• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5-16
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• 2012

The second scientific antarctic station of South Korea is under construction at Terra Nova Bay located in eastern Antarctica. Ground condition in the Antarctica is frozen in general, but there are seasonal frozen grounds with active layers sporadically. When the active layer is frozen, frost heaving occurs that might cause the differential movement of frozen ground and the failure of structures. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the frost heaving susceptibility of soils at Terra Nova Bay before starting antarctic station construction. This study presents experimental investigation of the frost heaving susceptibility of soil samples with variation of particle sizes and unfrozen water contents. The soil samples were taken from five different locations at Terra Nova Bay and physical properties, unfrozen water content, and frost heaving tests were performed. For the frost heaving tests, soil specimens were frozen with constant freezing temperatures at the top and with drainage at the bottom in order to stimulate the frost heaving. The frost heaving tests provide volume expansion, volumetric strain, and heaving rate which can be used to analyze the relationship between the frost heaving vs. particle size and the frost heaving vs. unfrozen water content. Experimental results show that the more the fine contents exist in soils, the more frost heaving occurs. In addition, the frost heaving depends on unfrozen water content. Experimental data can be used to evaluate the frost heaving susceptibility of soils at the future construction site in the Antarctica.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.15-24
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• 2009

Korea is known to have seasonal frost during winter and the effect of low temperatures and water may cause a weakening of pavements. For that reason, frost protection layers have been constructed in pavements to avoid damage caused by frost action. The practies established in USA and Japan have been adopted as anti-frost design methods in Korea. However, the characteristics of Korean soils are different. Additionally, there is no formulation of a reasonable equation for frost penetration depth and the criterion to identify potentially frost-susceptible soils in present pavement design manuals in Korea. Therefore, adequate pavement design procedures in seasonal frost areas, as well as construction and maintenance practices are required. In this paper, frost penetration depths along national roads in Korea were measured and analyzed over several years. The frost penetration depth was analyzed with respect to the provinces of Korea and sunny/ shaded areas. Additionally, measurement results were compared to the formula of the US Army Corps of Engineers and Ifukube in Japan.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.7 no.1_2 s.8
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• pp.19-27
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• 1999

Korea, an energy-resources-poor country, imports $100{\%}$ of its, oil and, natural gas supply, which accounts for the greater part of its total primary requirements. One of the important task of the government is diversification of available energy resources such as oil and natural gas. Natural gas hydrate, which is non-conventional types of natural gas, distributes worldwide, especially in marine and permafrost. It would become a target of natural gas resources in the near future. Especially sigrificant amount of hydrates are expected to be located in the East Sea around Korea Peninsular. This paper describes about a multi-year overall project framework of basic research and technological development of natural gas hydrate in Korea focused on the interpretation of the seismic survey, the characteristics and physical properties of the natural gas hydrate, and the utilizable technology of natural gas hydrates from the status of research and development of the world.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.13-23
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• 2013

The Korean Peninsula is considered as a seasonal frozen area that is thawed in the spring and frozen in the winter. The influence of fines of the frost susceptibility of subgrade soils were established by laboratory freezing tests simulating closely the thermal conditions in the field. During the winter season, the climate is heavily influenced by the cold and dry continental high pressure. Because of siberian air mass, the temperature of January is $-6{\sim}-7^{\circ}C$ on average. This chilly weather generate the frost heaving by freezing the moisture of soil and damage potential of the geotechnical structure. In the freezing soil, the ice lenses increase the freeze portion of soil by absorbing the ground water with capillary action. However, the capillary characteristics differ from the sort of soil on the state of freezing condition. In this study, ten soil samples are prepared. The basic physical property tests were performed by following the Korean Industrial Standard and the soil specimens were classified by the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS). These classified soils are used to perform the laboratory opened systems freezing test in order to determine the frost heaving characteristics of soils such as unfrozen water content, heaving amount, and freezing depth.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.213-224
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• 2016

Non-conventional resource and alternative energy were researched for predicting oil peak. In this study, one of many non-conventional resources, specifically oil-sands, was investigated due to the increasing interest of oil-sands plant modularization in permaforst areas for reducing the construction periods through modular transportation while limiting local construction workers. Hence, tehcnological trends were analyzed for oil-sand plant modularization. Data used were between 1994 and 2015 for patent analysis while targets included Korea, US, Japan, Europe and Canada. Technology classification system consisted of mining, steam assisted gravity drainage(SAGD), separation/upgrading/tailors ponds, module design/packaging, module transportation and material/maintenance. Result of patent analysis, patent application accounts 89% in US and Canada. The main competitive companies were Shell, Suncor and Exxon-mobil. Unlike other oil developments, oil-sands have a long-term stable production characteristic, hence, it is important to ensure the competitiveness of oil-sands for obtaining a patent in the long run.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.2372-2387
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• 1971

1. Being seen at the table (20), the number of days which monthy average air temperatures are three degrees of Celsius thermometer($3^{\circ}C$) or more, is the highest marks to be 365 days at Cheju, secondly, 334 days at Pusan, and, Ulsan, Pohang, Mokpo,Yosu and Ullung-Do which all are coastal region are all 306 days, besides, all north area of Taegu and Kwang ju have 275 days consquently, there are 90 days, differance between maximum and minimum. 2. Being seen at the table(22), freezing dates to be influenced upon earth works are obtained, if (1) item is subtracted from 365 days one year. 3. Being seen at the table(18), number of rainy days of which records are 1 millimeter and over to be influenced upon earth through works, days which monthly average air temperatures are $3^{\circ}$ or more, is the maximum to be 100 days at Cheju and its minimum is 60 days at Taegu. Every other region show 70 days or so. But Ullung-Do is 90 days. 4. Being seen at the table (26), the numbers of annual earth works possibility days(4) are obtained, if the values (3) which number of rainy days more than 1 millimeter during the same period are multiplied by 1.27(coefficient of hindrance to earth works) are subtracted from the number of days which monthly average air temperatures $3^{\circ}$ or more [(1)-(3)=(4)]. 5. The number of annual earth works possibility days by regional groups is the maximum to be 242 days at Pusan, and Cheju are 239 days. Other regions are from 218 days to 181 days, namely, they are about 200 days.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.727-736
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• 2022

Ice wedges are subsurface ice mass structures that formed mainly by freezing precipitation with airborne dust and surrounding soil particles flowed through the active layer into the cracks growing by repeating thermal contractions in the deeper permafrost layer over time. These ice masses characteristically contain high concentrations of solutes and solids. Because of their unique properties and distribution, the possibility of harnessing ice wedges as an alternative archive for reconstructing paleoclimate and paleoenvironment has been recently suggested despite limited studies. It is imperative to preserve the physicochemical properties of the ice wedge (e.g., solute concentration, mineral particles) without any potential alteration to use it as a proxy for reconstructing the paleo-information. Thawing the ice wedge samples is prerequisite for the assessment of their physicochemical properties, during which the paleo-information could be unintentionally altered by any methodological artifact. This study examined the effect of thawing conditions and procedures on the physicochemical properties of solutes and solid particles in ice wedge samples collected from Cyuie, East Siberia. Four different thawing conditions with varying temperatures (4 and 23℃) and oxygen exposures (oxic and anoxic) for the ice wedge sample treatment were examined. Ice wedge samples thawed at 4℃ under anoxic conditions, wherein biological activity and oxidation were kept to a minimum, were set as the standard thawing conditions to which the effects of temperature and oxygen were compared. The results indicate that temperature and oxygen exposure have negligible effects on the physicochemical characteristics of the solid particles. However, the chemical features of the solution (e.g., pH, electric conductivity, alkalinity, and concentration of major cations and trace elements) at 4℃ under oxic conditions were considerably altered, compared to those measured under the standard thawing conditions. This study shows that the thawing condition of ice wedge samples can affect their chemical features and thereby the geochemical information therein for the reconstruction of the paleoclimate and/or paleoenvironment.