• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.6 s.169
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• pp.631-645
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• 2004

This study assesses groundwater vulnerability to contaminants in industrial and residential/commercial areas of the city of Changwon, using DRASTIC technique and groundwater data. The DRASTIC technique was originally applied to situations in which the contamination sources are at the ground surface, and the contaminants flow into the groundwater with infiltration of rainfall. Mostly the industrial area has higher DRASTIC indices than the residential/commercial area. However, a part of the residential/commercial area having much groundwater production and great drawdown is more contaminated in groundwater than other industrial and the residential/commercial areas even if it has lowest DRASTIC indices in the study area. It indicates that groundwater contamination in urban areas can be closely related to excessive pumping resulting in a lowering of the water level. The correlation coefficient between minimum DRASTIC indices and the degree of poor water quality for 10 districts is as low as 0.40. On the other hand, the correlation coefficients between minimum DRASTIC indices and the groundwater discharge rate, and between minimum DRASTIC indices and well distribution density per unit area are 0.70 and 0.87, respectively. Thus, to evaluate the potential of groundwater contamination in urban areas, it is necessary to consider other human-made factors such as groundwater withdrawal rate and well distribution density per unit area as well as the existing seven DRASTIC factors.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2009

Susceptibility assessment of groundwater contamination is a useful tool for many aspects of regional and local groundwater resources planning and management. It can be used to direct regulatory, monitoring, educational, and policy-making efforts to highly vulnerable areas. In this study, a semi process-based was proposed to evaluate relative susceptibilities to groundwater contamination by nitrate on a regional scale. Numerical simulation based on data from each soil series was done to model water flow within soil profiles that were related to groundwater contamination by nitrate. Relative vulnerability indices for each soil series were produced by manipulation of amount of leaching flux, amount of average water storage in a soil profile, and amount of average water storage change. These indices were designed to convey the trend of leaching flux and to maximize spatial resolution. The resulting vulnerability distribution map was used to locate highly vulnerable sites easily with an appropriate grouping the indices, and was then compared with those from groundwater nitrate concentrations monitored. An excellent agreement was obtained across nitrate concentrations from the highly vulnerable regions and those from the low to stable regions.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.28-36
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• 2012

This study carried out several kinds of investigations such as geology, hydrogeology, groundwater level and quality, surface-water quality, and the quantity and quality of groundwater discharge from the subway to identify the causes of groundwater contamination around the subway tunnel at Suyeong District in Busan City. Geostatistical analyses were also conducted to understand the characteristics of groundwater level and quality distributions. There are Kwanganri Beach and Suyeong River in the study area, which are basically influenced by seawater. The total quantities of groundwater utilization and groundwater discharge from the subway tunnel in Suyeong District are 2,282,000 $m^3$/year, which is 2.4 times larger than the sustainable development yield of groundwater. The lowest groundwater level around the subway tunnel is about 32 m below the mean sea-level. The large drawdown of groundwater led to the inflow of seawater and salinized river water toward the subway tunnel, and therefore the quality of groundwater didn't satisfy the criteria of potable, domestic, agricultural and industrial uses. Distribution maps of groundwater level and qualities produced by kriging were very useful for determining the causes of groundwater contamination in the study area. The distribution maps of electrical conductivity, chloride and sulfate showed the extent of seawater intrusion and the forceful infiltration of the salinized Suyeong River. This study revealed that seawater and salinized river water infiltrated into the inland groundwater and contaminated the groundwater around the subway tunnel, because the groundwater level was seriously drawdowned by groundwater discharge from the subway tunnel. The countermeasure for the minimization of groundwater discharge from the subway tunnel is necessary to prevent the groundwater obstacles such as groundwater depletion, groundwater-quality deterioration, and land subsidence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.43-46
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• 1997

The results of an investigation conducted to study the effect of crude oil contamination on the geotechnical properties of sand of presented. The effect of the degree of oil contamination on compaction characteristics, shear strength, and one-dimensional compression characteristics has been investigated. The test results indicate that the compaction characteristics are somewhat influenced by oil contamination. The angle of internal friction of sand (based on total stress basis) decreases due to the presence of oil within the pore spaces in sand. The compression characteristics of sand are significantly-influenced by oil contamination. The details of the tests conducted and the results are presented in the paper.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.110-113
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• 2002

Statistical- based, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to chemical data from two underground storage systems containing LPG to assess the usefulness of such technique at the initial stage (Pyeongtaek) or middle stage (Ulsan) of hydrochemical studies. For the first case, both natural and anthropogenic contamination characterize regional groundwater. Saline water buffered by Namyang lake affects as a natural factor, whereas cement grouting influence as an artificial factor. For the second study area, contaminations due to operation of LPG caverns, such as disinfection activity and cement grouting effect, deteriorate groundwater quality. This study indicates that principal component analysis would be particularly useful for summarizing large data set for the purpose of subsurface characterization, assessing their vulnerability to contamination and protecting recharge zones.

• Korean Journal of Hydrosciences
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• v.10
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• pp.47-58
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• 1999

Protection of groundwater resources from contamination has been of increasing concern throughout the past decades. In practice, however, groundwater monitoring is performed based on the experience and intuition of experts or on the convenience. In dealing with groundwater contamination, we need to know what contaminants have the potential to threat the water quality and the distribution and concentration of the plumes. Monitoring of the subsurface environment through remote geophysical techniques or direct sampling from wells can provide such information. Once known, the plume can be properly menaged. Evaluation of existing methodologies for groundwater monitoring network design revealed that one should select an appropriate design method based on the purpose of the network and the avaliability of field information. Integer programming approach, one of the general purpose network design tools, and a cost-to-go function evaluation approach for special purpose network design were tested for field applicability. For the same contaminated aquifer, two approaches resulted in different well locations. The amount of information, however, was about the same.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 1998

This study was initiated to identify the general groundwater quality and the effects of heavy-metal enrichments in the black shales and coal materials in Dukpyung area. Groundwater quality could be divided into three groups based on the major weathering processes in the groundwater system; Group I of carbonate weathering, Group II of silicate weathering with the probable effects of acidic mine drainage, and Group III of silicate weathering with relatively high concentrations of chloride components in anions. Metal contamination of groundwater was not observed. Locally, however, acidic mine drainage appeared to be produced and recharged into the groundwater system. In addition, contamination by NO$_3$-N ranged 2 to 3 times higher than the drinking water standards, probably due to infiltration of domestic sewage and/or fertilizers into the shallow aquifer.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.2_spc
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• pp.1-15
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• 2020

Monitoring and assessing terminal electron accepting processes (TEAPs) are one of the most important steps to remediate contaminated sites via various in-situ techniques. TEAPs are a part of the microbial respiration reactions. Microorganisms gain energy from these reactions and reduces pollutants. Monitoring TEAPs enables us to predict degradability of contaminants and degradation rates. In many countries, TEAPs have been used for characterization of field sites and management of groundwater wells. For instance, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided strategies for groundwater quality and well management by applying TEAPs monitoring. Denmark has also constructed TEAPs map of local unit area to develop effective groundwater managing system, particularly to predict and assess nitrogen contamination. In case of Korea, although detailed soil survey and groundwater contamination assessment have been employed, site investigation guidelines using TEAPs have not been established yet. To better define TEAPs in subsurface environments, multiple indicators including ion concentrations, isotope compositions and contaminant degradation byproducts must be assessed. Furthermore, dissolved hydrogen concentrations are regarded as significant evidence of TEAPs occurring in subsurface environment. This review study introduces optimal sampling techniques of groundwater and dissolved hydrogen, and further discuss how to assess TEAPs in contaminated subsurface environments according to several contamination scenarios.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.9-18
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• 2003

Sampling of waters from each stage of treatment system (Successive Alkalinity Producing System; SAPS), tailings seepage, and spring near the Hanchang coal mine of Kangwon Province were carried out seasonally and analyzed to evaluate the source and possible path of groundwater contamination by acid mine drainage (AM). Sulfur isotope compositions were measured to identify the origin of groundwater contaminations and the sulfate reduction processes in the SAPS. Low pH and high metal concentration of spring water indicates possibility of the groundwater contamination by AMD. Removal efficiency of acidity of the SAPS was 18.17 g/$\textrm{m}^2$/day on an average and the metal removal efficiency was almost 100%, which was higher than those of other treatment systems. However, no appreciable decrease of sulfur content and almost similar sulfur isotope compositions of water from each stage of the treatment system may suggest incomplete or very poor sulfate reduction by sulfate reducing bacteria. Chemical and sulfur isotope compositions showed that spring water was contaminated by seepage from mine tailings. And seepage of stonewall, a part of treatment system was affected by both tailings seepage and mine adit drainage. In this study site, the treatment system was constructed for the only AMD from mine adit not for tailings seepages, which resulted in the groundwater contamination from tailing seepages. Similar situation is expected in other abandoned coal mine areas.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.119-133
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• 2013

In the present study, several groundwater vulnerability assessment methods were applied to an agricultural area of Gumma in Korea. For the groundwater intrinsic vulnerability assessment, the performance of DRASTIC, SINTACS and GOD models was compared and an ensemble approach was suggested. M-DRASTIC and multi-linear regression (MLR) models were applied for the groundwater specific vulnerability assessment to nitrate of the study site. The correlation coefficient between the nitrate concentration and M-DRASTIC index was as low as 0.24. The result of the MLR model showed that the correlation coefficient is 0.62 and the areal extents of livestock farming and upland field are most influential factors for the nitrate contamination of groundwater in the study site.