• Title/Summary/Keyword: weathering process

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Morphology, Mineralogy and Genetic Implication of Placer Gold from the Huongkhe Area, Vietnam (베트남 홍케 지역 사금의 산상과 생성연구)

  • Choi, Sang-Hoon;Choi, Seon-Gyu;Han, Jin-Kyun
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.235-246
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    • 1996
  • Placer gold in collected heavy minerals from several localities in Huongkhe area, is consistently very finegrained (${\leq}100$ to $400{\mu}m$). The size and size distribution show somewhat differences at Dongdo and Hoahai : at Dongdo, predominant relatively larger and wide distribution; at Hoahai, characteristic relatively finer and narrow distribution range. The morphology of gold grains is divided into the four groups assumed by the dimension ratio : spherical, subprismoidal, prismoidal, and irregular. The gold grains at Dongdo show wide morphological distribution, whereas, at Hoahai, spherical form is predominant (${\approx}75%$). Three main types of gold are classified based on their chemical composition and mode of occurrence: type I (electrum; fineness=568~931), type II (amalgam; fineness=671~927), and type III (native gold; fineness=923~999). Type I gold contains, relatively high and variable silver contents (${\approx}11$ to 58 atomic % Ag), and has been classified into two subtypes based on their silver contents (type IA, ${\approx}11{\sim}39$ atomic % Ag; type IB, ${\approx}40{\sim}58$ atomic % Ag). However, type I gold would have been generally original compositions of electrum which originated at the provenance deposits. Mercury reacts with gold and silver to form amalgam (type II gold) which has variable Hg contents (1.2~30.5 atomic % Hg). The mercury contents in gold grains at Hoahai (10.9~30.5 atomic % Hg) are higher than those at Dongdo (5.8~21.1 atomic % Hg). The gold grains from the area generally exhibit a high-purity gold (type III) rim. The individual rims on the various grains range from <1 to $80{\mu}m$ in thickness and have silver contents of <10 atomic percent Ag, even though the core compositions range from ${\approx}11$ to 58 atomic percent Ag. The rim of gold most likely is responsible for the commonly cited cases of gold from placer deposits assaying at higher values of fineness than the gold in the corresponding source lode. The gold-rich rim in the Huongkhe area apparently forms by a combination of self-electrorefining and preferential dissolution of silver under oxidizing nature during the weathering and transport process. All data of gold grains in the Huongkhe area suggest that the transport distances and/or time of placer gold at Hoahai are generally farther than those at Dongdo. The mercurian gold bearing provenance deposits at Dongdo and Hoahai would be suggest nearest epithermal gold-silver vein-type.

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The Study on Restoration & Repair of the Seated Stone Statue of Buddha in the Samreoung Valley of Mt. Namsan (경주 남산 삼릉계 석불좌상 보존 및 복원 연구)

  • Jeong, Min Ho;Ji, Sung Jin
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.43 no.3
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    • pp.242-281
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    • 2010
  • There are a large number of Buddhist cultural relics in Mt. Namsan. The cultural relics carry the spirit of people of Shila who dream of Buddhist Elysium and the establishment of Buddhist nation. In the valley and the top of the mountain and on various rock cliff, stone statues of Buddha and stone pagodas stand in harmony with nature. For that reason, Mt. Namsan is called an open-air museum. And it played an important role in establishing 'The UNESCO World Heritage' status for Gyeongdju in December 2000. But sadly, there are many stone relics that have eroded away and damaged from collapsing in the passage of time. The seated stone statue of Buddha in Samreoung valley of Mt. Namsan is one of them. It was created between the 8th and 9th century, and restored without much care nor extensive historical research in 1923. As a result, The face of the Buddha remained with concrete mortar and its nimbus fallen backward and destroyed. Therefore, restoration and repair as well as creation of a statue environment for the statue were urgent. So we immediately started in restoration and repair. First, through the archaeological excavation around the stone Buddha, we carried the stone Buddha on the original position. In order to restore the statues to its original glory created by the Unified Shila Dynasty, we created a restoration plan in corporation with art historians and historians, then restored the jaw and the damage nimbus. Second, we made the weathering & damage map of the stone Buddha. In order to prevent second damage, we cleaned the surface of contaminants with distilled water. Third, we studied restoration method to prevent artificial damage. We recreated parts of his face and halo. Then each parts of the statue were restored to their original position. In the whole process of restoration, we tried to use traditional techniques.