• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.50 no.6
• /
• pp.517-523
• /
• 2017

A linear relationship between two stable water isotopes, oxygen and hydrogen, has been used to understand the water cycle as a basic tool. A slope and intercept from the linear relationship indicates what kind of physical processes occur during movement of water. Traditionally, ordinary least squares (OLS) method has been utilized for the linear relationship, but total least squares (TLS) method provides more accurate slope and intercept theoretically because isotopic compositions of both oxygen and hydrogen have uncertainties. In this work, OLS and TLS were compared with isotopic compositions of snow and snowmelt collected from the King Sejong Station, Antarctica and isotopic compositions of water vapor observed by Lee et al. (2013) in the western part of Korea. The slopes from the linear relationship of isotopic compositions of snow and snowmelt at the King Sejong Station were estimated to be 7.00 (OLS) and 7.16(TLS) and the slopes of stable water vapor isotopes were 7.75(OLS) and 7.87(TLS). There was a melting process in the snow near the King Sejong Station and the water vapor was directly transported from the ocean to the study area based on the slope calculations. There is no significant difference in two slopes to interpret the physical processes. However, it is necessary to evaluate the slope differences from the two methods for studies for example, groundwater recharge processes, using the absolute slope values.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.285-294
• /
• 2002

The origin of nitrate in confined groundwater was studied using oxygen ($\delta$180), hydrogen ($\delta$D), and nitrogen ($\delta$15N) stable isotopes, along with chemical data of NO3-N. We analyzed groundwaters from more than sixty manufactories producing natural mineral waters around the country During the period of 1998-2001, an average value of nitrate was fair]y low (0.95 mg/$\ell$), however, groundwaters from six sites showed more than 2 mg/$\ell$ of nitrate. The stable isotope data of the groundwaters are -8.3~-11 $\textperthousand$ $\delta$8O, -60~-75 $\textperthousand$ $\delta$D, which lies in an average range of the groundwaters. The nitrogen isotope data with -11.8~-5.1$\textperthousand$ $\delta$15N suggest that manure, organic nitrate, and fertilizers can not be the origin of nitrate in the goundwaters.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.107-118
• /
• 2019

Two assertions about the process the formation of the high-purity limestone in the Taebaeksan Basin, categorized into syngenetic and epigenetic origin, are verified on the basis of its oxygen-carbon stable isotopic characteristics. The carbonate rocks sampled from the selective six high-purity limestone mines and several outcrops in the Daegi formation are featured by various colors such as the gray, light gray and dark gray. They show a wide range of oxygen stable isotope ratios (4.5 ~ 21.6 ‰), but a narrow range of carbon stable isotope ratios (-1.1 ~ 0.8 ‰, except for vein calcite), which means that they had not experienced strong hydrothermal alteration. In addition, there is no difference in the range of the oxygen stable isotope ratios by mine and color, and it is similar to the range from surrounding outcrop samples. These results indicate that the effect of the hydrothermal alteration were negligible in the generation of high-purity limestone in deposit scale. Whereas, the carbonate rocks can be divided texturally into two groups on the basis of an oxygen isotope ratio; the massive-textured or well-layered samples (>15 ‰), and the layer-disturbed (or layer-destructed) and showing over two colors in one sample (<15 ‰). In the multi-colored samples, the bright parts are characterized by the very low oxygen stable isotope ratios, compared to the dark parts, implying the increase in brightness of the carbonate rocks could be induced by the interaction between hydrothermal fluid and rock. However, these can be applied in a small scale such as one sample and are not suitable for interpretation of the generation of high-purity limestone as a deposit scale. In particular, the high oxygen isotope ratios from the recrystallized white limestone suggest that hydrothermal fluids are also rarely involved during recrystallization process. In addition, the occurrences of the high-purity limestone orebody strongly support the high-purity limestone in the area are syngenetic rather than epigenetic; the high-purity limestone layers in the area show continuous and almost horizontal shapes, and is intercalated between dolomite layers. Consequently, the overall reinterpretation based on the sequential stratigraphy over the Taebaeksan basin would play an important role to find additional reserves of the high-purity limestone.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2004.04a
• /
• pp.417-420
• /
• 2004

이 연구는 안정동위원소를 이용하여 제주도 한림 지역의 지하수 환경 및 오염 특성을 규명하고자 시행되었다. 이를 위해 2002년 8월, 11월과 2003년 4월, 8월 네 차례에 걸쳐 39개 지점에서 지하수 및 용천수 시료를 채취하였다. 연구지역은 농촌지역의 대표적 오염특성인 질산성 질소의 오염이 심각하게 나타났으며, 고도 100m 내외에서 급증하는 특성을 보인다. 특히, 집중 강수가 있었던 8월에는 이러한 현상이 심화되었다. 질소 동위원소를 이용한 오염원 추정 결과, 대부분 화학비료의 영향으로 나타났으며, 이는 토지 이용 특성과 일치한다. 강수의 산소ㆍ수소 동위원소 조성은 '우량효과'를 반영하였으며, 지하수 시료들의 경우 함양에서 배출까지 순환이 매우 빠른 지하수 환경을 나타낸다.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.48 no.5
• /
• pp.371-377
• /
• 2015

Isotopic compositions of precipitation have been used to understand moisture transport in the atmosphere and interactions between precipitation and groundwater. Isotopic compositions of speleothems and ice cores, so called, ''paleoarchives'', can be utilized to interpret climate of the past and global circulation models (GCMs). The GCMs are able to explain the paleoarchives, can be validated by the precipitation isotopes. The developments of stable isotope analyzers make high-resolution isotopic studies feasible. Therefore, a high-resolution study of precipitation isotopes is needed. For this study, precipitation samples were collected for every 5 to 15 minutes, depending on precipitation rates, using an auto-sampler for precipitation isotopes near coastal area. The isotopic compositions of precipitation range from -5.7‰ (-40.1‰) to -10.8‰ (-74.3‰) for oxygen (hydrogen). The slope of ${\delta}^{18}O-{\delta}D$ diagram for the whole period is 6.8, but that of each storm is 5.1, 4.2, 7.9 and 7.7, respectively. It indicates that evaporation occurred during the first two storms, while the latter two storm did not experience any evaporation. The isotopic fractionations of precipitation has significant implications for the water cycle and high-resolution data of precipitation isotopes will be needed for the future studies.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.348-353
• /
• 2008

Oxygen isotope has not been used actively in water mass studies because of difficulties on the analysis though it has advantages as a water mass tracer. The most popular method to analysis the oxygen isotope ratio in water samples is equilibration method: isotopic equilibrium of water with $CO_2$ at constant temperature. The precision of oxygen isotope analysis using commercial automatic $H_2O/CO_2$ equilibrator is ${\pm}0.1%o$. This value is not sufficient for studies in open ocean. The object of this study is to improve the analytical precision enough to apply open ocean studies by modification of the instrument. When sample gas is transferred by the pressure difference, the fractionation which is preferential transportation of light isotope can be occurred since the long transportation path between the equilibrator and mass spectrometer. And the The biggest source of error during the analysis is long distance and large volume of the pathway of sample gas between. Therefore, liquid nitrogen trap and high vacuum system are introduced to the system. The precisions of 14 time analysis of same seawater sample are ${\pm}0.081%o$ and ${\pm}0.021%o$ by built-in system and by modified system in this study, respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.105-120
• /
• 2016

Most of riverside in Korea, in case of application of water curtain cultivation (WCC) technique, has been inveterately suffering from the gradual drawdown of groundwater level and related shortage of water resources during the WCC peak time. We believe that the water resources issue in these riverside areas can be effectively solved when the interaction between groundwater and nearby surface water is well understood. To investigate the connection between stream and ground water, and the influence of stream water on the nearby aquifer, this study examined the water temperature and oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopic compositions. The study area is well-known strawberry field applying the WCC technique in Sangdae-ri, Gadeok-myon, Cheongju City, and the sampling was done from February 2012 through June 2014 for stream and ground water. Some groundwater wells near stream showed big temporal variations in water temperature, and their oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes showed similar compositions to those of adjacent stream water. This indicates that the influence of stream water is highly reflected in the stable isotopic composition of groundwater. Four cross-sectional lines from stream to hillside were established in the study area to determine the spatial differences in water quality of wells. At the late stage of WCC in February to March, groundwater of wells in line with short cross-sectional length showed the narrow range of isotopic compositions; however, those in the long cross-sectional line showed a wide compositional range. It was shown that the influence of the stream water at the late WCC stage have reached to the distance of 160 to 165 m from stream line, which is equivalent to the whole length and one-third point in each short and long cross-sectional line, respectively. Therefore, the wide compositional range in the long cross-sectional lines was not only due to the influence of stream water, but apparently resulted from the change of relative impact of each groundwater supplying from two or more aquifers. In view of stable isotopic compositions, there seems to be three different aquifers in this study area, which is competing for dominance of water quality in wells at each period of WCC.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.53-69
• /
• 2000

To reveal the origin of the Chuncheon nephrite deposit, radiogenic isotopes of Sr and Pb, stable isotopes of 0 and H, and rare earth elements concentrations were analyzed. Such geochemical data were integrated to track the stepwise changes during the various ore formation stages. All the samples from the nephrite deposit have significantly low 0 isotopic ratios compared with the marble from which they had been formed, which reflects the very important role of the crustal circulating water with low 6180 and 6D in every stage of ore formation. There were progressive decrease of 6180 and 6D during the genesis of Chuncheon nephrite deposit. Newly formed minerals during the ore formation reveal disequilibrium with existing minerals in the respect of 0 isotope, which suggests that the ore-forming fluid of circulating water origin was involved with significant water-rock ratios in every step of ore formation process. The ore samples have Sr and Pb isotopic ratios similar to the values of Kyeonggi gneiss complex within which the deposit is located, which also suggests the important role of crustal circulating water in the genesis of the deposit. In conclusion, all the geochemical data support that major portion of the ore-forming fluid of Chuncheon nephrite deposit was derived ultimately from the surface water of meteoric origin. The meteoric water supplied Sr and Pb through leaching the rocks surrounding the ore deposits.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.214-223
• /
• 2004

Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions of the Jurassic peraluminous Hwacheon granite were measured, and compared with those of other Jurassic peraluminous Daebo granite in Korea. $\delta$$\^$18/O values for quartz and feldspar of the Hwacheon granite range from 8.2 to 10.6 and 5.8 to 9.0$\textperthousand$, respectively. Whole rock $\delta$$\^$18/O values for banded biotite gneiss country rocks surrounding the Hwacheon granites range from 8.1 to 9.4$\textperthousand$. Whole rock and biotite $\delta$D Values for Hwacheon granite range from -84 to -113 and -107 to -113$\textperthousand$, respectively. Whole rock $\delta$D values for banded biotite gneiss country rocks range from -76 to -100$\textperthousand$. Both $\delta$$\^$18/O and $\delta$D values of the Hwacheon granite are characterized by low values compared to the 'normal' values for the fresh peraluminous granitic rocks. Low $\delta$$\^$18/O values of the Hwacheon granite resulted from fluid-rock interaction for a long period. Isotopic modelling result renders that a relatively low-$\delta$$\^$18/O fluid below -1$\textperthousand$ was involved in subsolidus isotopic exchange under a relatively high fluid/rock ratio (<-6). The fluid of meteoric origin has experienced a modification of oxygen isotopic composition as a result of fluid-rock interaction with the Hwacheon granite and surrounding metapelitic country rocks.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.355-363
• /
• 2023

In this study, we explore the nature of clumped isotopes of H₂O molecule using quantum chemical calculations. Particularly, we estimated the relative clumping strength between diverse isotopologues, consisting of oxygen (¹⁶O, ¹⁷O, and ¹⁸O) and hydrogen (hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium) isotopes and quantify the effect of temperature on the extent of isotope clumping. The optimized equilibrium bond lengths and the bond angles of the molecules are 0.9631-0.9633 Å and 104.59-104.62°, respectively, and show a negligible variation among the isotopologues. The calculated frequencies of the modes of H₂O molecules decrease as isotope mass number increases, and show a more prominent change with varying hydrogen isotopes over those with oxygen isotopes. The equilibrium constants of isotope substitution reactions involving these isotopologues reveal a greater effect of hydrogen mass number than oxygen mass number. The calculated equilibrium constants of clumping reaction for four heavy isotopologues showed a strong correlation; particularly, the relative clumping strength of three isotopologues was 1.86 times (HT¹⁸O), 1.16 times (HT¹⁷O), and 0.703 times (HD¹⁷O) relative to HD¹⁸O, respectively. The relative clumping strength decreases with increasing temperature, and therefore, has potential for a novel paleo-temperature proxy. The current calculation results highlight the first theoretical study to establish the nature of clumped isotope fractions in H₂O including ¹⁷O and tritium. The current results help to account for diverse geochemical processes in earth's surface environments. Future efforts include the calculations of isotope fractionations among various phases of H₂O isotopologues with a full consideration of the effect of anharmonicity in molecular vibration.