• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.224-232
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• 2000

Inorganic nutrient concentrations in relation to springtime physical parameters of the Yellow Sea were investigated during April 1996. Three major water masses, i.e., the Yellow Sea Warm Current Water (YSWC), Coastal Current Water (CCW) and Changjiang River Diluted Water (CRDW), prevailed in the study area. Water masses were vertically wel1 mixed throughout the study area, and nutrients were supplied adequately from bottom to surface layer. As result of ample nutrients supplied by vertical mixing together with progressed daylight condition, springtime phytoplankton blooms were observed, which was responsible for the depletion of inorganic nutrients in surface water column. Low nutrients concentration in bottom water of the central Yellow Sea (Stn. D9; nitrate: <2 ${\mu}$M, phosphate: <0.3 ${\mu}$) was associated with the entrance of YSWC which is characterized by high temperature and salinity. Influenced by runoff and vertical tidal mixing, CCW with high nutrient concentrations probably associated with China and Korea coastal waters with high nutrients concentration. For the local scale of inorganic nutrient distribution, nutrient transfers from coast to central areas were limited due to restriction imposed by tidal fronts (Stn. D6) and thus affected the horizontal nutrient profiles. Relatively high phytoplankton biomass was observed in the tidal front (Chl-${\alpha}$=12.38 ${\mu}$gL$^{-1}$) during the study period. Overall, the springtime nutrient distribution patterns in the Yellow Sea appeared to be affected by: (1) Large-scale influx of YSWC with low nutrient concentrations and CCW with high nutrient concentrations influenced by Korea and China coastal waters; (2) vertical mixing of water mass and phytoplankton distribution; and (3) local-scale tidal front as well as phytoplankton blooms alongthe tidal front.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.126-134
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• 2001

Several angular sandstone fragments (about 7 cm in longest diameter) occur in two piston cores, obtained from the submarine trough in the northeastern part of Korea Strait. The origin of the sandstone fragments and the paleoenvironment of trough sediment could be suggested from sedimentary facies analysis of cores and identification of ostracod within sandstone fragments. Echo characteristics around two core sites in submarine trough represent the prolonged bottom echoes with diffuse or no subbottom reflectors. The cores consist of a lower bioturbated mud and an upper gravelly sand sediments with sandstone/shell fragments. The bioturbated mud sediments show low water contents (27-44%) and high shear strength (19.2->37 kPa) compared with those of Holocene sediments (60-219% and 1.0-2.7 kPa, respectively) in the inner shelf and continental slope. However, clay contents (48-56%) of the bioturbated mud sediments are similar to those of fluviatile Holocene sediments in the inner shelf. The mean grain size of gravelly sand sediments ranges from 2.3 to 3.0 ${\phi}$ and shows coarsening upward with sandstone/shell fragments. The Holocene palimpsest in the continental shelf are composed of muddy sand sediments or sandy mud sediments (mean grain size: 4.6-7.6 ${\phi}$). Those suggest that two core sediments might be formed from Paleofluvial and paleocoastal deposits during sea-level lowstand. However, sandstone fragments mainly consist of quartz grains and bioclasts, with carbonate matrix, hollow pore, and glauconite. Two extinct ostracod species, Normanicythere sp. and Kotoracythere sp., are recovered in the sand-stone fragments of core EP-7, and they continued to exist from late Pliocene to early Pleistocene in cold water environment of this area. Thus, the sandstone fragments are interpreted to be formed at the paleocoastal environment derived from the Plio-Pleistocene outcrops exposed around the submarine trough during the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum) period.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 1993

The monthly mean sea levels at 48 stations located at the East and Yellow Seas coasts of Korea, Russia and Japan are processed to investigate seasonal sea level variations. The strong seasonal variations are found to be at the west coast of Korea (42.1 cm in Kunsan), in the region of the Korea strait and near the southern part of Primorye (30-33 cm); the weak ones near the southwestern coast of the Sakhalin Island (10-12 cm). Practically for the whole study area except the southwest Sakhalin, the general picture of the seasonal sea level changes is alike: the mean sea level rises in summer-autumn and falls in winter-spring. The spectral analysis of the records also shows that the seasonal oscillations strongly dominate in the sea level variations, more than 80% or total energy in the southern part of the investigated region and 50-70% in the northern part relate to these oscillations. The annal peak significantly prevails in spectra of the monthly sea levels for the majority of stations, the semiannual peak is also well manifested, but the seasonal peaks of higher order (corresponding to the periods of four and three months) reveal only at some records. The maximal amplitudes of annual component by a least square method are found at the Yellow Sea coast of Korea (20-21 cm) and also near the Japanese coast of the korea Strait (19-19 cm). The semiannual component has the maximal amplitudes (3-4 cm) near the south and southwestern coasts of the Sakhalin Island. The annual range of the sea levels is much weaker here than in the other regions, the relative investment of the seasonal oscillations in total energetic budget is only 35-40%, annual ($A_1$) and semiannual ($A_2$) components have nearly the same amplitude (seasonal factor $F=A_1/A_2=0.9-1.2$). On the basis of the present examination on sea level changes together with the results of Tomizawa et. al.(1984) the whole investigated area may be divided into 10 subregions, 2 of them are related to the Yellow Sea and Western part of the Korea Strait (Y1, Y2), the other ones (E1-E8) to the East Sea.