• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.545-554
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• 2017

Birnessite is one of the dominant Mn (oxyhydr)oxide phases commonly found in soil and deep ocean environments. It typically occurs as nano-sized and poorly crystalline aggregates in the natural environment. It is well known that birnessite participates in a wide variety of bio/geochemical reactions as a reactive mineral phase with structural defects, cation vacancies, and mixed valences of structural Mn. These various bio/geochemical reactions control not only the fate and transport of inorganic and organic substances in the environment, but also the formation of diverse Mn (oxyhydr)oxides through birnessite transformation. This review assessed and discussed about the phase transformation of birnessite under a wide range of environmental conditions and about the potential geochemical factors controlling the corresponding reactions in the literature. Birnessite transformation to other types of Mn (oxyhydr)oxides were affected by dissolved Mn(II), dissolved oxygen, solution pH, and co-existing cation (i.e., $Mg^{2+}$). However, there still have been many issues to be unraveled on the complex bio/geochemical processes involved in the phase transformation of birnessite. Future work on the detail mechanisms of birnessite transformation should be further investigated.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.139-147
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• 2006

We had conducted a numerical modeling to investigate seismic properties of gas hydrate with field parameters acquired over the East sea in 1998. We used a 2-D staggered grid finite difference method to generate synthetic elastic seismograms for multi-channel seismic survey, OBC (Ocean Bottom Cable) survey and VCS (Vertical Cable Seismic) survey. The results of this study showed that the method using staggered grid yielded stable results and could be used to seismic imaging. We could find out the high amplitude anomaly and the phase reversal phenomenon of reflection wave at interface between the gas hydrate layer and free gas layer such a BSR (Bottom Simulating Reflector) which is the evidence for existence of gas hydrate in seismic reflection data. And we computed the reflection coefficients at the incident angles corresponding to offset distance with the synthetic seismograms. The reflection coefficients acquired from the numerical modeling were nearly consistent with the reflection coefficient computed by Shuey's equation.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.195-203
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• 2010

This paper concerns about total dynamic analysis of integrated mining system. This system consists of vertical steel pipe, intermediate buffer station, flexible pipe and self-propelled miner. The self-propelled miner and buffer are assumed as rigid-body of 6-dof. Discrete models of vertical steel pipe and flexible pipe are adopted, which are obtained by means of lumped-parameter method. The motion of mining vessel is not considered. Instead, the motion of mining vessel is taken into account in form of various boundary conditions (e.g. forced excitation in slow motion and/or fast oscillation and so on). A terramechanics model of extremely cohesive soft soil is applied to the self-propelled miner. Hinged and ball constraints are used to define the connections between sub-systems (vertical steel pipe, buffer, flexible pipe, self-propelled miner). Equations of motion of the coupled model are derived with respect to the each local coordinates system. Four Euler parameters are used to express the orientations of the sub-systems. To solve the equations of motion of the total dynamic model, an incremental-iterative formulation is employed. Newmark-${\beta}$ method is used for time-domain integration. The total dynamic responses of integrated mining system are investigated.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.169-181
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to develop geochemical tracers to identify a specific source desert of mineral dust in China using the published data. In addition, we tested the applicability of these tracers to wet-deposits and soil samples collected in Jeju, Korea. Because of similarity in trace elemental compositions of mineral dust from the major arid regions in China, such as Taklimakan, West Ordos (Badain Jaran), East Ordos (Mu Us and Hobq), East Northern China (Horqin), West Northern China (Gurbantunggut), and Chinese Loess Plateau, there has been limited to the use of geochemical data for source identification. Here we propose the four (4) plots using combination of seven (7) geochemical variables as a source indicator to distinguish one from other source regions in China: $\frac{Y}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\frac{Th}{{\Sigma}REE_N}$, $\(\frac{La}{Gd}\)_N$ vs. $\frac{Y}{{\Sigma}REE_N}$, $\frac{Th}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\frac{Y}{Nd_N}$, and $\frac{Th}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\(\frac{Ce}{Ce}\)_N^*$, where $_N$ and $\(\frac{Ce}{Ce}\)_N^*$ stand for values normalized to Post-Archean Average Shale composition and Ce anomaly, respectively. Mineral dusts from aforementioned six major deserts are distinguished one from the others by the combined use of these variables. Jeju rock and soil samples form a separate domain from Chinese mineral dusts in all four plots. In contrast, most of Jeju dust samples were comparable with the West Ordos desert (Badain Jaran) domain, indicative of strong influence of Badain Jaran dust in Jeju in spring season when the mineral dust was collected. A weak positive Ce anomaly in Jeju samples implies minimal local contribution. Our study suggests that the combination of $\frac{Y}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\frac{Th}{{\Sigma}REE_N}$, $\(\frac{La}{Gd}\)_N$ vs. $\frac{Y}{{\Sigma}REE_N}$, $\frac{Th}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\frac{Y}{Nd_N}$, and $\frac{Th}{Tb_N}$ vs. $\(\frac{Ce}{Ce}\)_N^*$ can be used to identify a specific source region of mineral dust in China as well as Jeju mineral particles.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.30-48
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• 2019

The year 2018 is the $50^{th}$ anniversary of scientific ocean drilling. Nevertheless, we know more about the surface of the moon than the Earth's ocean floor. In other words, there are still no much informations about the Earth interior. Much of what we do know has come from the scientific ocean drilling, providing the systematic collection of core samples from the deep seabed. This revolutionary process began 50 years ago, when the drilling vessel Glomar Challenger sailed into the Gulf of Mexico on August 11, 1968 on the first expedition of the federally funded Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP). DSDP followed successively by Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (old IODP), and International Ocean Discovery Program (new IODP). Concerning on the results of scientific ocean drilling, there are two technological innovations and various scientific research results. The one is a dynamic positioning system, enables the drilling vessel to stay fixed in place while drilling and recovering cores in the deep water. Another is the finding of re-entry cone to replace drill bit during the drilling. In addition to technological innovation, there are important scientific results such as confirmation of plate tectonics, reconstruction of earth's history, and finding of life within sediments. New IODP has begun in October, 2013 and will continue till 2023. IODP member countries are preparing for the IODP science plan beyond 2023 and future 50 years of scientific ocean drilling. We as IODP member also need to participate in keeping with the international trend.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 2023

For the commercial development of deep-sea mineral resources, the International Seabed Authority is engaged in wide ranging discussions to establish the Regulations on Exploitation. The core issue of the Regulations on Exploitation is how to protect the marine environment along with the royalty system that distributes the profits from such development. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates the protection of the marine environment in Part 12 (Articles 192-237) for the preservation of the marine environment, and in the 1994 Implementation Agreement, the protection of the marine environment at the stage of application for approval of the plan of work together with the Regulations on Exploration for the protection of the marine environment. For this purpose, certain obligations are imposed on the applicants. In the Regulations on Exploitation, financial systems such as environmental performance guarantee, insurance, and environmental compensation funds, which were not found in the Regulations on Exploration, are added to further specify the measures for marine environment protection generally stipulated in the 1982 Law of the Convention or 1994 Implementation Agreement. Regarding the financial system for marine environment protection, the Marine Environmental Protection and Conservation Informal Working Group meeting is revising the purpose of the environmental compensation fund. Among these financial system elements, it is judged that there is a possibility that the environmental performance guarantee and insurance may overlap considerably, and it is also thought that the establishment of the environmental compensation fund can also provide a substantial sum of money that will meet the purpose of the compensation fund in terms of securing its financial resources. In this paper, the question is posed as to whether or not this can be accomplished. In this respect, this paper examines the environmental performance guarantee, insurance, and environmental compensation fund, which are necessary for the protection of the marine environment of the deep seabed, but which can impose appropriate obligations on contractors for the commercial development of deep seabed mineral resources. At the same time as figuring out how it is operated in relation to relevant domestic laws, I would like to propose a plan to reflect the implications derived from the domestic law operation process in the Regulations on Exploitation.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.252-259
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• 2008

The deep-sea mining system is generally composed of surface vessel, lifting system, buffer, flexible pipe and miner. The mining system can be regarded as a large-scale system in which each subsystem is interconnected to other ones. In order to control a large-scale system, decentralized control approaches have been proposed recently. In this paper, as a basic study on application of decentralized control, firstly, the mining system was modeled in a simplified way. Lifting system and buffer were regarded as a spherical pendulum and the flexible pipe was taken as a two-dimensional linear spring connection. Based on the simplified model dynamics, the mining system can be decentralized two subsystems, the one consisting of surface vessel, lifting system and buffer, and the other, the miner. Next, this paper proposed the design of controller for each decentralized subsystem by regarding the interacting terms as disturbances. The controllers kept the constant distance between two subsystems during the miner was moving on the specified track. Finally, the efficiency of proposed controller was proven through the numerical simulation of the derived model.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2008

Polymetallic sulphides means hydrothermally formed deposits of sulphide minerals which contain concentrations of metals including, inter alia, copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver. Nautilus is the first company to commercially explore the seafloor polymetallic sulphide deposits. The Company holds exploration licences and exploration applications for more than 370,000 $km^2$ in the jurisdictional seas of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand along the western Pacific Ocean's Rim of Fire. Neptune Minerals is also a leading explorer and developer in this field, with exploration licences awarded totalling more than 270,000 $km^2$ in the territorial seas or EEZ of New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Federated States of Micronesia. These two companies now carry out the most active investment activities for seafloor polymetallic sulphide deposits with a goal of commercial production by 2010. China and Japan carry out exploration activities for the seafloor polymetallic sulphide deposits to secure supplies of strategic metals. China carries out national R&D projects relating to deep sea mineral resources in the world ocean through China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association(COMRA). And Japan investigates her own EEZ for exploration of the seafloor polymetallic sulphide deposits. In consideration of aforementioned international activities of coastal nations as well as private companies for exploring the sulphide deposits, Korea shall prepare strategic plans : First, consolidation of the authorities concerned and legislative support; second, determination of main entity of the project; third, securing government's decisive investment of sufficient budget; and lastly, establishment of the mid, long-term plan for development of seafloor polymetallic sulphides deposits.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.323-337
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• 1999

Seafloor morphology and manganese nodule occurrence were studied in the Korea Deep-sea Environmental Study (KODES) area, northeast equatorial Pacific, to understand their relationship. Study area is composed of three elongated valleys and hills with about 100~200 m height along NNE-SSW direction. Valley region is generally flat. However, hill region is very rugged with big cliffs of about 100m height and small depressions of several tens of meters depth. Tectonic movement along the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone, consequent formation of elongated abyssal hills and Valleys, erosion of siliceous bottom sediments by bottom currents, and dissolution of carbonate sediments on the abyssal hills below CCD result in the rugged morphology. Manganese nodule occurrence is closely related to the morphology of the study area; mostly rounded-shaped manganese nodules with about 5 cm diameter are abundant on the flat valley region, whereas irregular shaped nodules (or manganese crust) with less than 5 cm to about 1 m diameter occur on the hill. These results supports the previous reports that nodule abundance, composition, and morphology are variable both on regional and local small scales on the seafloor even within some abundant nodule provinces depending on oceanographic characteristics such as bathymetric features, surface sediment type, sediment thickness, and so on. We suggest that such oceanographic characteristics affect interrelatedly on the formation of manganese nodules, and tectonic movement of the Pacific plate ultimately constrain the nodule occurrence. A potential mining place in the KODES area seems to be the valley region, which is elongated to the NNW-SSE direction with 3-4 km width.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.320-334
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• 2000

Deep-sea surface sediment were analyzed for their geotechnical properties, and the sediment samples were collected with a multiple-corer from 31 stations along the track line (131$^{\circ}$30'W, 5-12$^{\circ}$N) in the northeast equatorial Paciflc. Most of the sediments from the northern part (8-12$^{\circ}$N) showed typical properties of siliceous sediments, whereas the southern part (5-6$^{\circ}$N) showed calcareous characteristics due to high biogenic carbonate productivity in the surface waters, where its water depth was shallower than the carbonate compensation depth (CCD: 4,400 m). Geotechnical properties changed sharply at the boundary of 7$^{\circ}$N. Calcareous sediments from the southern part had low water contents, low porosity, low shear strength, high bulk density and high specific grain density, whereas siliceous sediments from the northern part attained high water content, high porosity, high shear strength, low bulk density and low specific grain density. Higher sediment activities were observed in the northern sediment samples than the southern sediment samples. The core samples of the northern sediments were divided into a semi-liquid upper layer and a consolidated lower layer with a boundary at 5-8 cm. These sediment samples showed a rapid increasing pattern along the downcore in original shear strength when an opposite trend was observed in the southern samples. The results showed that sediment variabilities in geotechnical properties between the northern and southern parts such as productivities of surface water, grain solubility due to water depth variation, sedimentation rate, erosion and redistribution of sediment, and combined sedimentary processes were distinctly different along the latitude.