• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.367-371
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• 2014

In early 1990s, the Korean government has launched a deep-sea research program to secure the stable long-term supply of strategic metallic minerals including Cr, Cu and Ni. Through the pioneering surveys, Korea registered $150,000km^2$ of Mn-nodule field in the Clarion-Clipperton area, the NE equatorial Pacific to the international sea-bed authority (ISA) in 1994. Following the ISA exploration code, the final exclusive exploration area of $75,000km^2$ was assigned in 2002, based on results of eight-year researches of chemico-physical properties of nodules, bottom profiles and sediment properties. Since that time, environmental studies, mining technical developments including robot miner and lifting system and establishment of smelting systems were accompanied with the detailed geophysical studies to decipher the priori mining area until 2009. Major points of the recent Korea Mn-nodule program are deployed on a commercial scale until 2015. In order to meet the goals, we developed a 1/5 scaled robot miner compared to commercial one in 2012 and performed a mining test at the water depth of 1,370 m in 2013. In addition, detailed 25,000 scaled mining maps in the priori area, which can provide operation roots of the miner, will be prepared and an environmental-friendly mining strategy will be pursued based on the environmental impact test and environmental monitoring.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.363-378
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• 1991

Field and microscopic evidence, XRD,EPMA and chemical data suggest that parent rock of talc ore deposits of Yesan district was originated from ultramafic igneous rock. Parent rock can be divided into serpentinized dunite, serpentinized peridotite, metagabbro, amphibolite and hornblende schist. The ore deposits are highly sheared, and show many evidences of hydrothermal alteration and metamorphism at the greenschist and albite-epidote amphibolite facies. The process of steatitization is variable depending upon the composition, and the degree of alteration and metamorphism of the parent rocks. Steatitization can be divided into two processes with or without serpentinization. The parent rocks with serpentinization are serpentinized dunite, serpentinized peridotite and metagabbro, showing the following alteration process; olivine ${\rightarrow}$ serpentine${\rightarrow}$ talc. The rocks without serpentinization are amphibolite and hornblende schist showing the following sequence; hornblende${\rightarrow}$ chlorite${\rightarrow}$ talc. Formation of talc deposits is summarized as following six stages; I) Intrusion of ultramafic rocks, 2) autometamorphism, 3) metamorphism at greenschist and albite-epidote-amphibolite facies, 4) brittle deformation, 5) hydrothermal alteration, 6) purification of low-grade talc by late dyke intrusion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.435-437
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• 2003

In order to investigate processes and factors controlling the chemical and isotopic compositions of the Han River, seasonal studies were carried out. The North Han River was much lower in the concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and major ions than the South Han River, but higher in $SiO_2$ concentration, $\delta$$^{34}$ $S_{so4}$ value and $^{87}$ Sr/$^{86}$ Sr ratio. This indicates that the chemical and isotopic compositions of the Han River were strongly controlled by the geology of their drainage basins: silicate rocks in the North Han River and carbonate rocks in the South Han River. The $\delta$$^{34}$ $S_{so4}$ values were relatively higher in the North Han River (5.90$\pm$1.46$\textperthousand$)) than in the South Han River (3.48$\pm$0.73$\textperthousand$). This implies that dissolved S $O_{4}$$^{2-}$ in the North Han River might be mostly derived from deposition of atmospheric sulfates, whereas in the South Han River from oxidation of sulfide minerals in the abandoned poly-metallic deposits and the coal-bearing sedimentary rocks distributed over the upstream as well as deposition of atmospheric sulfates. The $^{87}$ S $r^{86}$ Sr ratios in the North Han River were distinctly higher than those in the South Han River, reflecting water-rock interaction with different rock types.pes.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2014

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is widely used for quantitative microstructural analysis of the crystallographic nature of variety of materials such as metals, minerals, and ceramics. EBSD can provide a wide range of information on materials including grain size, grain orientation, texture, and phase identity. In the case of metallic alloys, EBSD now has become an essential technique to analyze the texture, particularly when severe deformation is applied to the alloys. In addition, EBSD can be one of the very useful tools in identification of twin, particularly in Mg alloys. In Mg alloys different type of twin can occur depending on the c/a ratio and stacking fault energy on the twinning plane. Such an occurrence of different type of twin can be most effectively analyzed using EBSD technique. In this article, the recent development of Mg alloys and occurrence of twin in Mg are reviewed. Then, recently published example for identification of tension and compression twins in AZ31 and ZX31 is introduced to explain how EBSD can be used for identification of twin in Mg.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 1979

A literature review is made on the physical and chemical characteristics of clay minerals in acidic solutions from the mineralogical and hydrometallurgical viewpoints. Some of the important characteristics of clays are their ability to cation exchange, swelling, and incongruent dissolution in acidic solutions. Various clay minerals can take up metallic ions from solution via cation exchange mechanism. Generally, cation exchange capacity increases in the following order : kaolinite, halloysite, illite, vermiculite, and montmorillonite. In acidic solutions, the cation uptake such as copper by clay minerals is strongly inhibited by hydrogen and aluminum ions and thus is not economically significant factor for recovery of metals such as uranium and copper. In acidic solutions, the cation uptake is substial. Swelling is minimal at lower pH, possibly due to lattice collapse. Swelling may be controllable with montmorillonite type clays by exchanging interlayer sodium with lithium and/or hydroxylated aluminum species. The effect of add on clay minerals are : 1. Division of aggregates into smaller plates with increase in surface area and porosity. 2. Clay-acid reactions occur in the following order: (i) $H^+$ replacement of interlayer cations, (ii) removal of octahedral cations, such as Al, Fe, and Mg, and (iii) removal of tetrahedral Al ions. Acid attack initiates, around the edges of the clay particles and continued inward, leaving hydrated silica gel residue around the edges. 3. Reaction rates of (ii) and (iii) are pseudo-1st order and proportional to acid concentration. Rate doubles for every temperature increment of $10^{\circ}C$. Implications in in-situ leaching of copper or uranium with acid are : 1. Over the life span of the operation for a year or more, clays attacked by acid will leave silica gel. If such gel covers the surface of valuable mineral surfaces being leached, recovery could be substantially delayed. 2. For a copper deposit containing 0.5% each of clay minerals and recoverable copper, the added cost due to clay-acid reaction is about 1.5c/lb of copper (or 0.93 lbs of $H_2SO_4/1b$ of copper). This acid consumption by clay may be a factor for economic evaluation of in-situ leaching of an oxide copper deposit.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.49-58
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• 2014

This study investigates mineral contents and sensory properties of commercial bottled water in Korea. The contents of calcium and magnesium in the samples were determined 3.399-85.470 and 2.619-27.390 mg/L, respectively. The mineral contents of bottled water samples met the code of regulations for drinking water, for the hardness was determined 19.2-326 mg/L and the pH was measured as 6.31-7.74. As the sensory characteristics of bottled water samples were evaluated by 5-point hedonic scale, the samples which were below 100 mg/L of hardness had high acceptability. The acceptability was positively correlated with freshness (r=0.706) and sweetness (r=0.253), having a negative correlation with metallic taste (r=-0.402) and astringency (r=-0.234) (p<0.05). On the other hand, calcium content had a negative correlation with acceptability and freshness (p<0.05). The pH of the bottled water represented a negative correlation with acceptability and freshness, so the good acceptability and freshness were shown in the low pH, positively correlated with the intensity of metallic taste (p<0.05).

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.129-141
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• 2024

This study derived production-production multipliers using a regional input-output table and estimated the induced effect of aggregates through the non-metallic minerals sector and the concrete products sector. In deriving the induced effect of aggregates, it is difficult to use the regional input-output table due to the sector classification problem. This study analyzed the non-metallic mineral sector, including aggregates, as aggregates sector, and the concrete products sector, which uses most of the aggregate production. By analyzing this, we attempted to alleviate difficulties caused by sector classification restrictions. In the process of estimating the induced effect, it was assumed that there was a decrease in aggregate production, and in the process of analyzing the concrete products sector, the effect of the decrease in concrete product production due to the decrease in aggregate production, that is, the decrease in production of one unit of aggregate was 0.8511 in the concrete product sector. The analysis was conducted on the premise of a decrease in unit production. Inducing effects within and between regions were calculated for the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces classified by the regional input-output table. The employment effect was also calculated, assuming a 10% production decrease to show differences according to the size of the aggregate and concrete product sectors in each region.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.317-336
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• 1992

The garden soils, main road dusts, residential road dusts, and playground soils/dusts of Seoul, Geumsan, Onsan, and Taebaek areas were analyzed in order to investigate the level of heavy metal pollution by urbanization and industrialization. The soil pH is in the range of 5.48~8.40 and was generally neutral. The color of soils and dusts is mainly Raw Umber to dark greyish Raw Umber. Some samples from Taebaek city, a coal mining area, showed a deep black color due to contamination by coal dusts. Major minerals of the dusts and soils are quartz, feldspars, and micas, reflecting the composition of the parent rocks. However, pyrite was found as a major mineral in the samples of industrial road dusts of Onsan, a smelting area, and resicential road dusts of Taebaek. Thus, the high level of heavy metals in mining and smelting areas can be explained with the sulfide minerals. The mode of occurences of heavy metals in Seoul, a comprehensive urbanized area, were related to the metallic pollutants and organic materials through observation by scanning eletron microscopy. In main road and residential road dusts of Onsan area, Cd, Zn, and Cu were extremely high. Some industrial road and residential road dusts of Seoul area showed high Cu, Zn, and Pb contents, wereas some garden soils and residential road dusts of Taebaek area were high in As content. In general, the heavy metal contents in dust samples were two to three times higher than those in soil samples. Main road dust samples were the most reflective from the discriminant analysis of multi-element data. Cadmium, Sb, and Se in Onsan area, As in Taebaek area, Pb and Te in Seoul area were most characteristic in discriminating the studied areas. Therefore, Cd in smelting areas, As in coal mining areas, and Pb in metropolitan areas can be suggested as the characteristic elements of each pollution pattern. The dispersion of heavy metal elements in urban areas tends to orignate in main roads and deposit in garden soils through the atmosphere and residential roads. The heavy metal contamination in Seoul is characteristic in areas with high population, factory, road, and traffic decsities. Heavy metal contents are high in the vicinity of smelters in Onsan area and are decayed to background levels from one kilometer away from the smelters.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.235-248
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• 2010

To construct the standard methods for evaluation of physicochemical characteristics of tailings in Korea, specific gravity, paste pH, grain size, mineral compositions and heavy metal concentrations of total 26 tailings from 21 metallic mines were analyzed. Specific gravity of tailings ranged from 2.61 to 4.31 (avg. 3.04), and sand and silt grain were dominant in the tailings. Ranges of paste pH were 2.1-9.5 in tailings (7.1-9.2 at magmatic, skarn and hydrothermal replacement deposits and 2.1-9.5 at hydrothermal vein deposits). Additionally, hydrothermal vein deposits could be reclassified into three categories: (1) paste pH>7.0, (2) 4.0

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2018

This paper aims to evaluate the results of toxicity testing with Daphnia magna and Vibrio fischeri on wastewater samples which might be influenced by ion imbalance. The effluents from factories were found to be more toxic with high salinity levels than those from public wastewater treatment plant (WTP) and sewage treatment plant (SWP). Clion composition was highest in the effluent, in terms of percentage, which was followed by $Na^+$, $SO_4^{2-}$ and $Ca^{2+}$. $K^+$ and $Mg^{2+}$ ion was relatively low. The sensitivity of D. magna test results was higher than V. fischeri. Among samples which were proved by V. fischeri testing to be nontoxic, the composition ratio of each ion whether toxic samples or nontoxic samples which were decided by D. magna toxicity testing, were compared. $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$ ion composition ratio showed high level in nontoxic samples whereas $SO_4^{2-}$ and $Cl^-$ ion composition ratio was high in toxic samples. Accordingly, $SO_4^{2-}$ and $Cl^-$ ion seemed to be considered the ions causing toxicity in effluent. Toxicity from some categories of industries (Mining of non-metallic minerals, Manufacture of basic organic petrochemicals, Manufacture of other basic organic chemicals, Manufacture of other chemical products etc.) seemed to be influenced by salinity. The Ion concentration in influent and effluent were similar. Concentration of $Na^+$, $Cl^-$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$ ions were high in influent, however $Mg^{2+}$ and $SO_4^{2-}$ ions were high in effluent.