• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.164-175
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• 2011

Using natural electromagnetic (EM) fields at low frequencies, magnetotelluric (MT) surveys can investigate conductivity structures of the deep subsurface and thus are used to explore geothermal energy resources and investigate proper sites for not only geological $CO_2$ sequestration but also enhanced geothermal system (EGS). Moreover, marine MT data can be used for better interpretation of marine controlled-source EM data. In the interpretation of MT data, MT modeling schemes are important. This study improves a three dimensional (3D) MT modeling algorithm which uses edge finite elements. The algorithm computes magnetic fields by solving an integral form of Faraday's law of induction based on a finite difference (FD) strategy. However, the FD strategy limits the algorithm in computing vertical magnetic fields for a topographic model. The improved algorithm solves the differential form of Faraday's law of induction by making derivatives of electric fields, which are represented as a sum of basis functions multiplied by corresponding weightings. In numerical tests, vertical magnetic fields for topographic models using the improved algorithm overcome the limitation of the old algorithm. This study recomputes induction vectors and tippers for a 3D hill and valley model which were used for computation of the responses using the old algorithm.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.259-264
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• 2006

In MT and GDS survey for probing the deep structure of the Earth, surrounding seas play a critical role to distort the response of in-land geological structure. This study analyzed the sea effect in the Korean Peninsula and investigated the spatial and frequency dependency of it using 2-D MT modeling. Due to conductance difference between the Yellow Sea and the East Sea, the effect of each sea shows the dependence on frequency and spatial distance from each coastline. In general, TM mode responses are more severely affected by surrounding sea than TE mode one and the differences between 1-D model and TM mode responses are in inverse proportion to the frequency. Assuming that the lowest limit of acquired frequency is 0.001Hz for the given 1-D structure, the separation distance, where the sea effect can be negligible, is approximately 100km for the East Sea and 40-50km for the Yellow Sea, respectively. But, this separation distance is a function of the 1-D electrical structure of subsurface and the used frequency.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.268-277
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• 2009

Recently as the interest in the development of domestic ore deposits has increased, we can easily find some studies on exploration geophysics-based ore deposit survey in literature. Geophysical surveys have been applied to the investigation of both metallic and non-metallic ore deposit. For metallic ore-deposit survey, the 2D electrical resistivity method has been popularly used, because metallic mineral deposits are generally more conductive than surrounding media. However, geological structures are 3D rather than 2D structures, which may lead to misinterpretation in 2D inversion section. In this study, 3D effects are examined for several 3D structures such as a width-varying dyke model and a wedge-shaped model. We also investigate the effects of the direction of survey line. Numerical results show that the width-varying dyke model yields some low resistivity zone in the deep part, which is independent of real ore-body location. For the wedge-shaped model, even though the survey line is located apart from the ore body, the 2D inversion section still shows low resistivity zone in the deep part. When the survey line is not perpendicular to the strike of the ore body, the low resistivity zone is slightly broader but shallower than that obtained along the survey line perpendicular to the strike. For the survey lines that have an angle smaller than $45^{\circ}$ with the strike of the ore body, the inversion results are totally distorted. From these results, we conclude that 2-D survey and interpretation can lead to misinterpretation of subsurface structures, which may be linked to economical loss. Eventually, we recommend to apply 3-D rather than 2-D electrical resistivity survey for ore-deposit survey.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2011

A multi-channel seismic reflection (MCS) survey was conducted in 2009 to explore the deep crustal structure of the Pacific Plate south of Hokkaido. The survey line happened to traverse a 250-km-wide Warm Core Ring (WCR), a current eddy that had been generated by the Kuroshio Extension. We attempted to use these MCS data to delineate the WCR fine structure. The survey line consists of two profiles: one with a shot interval of 200m and the other with a shot interval of 50 m. Records from the denser shot point line show much higher background noise than the records from the sparser shot point line. We identified the origin of this noise as acoustic reverberations between the sea surface, seafloor and subsurface discontinuities, from previous shots. Results showed that a prestack migration technique could enhance the signal buried in this background noise efficiently, if the sound speed information acquired from concurrent temperature measurements is available. The WCR is acoustically an assemblage of concave reflectors dipping inward, with steeper slopes (${\sim}2^{\circ}$) on th ocean side and gentler slopes (${\sim}1^{\circ}$) on the coastal side. Within the WCR, we recognised a 30-km-wide lens-shaped structure with reflectors on the perimeter.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.691-697
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• 2005

Recently, the development of accurate gravity-meter and GPS make it possible to obtain high resolution gravity data. Though gravity data interpretation like modeling and inversion has significantly improved, gravity data processing itself has improved very little. Conventional gravity data processing removes gravity effects due to mass and height difference between base and measurement level. But, it would be a biased density model when some or whole part of anomalous bodies exist above the base level. We attempted to make a multiquadric surface of the survey area from topography with DEM (Digital Elevation Map) data. Then we constituted rectangular blocks which reflect real topography of the survey area by the multiquadric surface. Thus, we were able to carry out 3-D inversions which include information of topography. We named this technique, 3-D Gravity Terrain Inversion (3DGTI). The model test showed that the inversion model from 3DGTI made better results than conventional methods. Furthermore, the 3-dimensional model from the 3DGTI method could maintain topography and as a result, it showed more realistic geologic model. This method was also applied on real field data in Masan-Changwon area. Granitic intrusion is an important geologic characteristic in this area. This method showed more critical geological boundaries than other conventional methods. Therefore, we concluded that in the case of various rocks and rugged terrain, this new method will make better model than convention ones.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 2020

The acquisition and processing of long-offset data are essential for imaging deep geological structures in marine seismic surveys. It is challenging to derive an accurate subsurface image by employing conventional data processing to long-offset data owing to the normal moveout (NMO) stretch and non-hyperbolic moveout phenomena induced by seismic anisotropy. In 2017, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources conducted a simultaneous two-dimensional multichannel streamer and ocean-bottom seismic survey using a 5.7-km streamer and an ocean-bottom seismometer to identify the deep geological structure of the Ulleung Basin. Herein, the actual geological subsurface structure was obtained via the sequential iterative updating of the velocity and anisotropic parameters of the long-offset data obtained using a multichannel streamer, and anisotropic prestack Kirchhoff migration was performed using the updated velocity and anisotropic parameters as input parameters. As a result, the reflection energy in the long-offset traces, which showed non-hyperbolic moveout owing to seismic anisotropy, was well aligned horizontally and NMO stretches were also reduced. Thus, a more precise and accurate migrated image was obtained, minimizing the distortion of reflectors and mispositioned reflection energy.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.161-167
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• 1999

Electric and electromagnetic surveys were conducted to investigate the deep structure of the Ulsan fault in Ipsil area, south of Kyeongju. On this study, especially high-frequency magnetotelluric method of electromagnetic survey in the frequency range of 10~100,000 Hz was mainly employed to study the deep subsurface configuration. High-frequency MT survey was performed at 70 points of spacing 30~50 m, making 3.8 km survey line. As a survey result, a 2-km-depth 2-D cross-section was achieved. It shows vertical and horizontal subsurface variations of resistivity values. Near-surface layer having low resistivity value becomes thicker eastward up to 800m. There is a steep low resistivity zone in the west side of survey line, and there exists two low resistivity zones dipping west in the east side of survey line. Two low resistivity zones are interpreted to be related to major movement pattern of the Ulsan fault. This suggests that major fault lines are developed on both peripheral sides of the broad fault zone.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.250-262
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• 2008

In order to assess the feasibility of the dipole-dipole electric method to the investigation of metallic ore deposit, both field data simulation and inversion are carried out for several simplified ore deposit models. Our interest is in a vein-type model, because most of the ore deposits (more than 70%) exist in a vein type in Korea. Based on the fact that the width of the vein-type ore deposits ranges from tens of centimeters to 2m, we change the width and the material property of the vein, and we use 40m-electrode spacing for our test. For the vein-type model with too small width, the low resistivity zone is not detected, even though the resistivity of the vein amounts to 1/300 of that of the surrounding rock. Considering a wide electrode interval and cell size used in the inversion, it is natural that the size of the low resistivity zone is overestimated. We also perform field data simulation and inversion for a vein-type model with surrounding hydrothermal alteration zones, which is a typical structure in an epithermal ore deposits. In the model, the material properties are assumed on the basis of resistivity values directly observed in a mine originated from an epithermal ore deposits. From this simulation, we can also note that the high resistivity value of the vein does not affect the results when the width of the vein is narrow. This indicates that our main target should be surrounding hydrothermal alteration zones rather than veins in field survey. From these results, we can summarize that when the vein is placed at the deep part and the difference of resistivity values between the vein and the surrounding rock is not large enough, we cannot detect low resistivity zone and interpret the subsurface structures incorrectly using the electric method performed at the surface. Although this work is a little simple, it can be used as references for field survey design and field data Interpretation. If we perform field data simulation and inversion for a number of models and provide some references, they will be helpful in real field survey and interpretation.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2004

Hydrochemical characteristics of deep groundwater at Surak-ri, Nonsan-gun, Chungnam Province was explained by major ion concentration, water type, and phase stability diagram. The area is composed of meta-sedimentary rock and quartz pophyry. The 5 boreholes where deep groundwater was sampled and analyzed are located on the meta-sedimentary rocks and drilling depth range of the wells is from 554 m to 928 m. pH, TDS, Na, and SiO2 values are high in the groundwater from meta-sedimentary area intruded by quartz pophyry, while Ca is high in the groundwater from meta-sedimentary area. K and Mg concentrations are low but F concentration is high both groundwater. The content of major anions is in the order of CO3(HCO3)>Cl>SO4(F) in both geology, while that of major cations shows the order of Na>Ca>K(Mg) in meta-sedimentary area intruded by quartz porphyry and a>Na>Mg>Na in meta-sedimentary area. Based on the phase equilibrium in the systems Na2O-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O and K2O-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O, the groundwater is saturated with respect to Quartz and more evolved compared with the natural mineral water. It is concluded that chemical evolution in the groundwater from meta-sedimentary area intruded by quartz porphyry, is nearly saturated with respect to feldspar, while the groundwater from meta-sedimentary area continue to proceed with increasing pH by reaction of feldspar.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.286-301
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• 2008

When magnetotelluric (MT) data are obtained in vicinity of the coast, the sea can distort observed MT responses, especially those of deep part of subsurface. We introduce an iterative method to correct the sea effect, based on the previous topographic correction method which removes the distortions due to topographic changes in seafloor MT data. The method first corrects the sea effect in observed MT impedance, and then inverts corrected responses in a model space without the sea. Due to mutual coupling between sea and subsurface structure, the correction and inversion steps are iterated until changes in each result become negligible. The method is validated for 1-D and 2-D structure using synthetic MT data produced by 3-D forward modeling including surrounding seas. In all cases, the method closely recovers the given structure after a few iterations. To test the applicability of the proposed method to field data, we generate synthetic MT data for the Jeju Island whose 1-D conductivity structure is well known, using 3-D forward modeling. The distortions due to the surrounding sea start to appear below the frequency about 1 Hz, and are relatively severe in the electrical field perpendicular to the coastline because of the location of the observation sites. The proposed method successfully eliminates the sea effect after three iterations, and both 1-D and 2-D inversion of corrected responses closely recover the given subsurface structure of the Jeju Island model.