• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2012

The Baegdusan volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in northeastern Asia, and the 10th century eruption was the most voluminous eruption in the world in recent 2,000 years. During the period from 2002 to 2005, volcanic earthquakes and abnormal surface distortions by suspected subsurface magma intrusion beneath the volcano were observed in the Baegdusan area. Seismic activity has gradually increased with earthquake swarms during 2002-2003 and hundreds of seismic event in a day, especially annual peak of 2,100 in 2003. Then the number of seismic activity has declined since 2006 to the background level in 1999-2001. According to the typical frequency of volcanic earthquakes in the Baegdusan volcano, the frequency distribution of typical volcanic earthquakes between 2002 and 2005 indicates that all the main frequency of the earthquakes basically falls down less than 5 Hz and 5-10 Hz. These events are all the VT-B and LP events caused by the shallow localized fracture and intrusion of magma. The horizontal displacement measurement by GPS during the period from 2000 to 2007 of the Baegdusan stratovolcano area indicates that an inflated process has been centered at the summit caldera since 2002. The displacement between 2002 and 2003 reached at a maximum value of 4 cm. After 2003, the deformation rate of the volcano continued to decrease with unusual variation during the period from 2006 to 2007. After 2003 the vertical displacement uplift rate falls down gradually but still keeps in an uplift trend in northern slope. It is generally believed that when $^3He/^4He(R)$ in a gas sample from a hot spring exceeds $^3He/^4He(R)$ in the atmosphere, it can be concluded that mantle-source. And temperatures of hot springs are rising steadily to $83^{\circ}C$. It is unrest signals at the Baegdusan, which is potentially active. The Baegdusan volcano is now in unrest status, there is eruption threat in the near future. Intensified monitoring and emergency response plan for volcanic risk mitigation are urgent for the volcano.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2009

To understand the ecological function of heterotrophic bacterial community in water column of large freshwater lakes in the permafrost zone, we investigated the structure and function of bacterial community in Lake Khuvsgul, Mongolia. Species composition of overall bacterial community was analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA gene fragments, and bacteria that can be cultured at 10oC were isolated and characterized. Based on the depth profile of environmental parameters, thermocline and chemocline were recognized at the 5~10 m zone of the water column. The stratified DGGE profile indicated that the discontinuity of water properties might influence the structure of bacterial community: band profiles in the 0~5 m zone were diverse with large change by depth, but the profile was relatively stable at the $\geq$10 m zone, with predominance of the band identified as Acidovorax facilis. Bacterial cultures were screened for protease, cellulase, amylase and lipase activity, and 23 isolates were selected for high activity of the hydrolytic enzymes. The isolates were identified based on their 16S rRNA gene sequences. In the surface water (zero meter depth), Acidovorax defluvii and Sphingobacterium faecium with high cellulase activity were present. Flavobacterium succinicans, Mycoplana bullata and A. facilis were stably predominant isolates at 2 m, 5 m, and $\geq$10 m depths, respectively. F. succinicans isolates showed high protease activity while M. bullata isolates showed moderate levels of protease and celluase activity. A. facilis isolates showed either cellulase or lipase activity, exclusively to each other. According to the profile of growth rates of the isolates in the temperature range of $0\sim42^{\circ}C$, the surface-zone (0~5 m) isolates were facultative psychrophiles while isolates from $\geq$10 m depth were typical mesophiles. This stratification is believed to be due to stratified availability of organic materials to the bacterial decomposers. In the water column below the chemoline, the environment is extremely oligotrophic so that the trait of rapid growth in low temperature might not be demanded by deep-lake decomposers. The stratified distribution of community composition and decomposer activity in Lake Khuvsgul implies that ecological functions of bacterial community in lakes of cold region are sharply divided by water column stratification.