• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.495-513
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• 2004

The shape of land surface work as a cradle for various environmental processes and human activities. As spatially distributed process modelings become increasing important in current research communities, a classification system that delineates land surface into characteristic geomorphological units is a pre-requisite for sustainable land use planning and management. Existing classification systems are either morphometric or generic, which have limitations to characterize continuous ecological processes over the landscape. A new classification system was developed to delineate the land surface into different geomorphological units from Digital Elevation Models(DEMs). This model assumes that there are pedo-geomorphological units in which distinct sets of hydrological, pedological, and consequent ecological processes occur. The classification system first divides the whole landsurface into eight soil-landscape units. Possible energy and material nows over the land surface were interpreted using a continuity equation of mass flow along the hillslope, and subsequently implemented in terrain analysis procedures. The developed models were tested at a 12$\textrm{km}^2$ area in Yangpyeong-gun, Kyeongi-do, Korea. The method proposed effectively delineates land surface into distinct pedo-geomorphological units, which identify the geomorphological characteristics over a large area at a low cost. The delineated landscape units mal provide a basic information for natural resource survey and environmental modeling practices.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.611-619
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• 2013

Although the need of crop production has increased in Mongolia, crop cultivation is very limited because of the harsh climatic and topographic conditions. Crop lands are sparsely distributed with relatively small sizes and, therefore, it is difficult to survey the exact area of crop lands. The study aimed to find an easy and effective way of accurate classification to map crop lands in Mongolia using satellite images. To classify the crop lands over the study area in northern Mongolia, four classifications were carried out by using 1) Thematic Mapper (TM) image August 23, 2) TM image of July 6, 3) combined 12 bands of TM images of July and August, and 4) both TM images of July and August by layered classification. Wheat and potato are the major crop types and they show relatively high variation in crop conditions between July and August. On the other hands, other land cover types (forest, riparian vegetation, grassland, water and bare soil) do not show such difference between July and August. The results of four classifications clearly show that the use of multi-temporal images is essential to accurately classify the crop lands. The layered classification method, in which each class is separated by a subset of TM images, shows the highest classification accuracy (93.7%) of the crop lands. The classification accuracies are lower when we use only a single TM image of either July or August. Because of the different planting practice of potato and the growth condition of wheat, the spectral characteristics of potato and wheat cannot be fully separated from other cover types with TM image of either July or August. Further refinements on the spatial characteristics of existing crop lands may enhance the crop mapping method in Mongolia.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.293-320
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• 2014

In this study, in order to evaluate adequacy of considering local site effect, excluding soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects in inelastic dynamic analysis and design of mid-rise moment resisting building frames, three structural models including 5, 10, and 15 storey buildings are simulated in conjunction with two soil types with the shear wave velocities less than 600 m/s, representing soil classes $D_e$ and $E_e$ according to the classification of AS1170.4-2007 (Earthquake actions in Australia) having 30 m bedrock depth. Structural sections of the selected frames were designed according to AS3600:2009 (Australian Standard for Concrete Structures) after undertaking inelastic dynamic analysis under the influence of four different earthquake ground motions. Then the above mentioned frames were analysed under three different boundary conditions: (i) fixed base under direct influence of earthquake records; (ii) fixed base considering local site effect modifying the earthquake record only; and (iii) flexible-base (considering full soil-structure interaction). The results of the analyses in terms of base shears and structural drifts for the above mentioned boundary conditions are compared and discussed. It is concluded that the conventional inelastic design procedure by only including the local site effect excluding SSI cannot adequately guarantee the structural safety for mid-rise moment resisting buildings higher than 5 storeys resting on soft soil deposits.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.133-142
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• 2002

This is a fundamental study to develop a sensor to detect weeds in paddy field using machine vision adopted spectralphotometric technique in order to use the sensor to spread herbicide selectively. A set of spectral reflectance data was collected from dry and wet soil and leaves of rice and 6 kinds of weed to select desirable wavelengths to classify soil, rice and weeds. Stepwise variable selection method of discriminant analysis was applied to the data set and wavelengths of 680 and 802 m were selected to distinguish plants (including rice and weeds) from dry and wet soil, respectively. And wavelengths of 580 and 680 nm were selected to classify rice and weeds by the same method. Validity of the wavelengths to distinguish the plants from soil was tested by cross-validation test with built discriminant function to prove that all of soil and plants were classified correctly without any failure. Validity of the wavelengths for classification of rice and weeds was tested by the same method and the test resulted that 98% of rice and 83% of weeds were classified correctly. Feasibility of CCD color camera to detect weeds in paddy field was tested with the spectral reflectance data by the same statistical method as above. Central wavelengths of RGB frame of color camera were tried as tile effective wavelengths to distingush plants from soil and weeds from plants. The trial resulted that 100% and 94% of plants in dry soil and wet soil, respectively, were classified correctly by the central wavelength or R frame only, and 95% of rice and 85% of weeds were classified correctly by the central wavelengths of RGB frames. As a result, it was concluded that CCD color camera has good potential to be used to detect weeds in paddy field.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2019

More than 64% of Korea's land is occupied by mountain regions, which have terrain characteristics that make it vulnerable to mountain disasters. The trails of Taebaeksan Mountain National Park-the region considered in this study-are located in the vicinity of steep slopes, and therefore, the region is vulnerable to landslides and debris flow during heavy storms. In this study, a slope stability model, which is a deterministic analysis method, was used to examine the potential occurrence of landslides. According to the soil classification of the detailed soil map, the specific weight of soil, effective cohesion, internal friction angle of soil, effective soil depth, and ground slope were used as the parameters of the model, and slope stability was evaluated based on the DEM of a 1 m grid. The results of the slope stability analysis showed that the more hazardous the area was, the closer the ratio of groundwater/effective soil depth is to 1.0. Further, many of the private houses and commercial facilities in the lower part of the national park were shown to be exposed to danger.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.373-382
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• 2022

Unsaturated soil at high suctions is widespread. Many civil engineering projects are related to the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils at high suctions, particularly in arid and semiarid areas. To investigate water retention behaviors of nine clayey soils (one is classified as fat clay and the others are classified as lean clay according to the unified soil classification system), the high suction (3.29-286.7 MPa) was imposed on the specimens at zero net stress by the vapor equilibrium technique. In this paper, the effect of void ratio on the water retention behavior at high suction was discussed in detail. Validation data showed that soil types, i.e., different mineralogical compositions, are critical in the soil water retention behavior at a high suction range. Second, the hysteresis behavior at a high suction range is mainly related to the clay content and the specific surface area. And the mechanism of water retention and hysteresis behavior at high suctions was discussed. Moreover, the maximum suction is not a unique value, and it is crucial to determine the maximum suction value accurately, especially for the shear strength prediction at high suctions. If the soil consists of hydrophilic minerals such as montmorillonite and illite, the maximum suction will be lower than 10⁶ kPa. Finally, using the area of hysteresis to quantify the degree of hysteresis at a high suction range is proposed. There was a good correlation between the area of hydraulic hysteresis and the specific surface area.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.666-678
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• 2008

The needs for drawing up of biotope map is rapidly spreaded over each local government recently in Korea, according as enhancing of interest about biotope, which is recognized to practical instrument for concretely being able to considering natural environment and ecosystem on all sorts of development plan. However, there are not yet the standard suggestion on biotope types and classification systems and biotope classification criteria. Therefore, each other methodologies are applied to each of local autonomies. First, under such critical mind the biotope types and classification systems were drafted by a review on biotope types, biotope classification systems, and biotope classification criteria of the preceded case studies until now at the inside and outside of the country. And then the purpose of this study is to derive biotope types and biotope classification systems applicable to the whole Korean region through continual feed back such as field surveys in selected representative areas and consultations. As a result of reviewing the case examples, first, the biotope classification systems were mixed two steps system with three steps system and those were composed mostly of the structure of two steps: large and small. Second, land-use, soil pavement ratio, green cover ratio, and vegetation usually were applied to the biotope classification criteria. This study suggests that the biotope classification system is consisted of four steps system: large(biotope class), medium(biotope group), small(biotope type) and detail(sub-biotope type), and the biotope types are classified into 13 types of large step, 45 types of medium step and 127 types of small step. However, this study suggests that the new biotope types on small step or detail step should be continually supplemented with the foundation of classification system proposed in this study because the biotope type classification should consider regional characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.173-179
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• 1989

Characterization and classification of the potential acid sulfate soils found on flood-plains in Yeongnam area were summarized as follows: 1. The "Potential acid sulfate soil" layer(s) were appeared in the around 2-4m substrata of soil profiles and characterized by the fine texture, high reduction and physical unripened soft mud deposits or having higher contents of organic matter with dark color. 2. The contents of total sulfur (T-S) in those soils were ranged around 0.45-0.9% and the materials exhibited a strong acidity upon the oxidation with $H_2O_2$. Although the T-S contents was low as much as 0.15%, the sulfidic materials were also acidified strongly by the oxidation with $H_2O_2$ in the condition of lower content of carbonates. As defined in Soil Taxonomy of USDA, most of the sulfidic materials contained less than 3 times carbonate ($CaCO_3$ equivalent wt. %), but there were some which abundant in shell fragments, contained more than 3 times carbonate by weight percentage and that not much acidified by the oxidation with $H_2O_2$. 3. The contents of T-S correlated negatively with the pH oxidized by $H_2O_2$ and with the fizzing time (minutes) due to addition of $H_2O_2$. 4. The potential acid sulfate soils could be defined as soil materials that had sulfidic layer(s) more than 20cm thick within 4m of the soil profile and contained more than 0.15% of T-S with less than 3 times carbonate ($CaCO_3$ equiv. %). A tentative interpretative soil classification system was proposed, i.e., "Weak potential acid sulfate (T-S, 0.15-0.5%)", "Moderate potential acid sulfate (T-S, 0.5-0.75%)", and "Strong potential acid sulfate (T-S, more than 0.75%)". Finally, it was proposed that the "Detailed soil survey with high intensity" should be carried out in the areas of agricultural engineering works such as arableland readjustment works, in advance.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 1995

Nam Khane watershed, in the Northern Laos, consists of limestone plateau surrounded with steep slope(above 1000m), wide piedmont hill land(300-700m) and narrow alluvial plain. Opium on the plateau and up-land rice on the hill-side are cultivated for each, but its shifting agricultural activity, which degrades the forest and soil, has caused the serious environmental problems. MOS-1 satellite image and 40 points of soil samples are analyzed to identify the distribution of the shifting cultivation and to evaluate the environmental problems for Nam Khane watershed. The land use classification map is presented on the photo 2, and the value of each land use area by elevation level and soil property are showed on the table 2 and 3, respectively. Excessive agricultural activity of shifting cultivation in the Nam Khane watershed not only decreased the forest area, but also changed the primary forest of tree into secondary woodland of shrub. On the phase of soil property, it accelerated the soil and gully erosion, and acidification. To solve these environmental problems, the most important step is to settle the agriculture from shifting cultivation to permanent cropping.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.837-843
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• 2010

This research investigated classification of clay activity degree by different clay mineral components. Based on compositions of different clay and oxide minerals within 390 soil series in Korea, 7 soils were selected to analyze for CEC and specific surface area of clay minerals. As a result, soils were mainly composed with Chlorite originated from sandstone, Smectite originated from Andesite porphyry and combination of Allophane and Ferrihydrite originated from volcanic ash, if the ratio of CEC value to clay content (degree of clay activity) was greater than 0.7. If the degree of clay activity was ranged between 0.3 and 0.7, soils were composed mainly with Kaolin originated from anorthite. Soils with this ratio also was composted with combinations of Kaolin, Illite and Vermiculite originated with river deposits. When the degree of the activity was less than 0.3, soils were commonly red-yellowish color and composed with two different minerals. One type of composition was Kaolin originated from granite and granite gneiss and the soils contained Geothite and Hematite. The other type was composited mainly with Illite and Vermiculite minerals originated from granite. These soils contained Gibbsite, Geothite and Hematite. The degree of clay activity was highly related with CEC and specific surface area. The greater degree of the activity displayed greater values of clay CEC and specific surface area. It is not easy to measure actual quantity and compositions of clay minerals, while the degree of clay activity can be measured from routine soil analyses. As a conclusion, the degree of clay activity may be not just a simple but also powerful tool to estimate physical-chemical properties of soils and to evaluate the soil classification in Korean soils.