJ area. Because of lacking of several exposure parameters, some of average daily dose (ADD) could not be computed in this study. Furthermore, it is likely that the ADDs of crop-intake pathway included some errors because they were calculated using soil exposure concentrations and bioconcentration factor (BCF) rather than using crop exposure concentrations.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.53-66
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• 2010

We report petrologic characteristics including $^{40}Ar-^{39}Ar$ absolute ages of the subsurface lavas recovered from borehole cores in two islets, Marado and Gapado, off the southwestern coast of Jeju in southernmost Korea and discuss on the volcanism in the region. The lavas in Gapado are apparently divided into one unit with bright colored, aphanitic texture and sheet jointed, and another unit with dark colored and massive. The outcrops often show differentially weathered pattern due to textural difference. While, the lavas in Marado have vesicular and glomerporphyric texture, even though each lava flow unit in Marado has slight unique texture with variation of vesicularity and phenocrysts. The chemical composition of rock core samples from Gapa borehole and Mara borehole shows that the lavas from Gapado and Marado are classified into basaltic trachyandesite($SiO_2$ 52.6-53.6 wt%, $Na_2O+K_2O$ 7.3-7.5 wt%) and tholeiitic andesite($SiO_2$ 51.7-52.8 wt%, $Na_2O+K_2O$ 3.6-4.1 wt%), respectively. The measured $^{40}Ar-^{39}Ar$ plateau ages range from $824{\pm}32\;Ka$(MSL -69 m) to $758{\pm}\;Ka$(MSL 19 m) for core samples of Gapa borehole and $259{\pm}168\;Ka$(MSL -26 m) for a core sample of Mara borehole, respectively. The absolute age of Gapado basaltic trachyandesite is well correlated with that of Sanbangsan trachyte(Won et al., 1986). Meanwhile, the age of a sample in Marado has $259{\pm}168\;Ka$(MSL -26 m) with poor plateau age formation and high error range. We report the data in caution but the rock composition and absolute age of Marado tholeiitic andesite are relatively correlated with those of lava units from Duksu and Sangmo-2 boreholes, indicating the volcanism during 260-150 Ka. On the basis of interpretation of occurrences of exposed and subsurface volcanic rocks of the study area, stratigraphic relationship with adjacent borehole cores and the bathymetry chart of surrounding area, it indicates that the lavas in Gapado were formed around 800 Ka during relatively early stage of volcanic activity in Jeju Island. Meanwhile, Marado may have originated around 260-150 Ka during relatively young stage of volcanism in Jeju Island. It is inferred that the volcanisms have originated in land and these islets were individual ancient volcanoes. The apparent topography has been re-shaped by tidal erosion due to transgression.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.177-189
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• 2009

The shear strength has been managed as an important factor in soil mechanics. The shear strength estimation model was developed to evaluate the shear strength using only a few soil properties by the linear regression analysis model which is one of the statistical methods. The shear strength is divided into two part; one is the internal friction angle (${\phi}$) and the other is the cohesion (c). Therefore, some valid soil factors among the results of soil tests are selected through the correlation analysis using SPSS and then the model are formulated by the linear regression analysis based on the relationship between factors. Also, the developed model is compared with the result of direct shear test to prove the rationality of model. As the results of analysis about relationship between soil properties and shear strength, the internal friction angle is highly influenced by the void ratio and the dry unit weight and the cohesion is mainly influenced by the void ratio, the dry unit weight and the plastic index. Meanwhile, the shear strength estimated by the developed model is similar with that of the direct shear test. Therefore, the developed model may be used to estimate the shear strength of soils in the same condition of study area.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2017

Fault materials has various properties depending on their areas, rock types, and components because they are formed by heterogeneous and complicated mechanisms. In this study, to understand the physical and mechanical properties of fault materials, 109 fault materials distributed in South Korea were collected to conduct various laboratory tests with them and analyze their physical and mechanical properties (unit weight, specific gravity, porosity, gravel content, silt/clay content, clay mineral content, friction angle, and cohesion) according to areas, rock types, and components. As for the physical and mechanical properties by rock type, gneiss shows the highest medians in the unit weight ($17.1kN/m^3$) and specific gravity (2.73), granite does so in the porosity (45.5%), schist does so in the gravel content (20.0 wt.%) and cohesion (38.1 kPa), and phyllite does so in the silt/clay content (54.4 wt.%), clay mineral content (30.1 wt.%), and friction angle ($38.2^{\circ}$). With regard to the physical and mechanical properties by component, fault gouge was shown to have lower values than cataclasite and damage zones in all factors other than porosity and silt/clay contents.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2012

A theoretical $CO_2$ storage capacity is estimated on the southwestern continental shelf margin of Ulleung Basin, offshore Korea using 2D/3D multi-channel seismic and wellbore data acquired in the area over the two decades since the late 1980s. For the first time in Korea, the present study applies an efficiency factor to the capacity calculation, together with the other required parameters. For possible $CO_2$ storage volume estimation of the study area, we interpreted the seismic data in the Gorae area from 800 m to 3,000 m below the seafloor integrated with the well data, and identified five different seismic units; the limited depth interval is considered because of fluid state of $CO_2$ and tightness of the formation. The total volumes of each seismic unit were converted with a time-depth relation inferred from the checkshot surveys before the other required parameters including porosity and density were applied to compute the potential storage capacity. The accumulated possible storage volume from the five depositional units in the study area is estimated to be approximately 5,100 Mton ($P_{50}$). The approaches made in this study will be applied to the rest area of the basin and other continental shelves (i.e., Yellow Sea and northern part of East China Sea) in the next phase.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.347-378
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• 2020

Based on monthly average groundwater recharge over a nearly 10 year period, results of fully integrated hydrologic modeling of SWAT-MODFLOW, land cover, land use, soil type and hydrologic response unit (HRU) was used to assess the dominant influencing factors of groundwater recharge spatial patterns in Jangseong district. As dominant factors, land cover was FRSE (forest-evergreen) and soil type was Samgag. Landsat-8 OLI imaging spectrometer data were acquired in the period 2003 to 2004 and seasonal bare soil lines (BSL) were estimated through NIR-RED plot. Extent of slope of BSL was from 1.092 to 1.343 and the intercept was from -0.004 to -0.015. To know correlation between spatial groundwater recharge and soil-vegetation indices (PVI, NDVI, NDTI, NDRI), this study employed frequency and regression analysis. On May, RED band increased up 3 to 4 times compared to other seasons and only one turning point appeared as recharge-index with upward parabola bell shape as results of existing research. Considering precipitation, if the various studies for relationship between groundwater recharge and soil-vegetation index just like NDVI are performed, it is possible to estimate groundwater recharge through analyzing remote sensing data.