• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2001

Bentonite layers are intercalated within the basal conglomerates in the Tertiary sedimentary basins of Kampo, Janggi and Pohang, southeastern Korea. Eighteen samples of the bentonites went through X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, heavy mineral analyses, chemical analyses and oxygen, hydrogen stable isotope analyses to define the mineralogical characters of the bentonites. Heavy minerals such as zircons, apatites, amphiboles and biotites separated from bentonites show clean and euhedral surfaces, which are the characteristic features of volcanic origin. But biotites from the Chunbook Conglomerate are found as altered and heavily broken flakes which implies longer transportation of these bentonites. $TiO_{2}/Al_{2}O_{3} ratios of <2 $\mu$m particle fractions (the Chunbook Conglomerate 0.031; Janggi 0.029; Kampo 0.025) suggest that those are originated from volcanic tuffs. That is, the higher the value is, the more mafic in chemical compositions of the original tuffs. Authigenic montmorillonite and zeolite minerals were observed by SEM, which indicates diagenesis origin of bentonites. But the samples from the Chunbook Conglomerate showed only chaotically packed clay flakes in the matrix of sands or conglomerates, which implies detrital influence, not authigenic origin. The structural formulae of montmorillonite from these basins reflects their environment of formation. Fe (Ⅵ) can show the redox condition of its past environment and much lower $Fe^{2+}(Ⅵ)/Fe^{3+}(Ⅵ)$ ratios in montmorillonite of the Chunbook Conglomerate imply the greater oxidizing influence. Calculated burial depths from oxygen stable isotope data of the samples from the Chunbook Conglomerate generally fall to the range of 929~963 m whereas the real burial depth of this area is only 530~580 m. This could be explained as the bentonites of the Chunbook conglomerate had not been formed in situ. Discriminant analyses with the data from chemical analyses and structural formulae of montmorillonites show that bentonites from three different basins could definitely be distinguished with each other. This result arises from the different chemical compositions of original volcanic ashes and the difference of sedimentary environments.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.13-24
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• 2014

We established the first complete ice core processing method and analytical procedures for fundamental proxies, using a 40.2 m long ice core drilled on the Mt. Tsambagarav glacier in the Mongolian Altai mountains in July 2008. The whole core was first divided into two sub ice core sections and the measurements of the visual stratigraphy and electrical conductivity were performed on the surface of these sub core sections. A continuous sequence of samples was then prepared for chemical analyses (stable isotope ratios of oxygen ($^{18}O/^{16}O$) and hydrogen ($^2H/^1H$), soluble ions and trace elements). A total of 29 insoluble dust layers were identified from the measurement of visual stratigraphy. The electrical conductivity measurement (ECM) shows 11 peaks with the current more than 0.8 ${\mu}A$ Comparing the profiles of $SO_4{^{2-}}$ and $Cl^-$ concentrations to correlate with known volcanic eruptions, the first two ECM peaks appear to be linked to the eruptions (January and June 2007) of Kliuchevskoi volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, which supports the reliability of our ECM data. Finally, the composition of stable isotopes (${\delta}^{18}O$ and ${\delta}D$) shows a well-defined seasonal variation, suggesting that various chemical proxies may have been well preserved in the successive ice layers of Tsambagarav ice core. Our ice core processing method and analytical procedures for fundamental proxies are expected to be used for paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental studies from polar and alpine ice cores.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2008

The hydrochemical and isotopic (stable isotopes and noble gas isotopes) analyses for hot spring waters, cold groundwaters and surface water samples from the Seokmodo hot spring area of the Ganghwa province were carried out to characterize the hydrogeochemical characteristics of thermal waters and to interpret the source of thermal water and noble gases and the geochemical evolution of hot spring waters in the Seokmodo geothermal system. The hot spring waters and groundwaters show a weakly acidic condition with the pH values ranging from 6.42 to 6.77 and 6.01 to 7.71 respectively. The outflow temperature of the Seokmodo hot spring waters ranges from $43.3^{\circ}C\;to\;68.6^{\circ}C$. Relatively high values of the electrical conductivities which fall between 60,200 and $84,300{\mu}S/cm$ indicate that the hot spring waters were mixed with seawater in the subsurface geothermal system. The chemical compositions of the Seokmodo hot spring waters are characterized by Na-Ca-Cl water type. On the other hand, cold groundwaters and surface waters can be grouped into three types such as the Na(Ca)-$HCO_3$, Na(Ca)-$SO_4$ and Ca-$HCO_3$ types. The ${\delta}^{18}O\;and\;{\delta}D$ values of hot spring waters vary from -4.41 to -4.47%o and -32.0 to -33.5%o, respectively. Cold groundwaters range from -7.07 to -8.55%o in ${\delta}^{18}O$ and from -50.24 to -59.6%o in ${\delta}D$. The oxygen and hydrogen isotopic data indicate that the hot spring waters were originated from the local meteoric water source. The enrichments of heavy isotopes ($^{18}O\;and\;^2H$) in the Seokmodo hot spring waters imply that the thermal water was derived from the diffusion Bone between fresh and salt waters. The ${\delta}^{34}S$ values ranging from 23.1 to 23.5%o of dissolved sulfate are very close to the value of sea water sulfate of ${\delta}^{34}$S=20.2%o in this area, indicating the origin of sulfate in hot springs from sea water. The $^3H/^4He$ ratio of hot spring waters varies from $1.243{\times}10^{-6}\;to\;1.299{\times}10^{-6}cm^3STP/g$, which suggests that He gas in hot spring waters was partly originated from a mantle source. Argon isotopic ratio $(^{40}Ar/^{36}Ar=298{\times}10^{-6}cm^3STP/g)$ in hot spring waters corresponds to the atmospheric value.