• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.18 no.2 s.23
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• pp.1-2
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• 2004

The Ilkwang Fault is NNE-striking, elongated 40 Km between Ulsan and Haendae-ku, Busan in southeastem part of the Korean Peninsula(Kim, D.H. et al., 1989; Kim, J.S. et al., 2003). This paper is mainly concemed about the ages of the fault activities especially in the Quatemary, infered from classification of geomorphic surface and trench excavation for the construction of Singori nuclear power plant. The geomorphi surfaces are classified into the Beach and the Alluvial plain, the 10 m a.s.l. Marine terrace, the 20 m a.s.l. Marine terrace, the Reworked surface of 45 m a.s.l. Marine terrace and the Low relief erosional surface, from lower to higher altitude. The Beach and the Alluvial plain are elongated to the Holocene terrace(ist terrace, choi, 2003). The 10 m a.s.l. Marine terrace is correlated to 2nd terrace (MIS 5em 125 Ka. y. B.P., Choi, 1998). The 45 m a.s.l. Marine terace is correlated to the Lower marine terrace (MIS 7,220 Ka. y. B.P., Choi, 2003 or MIS 9,320 y. B.P.) to the Gwanganri terrace(Penultimate interglacial age, 200-200 Ka. Y. B.P., Oh, 1981). The Low relief erosional surface is distributed coastal side, the Reworked surface of 45 m a.s.l. Marine terrace inland side by the Ilkwang Fault Line as the boundary line. But the former is above 10 m higher in relative height than the latter. The 20 m a.s.l. Marine terrace on the elongation line of the Ilkwang Fault reveals no dislocation. A site was trenched on the straight contract line with $N30^{\circ}$ E-striking between the 10 m a.s.l. Marine terrace and the 20 m a.s.l. Marine terrace. Fault line or dislocation was not observable in the trench excavation. Accordingly, the straight contact line is inferred as the ancient shoreline of the 10 m a.s.l. Marine terrace. The Ages of the Fault activities are inferred after the formation of the Ichonri Formation - before the formation of the 45 m a.s.l. Marine terrace (220 Ka. y. B.P. or 320 Ka. y. B.P.). The Low relief erosional surface was an island above the sea-level during the formation of the 45 m a.s.l. Marine terrace in the paleogeography.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.18 no.2 s.23
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• pp.107-107
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• 2004

In this paper we have introduced some results of study on stand growth pattern and stand structure of larch forest which are located in selected forest sites of Khangai and Gobi-Altai mountain ranges of Mongolia. Our investigations showed that growth intensity and stand structure in western Mongolia are very specific from the other forest vegetation zones of Mongolia. Studies on the stand structure and growth trend indicate that tree types of stand structure and different types of growth of Larix sibrica are very common in Western Mongolia. These peculiarities of stand structure and growth of larch stands in Western Monolia could be used for inventory work and an improvement of the forest management in Western Mongolian region. The larch tree is the dominant tree species in Western Mogolia. Forest cover of the region is about 15%, which is two times higher than the country's average. In this region forest area is divided into 4 forest sub-regions: the Central Khangai, Western Khangai, North Eastern Khangai and South Easterun Khangai sub-regions including taiga, pseudo taiga, sub taiga, sub-alpine and forest steppe belts. Silviculture practices and forest research management request to study forest growth trends in local and general conditions, which means to indicate a change of taxonomic characteristics of stand from time to time including diameter, height, basal area, growth stock etc. The forest management practice mostly uses tables of forest growth and yield based on the results of long term research on forest growth. Forest yield tables and other relevant forest standards of Russia are used for the forest inventory and forest management. They are not able to determine forest structure and growth peculiatities of Mongolian forests. Studies on forest resource assessment in Mongolia indicate that after logging operations and forest fires the natural regeneration of desired species such as pine and larch often does not succeed. This situation forces to take a different approach of forest management and silviculture practice depending on the stand structure and growth rate of the forest stands. According to our investigation in last years, forest growth pattern of larch forest depends mostly on stand structure, stand age and growth condition including forest soil, climate and location in different slopes. Due to improve environmental function of forest ecosystem in the region, it is needed to conduct very comprehensive study of high mountain forest ecosystem in selected sub-regions.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.18 no.2 s.23
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• pp.103-104
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• 2004

This paper discuss some results of observed changes of meteorological elements as temperature, precipitation and some extreme indexes in Mongolia. Mongolia is one of the largest landlocked countries in the world. The climate is characterized by a long lasting cold winter, dry and hot summer, low precipitation, high temperature fluctuation and relatively high number of sunny days per year. During last 60 years the annual mean air temperature has risen $1.66^{\circ}C$. Intensive warming of > $2^{\circ}C$ was observed at higher altitudes of high mountains when warming of < $1^{\circ}C$ was observed the Domod steppe and the Gobi Desert. Heat Wave Duration have statistically significant risen trend with increaded number of days by 8-18 at significance level of 95-99.9% depending on geography and Cold Wave Duration have shortened by 13.3 days significance level of 95-99%. In general, by the amount of precipitation, Mongolia falls in semi-arid and arid region. It is 300-350 mm in the high mountain regions while it is only 50-150 mm in Gobi Desert regions. The changes of annual precipitation have very localized character i.e.decreasing at one site and increasing at a sit nearby. Annual precipitation decreased by 30-90 mm in the northern-central region and increased by 2-60 mm in the western and eastern region. The magnitude of alteration changes in precipitation regardless increasing or decreasing is 5-25%. A trends, significant at the level of 90%, found where changes are more than 40 mm or more than 15% of annual mean value. Moreover, the soil moisture resources was decreased in the last 40 years. Specially, moisture contents of the top soil have decreased 2 times(N. Natsagsuren, 2002). Months of June and July in Mongolia is the year that moisture is not inhibiting vegetation growth. Unfortunately, its also found that moisture in this time tends to decrease. Increased temperature, decreased precipitation and soil moisture are most likely resulted in occurences of more intense drought spells that have taken place during the recent years. Intimately, these changes have considerable impact on livestock in Mongolia.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.18 no.2 s.23
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• pp.65-66
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• 2004

There have been groves, in many cases, along with hedgerows and remnant forests around a traditional Korean village. A village grove is very closely connected to the life of residents. Sometimes it was a holy place where important village festivals were held, and became a resting place for farmers, especially in sunny summer. As a matter of fact, it is noted that traditional Korean village groves had been fostered for many purpose as religion, Confucianism, scenery, sanitation, traffic guard, public security, agriculture, hunting, and military and public uses were included in Chosun Govemor General(1938). Village groves were usually located at the outlet of watershed inside which a village was built. In addition, village groves used to be established along part of mountain ranges, streams and streets. A unique type of village grove, called bibosoop was fostered especially where the outlet of watershed was largely opened. In other cases, it was placed where a part of mountain range was relatively low, or where village residents were likely to see ugly objects such as a huge cliff, stony upland with an unvegetated area and the like(Kim and Jang 1994). In a sense, a sheltebelt is a sort of bibosoop as it is a landscape element to complement places that are exposed to strong winds. However, it is comparable to other typical bibosoop that is situated at a topographically very specific zone of watershed. In this paper, we will address potential functions of Korean village groves from a perspective of modern landscape ecology and show current status of some remnants, based on preliminary surveys. A village grove functions as barrier or filter of objects such as water, nutrients, and other elements and habitat of wildlife (park et al. 2003, Lee 2004). The village grove slows down the flow of water and air, maintains soil moisture an hinders soil erosion, enabling cultivation of crops and bringing up creatures nearby. It contributes to enhancing biodiversity. Birds rest on shrubby and woody trees of the element. Presumably, other organisms may also inhabit the village groves and take advantage of it when those move from a forest patch to others. Emerging insects acclimate themselves in the shade of the green space before they fly to sunny air. Besides the village grove acts as a component of agroforestry system as leaf litter is shed from a grove to an asjacent agricultural area, and transformed into green manure(Lee 2004). By the way, many of the landscape elements were destroyed or declined in Koea during the past several decades. The losses have been parallel or linked to environmental degradation. Unfortunately, we have a little reliable data as for how many groves have disappeared in Korea until now. There has been no complete census on the village groves in Korea, and the viewpoints of survey were to a degree different depending on surveyors. So, it is difficult to analyze the temporal and spatial change of village groves. Currently, national inventory data of Korean village groves are available in three reports. We reviewed the locations of village groves and arranged those according to the present administrative units, DONG. With the limited data, we found that at least 484 of village groves were recorded in South Korea. Among all provinces, village groves were most in Gyeongsanbuk-Do Province and least in Chungcheongbuk-Do Province(Table 1). This is a preliminary report prepared while some quantitative data regarding functions and lossers of the village groves are being collected. More detailed data will be introduced in the near future.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 1999

The relationships between climate (monthly precipitation and temperatures) and tree-ring growth of Korean fir (Abies koreana) growing at subalpine (1,600∼l,700m) zone on the south slope, Joong-Bong and the north slope, Changgun-Bong in the Cheonwang-bong area in Chiri mountains in the southern Korea were analyzed. Two cores from each of 10∼12 trees were extracted. The relationship between tree-ring(standardized) chronologies and climate was analyzed by the response-function method. Climate variables could explain 45.9∼53.8% of total variance in the chronologies. The precipitation response function of Korean fir were similar at both sites in overall ; positive for March∼May and August, and negative for February and July. The south-slope fir of Joong-Bong possessed higher negative temperature response function for February and August than north-slope one. The positive response function for April temperature was significant for both sites. In contrary to other subalpine species (e.g., Pinus koraiensis and Taxus cuspidata) in South Korea, whose growths are positively correlated with temperature in most seasons, the growths of Korean fir trees in Mt. Chiri appeared to be mainly limited by the moisture regime of spring prior to the cambial growth and early growing season.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.161-161
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• 2003

During the last century, most scientific questions related to climate change were focused on the evidence of anthropogenic global warming (IPCC, 2001). There are robust evidences of warming and also human-induced climate change. We now understand the global, mean change a little bit better; however, the uncertainties for regional climate change still remains large. The purpose of this study is to understand the past climate change over Korea based on the observational data and to project future regional climate change over East Asia using ECHAM4/HOPE model and MM5 for downscaling. There are significant evidences on regional climate change in Korea, from several variables. The mean annual temperature over Korea has increased about 1.5∼$1.7^{\circ}C$ during the 20th century, including urbanization effect in large cities which can account for 20-30% of warming in the second half of the 20th century. Cold extreme temperature events occurred less frequently especially in the late 20th century, while hot extreme temperature events were more common than earlier in the century. The seasonal and annual precipitation was analyzed to examine long-term trend on precipitation intensity and extreme events. The number of rainy days shows a significant negative trend, which is more evident in summer and fall. Annual precipitation amount tends to increase slightly during the same period. This suggests an increase of precipitation intensity in this area. These changes may influence on growing seasons, floods and droughts, diseases and insects, marketing of seasonal products, energy consumption, and socio-economic sectors. The Korean Peninsular is located at the eastern coast of the largest continent on the earth withmeso-scale mountainous complex topography and itspopulation density is very high. And most people want to hear what will happen in their back yards. It is necessary to produce climate change scenario to fit forhigh-resolution (in meteorological sense, but low-resolution in socio-economic sense) impact assessment. We produced one hundred-year, high-resolution (∼27 km), regional climate change scenario with MM5 and recognized some obstacles to be used in application. The boundary conditions were provided from the 240-year simulation using the ECHAM4/HOPE-G model with SRES A2 scenario. Both observation and simulation data will compose past and future regional climate change scenario over Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.163-163
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• 2003

The study area, Kwangneung Experiment Forest (KEF) is located on the west-central portion of Korean peninsula and belongs to a cool-temperate broadleaved forest zone. At the old-growth deciduous forest near Soribong-peak (533.1m) in KEF, we have established a permanent plot and a flux tower, and the site was registered as a KLTER site and also a KoFlux site. In this study, we aimed to present basic ecological characteristics and synthetic data of carbon budgets and flows, and some monitoring data which are essential for providing important parameters and validation data for the forest dynamics models or biogeochemical dynamics models to predict or interpolate spatially the changes in forest ecosystem structure and function. We made a stemmap of trees in 1 ha plot and analyzed forest stand structure and physical and chemical soil characteristics, and estimated carbon budgets by forest components (tree biomass, soils, litter and so on). Dominant tree species were Quercus serrata and Carpinus laxiflora, and accompanied by Q. aliena, Carpinus cordata, and so on. As a result of a field survey of the plot, density of the trees larger than 2cm in DBH was 1,473 trees per ha, total biomass 261.2 tons/ha, and basal area 28.0 m2/ha. Parent rock type is granite gneiss. Soil type is brown forest soil (alfisols in USDA system), and the depth is from 38 to 66cm. Soil texture is loam or sandy loam, and its pH was from 4.2 to 5.0 in the surface layer, and from 4.8 to 5.2 in the subsurface layer. Seasonal changes in LAI were measured by hemispherical photography at the l.2m height, and the maximum was 3.65. And the spatial distributions of volumetric soil moisture contents and LAIs of the plot were measured. Litterfall was collected in circular littertraps (collecting area： 0.25m2) and mass loss rates and nutrient release patterns in decomposing litter were estimated using the litterbag technique employing 30cm30cm nylon bags with l.5mm mesh size. Total annual litterfall was 5,627 kg/ha/year and leaf litter accounted for 61% of the litterfall. The leaf litter quantity was highest in Quercus serrata, followed by Carpinus laxiflora and C. cordata, etc. Mass loss from decomposing leaf litter was more rapid in C. laxiflora and C. cordata than in Q. serrata litter. About 77% of C. laxiflora and 84% of C. cordata litter disappeared, while about 48% in Q. serrata litter lost over two years. The carbon pool in living tree biomass including below ground biomass was 136 tons C/ha, and 5.6 tons C/ha is stored in the litter layer, and about 92.0 tons C/ha in the soil to the 30cm in depth. Totally more than about 233.6 tons C/ha was stored in DK site. And then we have drawn a schematic diagram of carbon budgets and flows in each compartment of the KEF site.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.165-165
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• 2003

A borehole core ECSDP-102 (about 68.5 m long) has been investigated to get information on paleoenvironmental changes in response to the sea-level fluctuations during the period of late Quaternary. Several AMS $\^$14/C ages show that the core ECSDP-102 recorded the depositional environments of the northern East China Sea for approximately 60 ka. The Yangtze River discharged huge amounts of sediment into the northern East China Sea during the marine isotope stage (MIS) 3. In particular, $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values reveal that the sedimentary environments of the northern East China Sea, which is similar to the Holocene conditions, have taken place three times during the MIS 3. It is supported by the relatively enriched $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values of -23 to -21$\textperthousand$ during the marine settings of MIS 3 that are characterized by the predominance of marine organic matter akin to the Holocene. Furthermore, we investigated the three Holocene sediment cores, ECSDP-101, ECSDP-101 and YMGR-102, taken from the northern East China Sea off the mouth of the Yangtze River and from the southern Yellow Sea, respectively. Our study was focused primarily on the onset of the post-glacial marine transgression and the reconstructing of paleoenvironmental changes in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea during the Holocene. AMS $\^$14/C ages indicate that the northern East China Sea and the southern Yellow Sea began to have been flooded at about 13.2 ka BP which is in agreement with the initial marine transgression of the central Yellow Sea (core CC-02). $\delta$$\^$18/O and $\delta$$\^$13/C records of benthic foraminifera Ammonia ketienziensis and $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values provide information on paleoenvironmental changes from brackish (estuarine) to modem marine conditions caused by globally rapid sea-level rise since the last deglaciation. Termination 1 (T1) ended at about 9.0-8.7 ka BP in the southern and central Yellow Sea, whereas T1 lasted until about 6.8 ka BP in the northern East China Sea. This time lag between the two seas indicates that the timing of the post-glacial marine transgression seems to have been primarily influenced by the bathymetry. The present marine regimes in the northern East China Sea and the whole Yellow Sea have been contemporaneously established at about 6.0 ka BP. This is strongly supported by remarkably changes in occurrence of benthic foraminiferal assemblages, $\delta$$\^$18/O and $\delta$$\^$13/C compositions of A. ketienziensis, TOC content and $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values. The $\delta$$\^$18/O values of A. ketienziensis show a distinct shift to heavier values of about 1$\textperthousand$ from the northern East China Sea through the southern to central Yellow Sea. The northward shift of $\^$18/O enrichment may reflect gradually decrease of the bottom water temperature in the northern East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.167-168
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• 2003

The Upo wetland, the largest natural wetland in Korea, is located in Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongsannam Province ($35^{\circ}33'$ N, $128^{\circ}25'$ E), and 70 km upstream from the Nakdong River estuary. Unlike most other Korean wetlands that have been destroyed under the name of economic development, the Upo wetland has been able to preserve its precious ecosystem throughout the years. Thanks to increased public awareness about natural wetlands and environmental conservation, the Korean Ministry of Environment designated the Upo wetland an 'Ecological Conservation Area' on July 26th, 1997. On March 2nd of the following year, the Upo wetland (8.54 $\textrm{km}^2$) was designated a 'Protected Wetland' in accordance with the international Ramsar Treaty. A 4.49m long (from 9.73 to 5.24 m in altitude) UP-1 core ($35^{\circ}33'05"N$, $128^{\circ}25'17"E$), recovered in the marginal part of the Upo wetland, is divided into eight buried paleosol units of different ages on the basis of the abundance of color mottles and vertical color variations (Aslan et al., 1998). Radiocarbon datings suggested that the paleosol profile represent the last 5700 years. The entire section of the core was more or less subjected to pedogenetic processes, and shows very weak to moderate soil profile development. These Holocene paleosols are therefore regarded as synsedimentary soils of deluvium (deposits formed by floods) origin (Sycheva et al., 2003). Unit 1 to 5 paleosols are generally silt-rich and exhibit moderate profile development. The boundaries between the units are somewhat distinguishable, but not so clear cut. This is due to variable repeated combination of accumulation, denudation and soil forming processes within various periods. Mottle textures gradually decrease in abundance with increasing clay content in Unit 6, which results in weak profile development. The lower boundary of Unit 6 lies around about 2000 yrBP, the beginning of Subatlantic in Korea (Kim et al., 2001). Abrupt sediment textural change is detected in Unit 7, which is interpreted to indicate the human activities on the Upo wetland. Unit 8 represents the recent soil forming processes. The preliminary results of this ongoing study imply the primary factor for pedogenetic processes is the water table fluctuations related to the sedimentary textures like grain size distributions, and the geomorphological stability of the Upo wetland.o wetland.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.15-15
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• 2003

In South Korea, marine terraces have been well developed along the eastern coastal zone, and previous researches on the marine terraces have also been focused on to this coastal zone. The marine terraces of the eastern coast of South Korea had been classified into three terrace groups, that is, the higher, middle, and lower surface ones, according to the heights of marine terraces by previous studies(Oh, 1981 ;Chang, 1987 ;Yoon et. al, 1999, 2003 ; Hwang and Yoon, 1996 etc.). Recently, however, it tends to classify the marine terraces based on the concept of geomorphic surface units(Lee, 1987 ; Kim, 1990 ; Choi, S. 2003; Choi S. et. al 2003a,b, etc). For example, it was proposed that the marine terrace surfaces of Eupcheon coast of the southeastern coastal area of Korea could be classified into 16 geomorphic surfaces, i.e., Eupcheon 1terrace(former shoreline height of 160m), 2(153m), 3(140m), 4(130m), 5(124m), 6(115m), 7(100m), 8(92m), 9(82m), 10(71m), 11(62m), 12(53m), 13(43m), 14(35m), 15(18m) and 16(10m) surfaces, in descending order, according to the former shoreline heights(Choi, S, 2003 ; Choi, S. et. al, 2003a,b). Among these terraces, Eupcheon 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7 surfaces had not been reported in previous works. Among the above mentioned marine terraces, Eupcheon 15 terrace, the most widely and continuously distributed marine terrace have been identified as marine terrace of the Last Interglacial culmination period(oxygen isotope stage 5e) which was based on amino acid dates(124∼125ka BP) and geomorphological features such as red soil, pollen analysis, fossil cryogenic structures and crossing terrace concept. Eupoheon 15 terrace surfaces have also been proposed as the key surface for the identification and correlation of the so-called '5e' marine terrace in the eastern coast of South Korea. This terrace was reconfirmed as the Last Interglacial culmination period, which was based on the identification of Ata tephra, one of the wide-spread marker tephra which indicates the Last Interglacial culmination period in Japan by Sasaki et. al(2002). It was thought that marine terraces of the eastern coast of South Korea had been formed by the steady-state uplifting during the Quaternary glacio-eustatic sea level changes(Choi, 1997). The uprift rate of 10cm/1,000years had been proposed in the eastern coast of South Korea based on the former shoreline altitude(18m) of the above Eupcheon 15 terrace. Therefore, it can be estimated that Eupcheon 1 terrace had been formed in the early Pleistocene from the above uprift rate. The OSL dating for the samples of Eupcheon 7, 9, 13, 15 and 16 terraces and identification of marker tephra in the terrace deposits are in progress. It is expected that more elaborate chronology on themarine terraces of the eastern coast of South Korea could be established by these absolute dates and marker-tephra.