• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.164-173
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• 2004

To delineate geothermal water movement at the Pohang geothermal development site, Self-Potential (SP) survey and monitoring were carried out during pumping tests. Before drilling, background SP data have been gathered to figure out overall potential distribution of the site. The pumping test was performed in two separate periods: 24 hours in December 2003 and 72 hours in March 2004. SP monitoring started several days before the pumping tests with a 128-channel automatic recording system. The background SP survey showed a clear positive anomaly at the northern part of the boreholes, which may be interpreted as an up-flow Bone of the deep geothermal water due to electrokinetic potential generated by hydrothermal circulation. The first and second SP monitoring during the pumping tests performed to figure out the fluid flow in the geothermal reservoir but it was not easy to see clear variations of SP due to pumping and pumping stop. Since the area is covered by some 360 m-thick tertiary sediments with very low electrical resistivity (less than 10 ohm-m), the electrokinetic potential due to deep groundwater flow resulted in being seriously attenuated on the surface. However, when we compared the variation of SP with that of groundwater level and temperature of pumping water, we could identify some areas responsible to the pumping. Dominant SP changes are observed in the south-west part of the boreholes during both the preliminary and long-term pumping periods, where 3-D magnetotelluric survey showed low-resistivity anomaly at the depth of $600m\~1,000m$. Overall analysis suggests that there exist hydraulic connection through the southwestern part to the pumping well.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.6 no.1 s.7
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• pp.61-70
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• 1997

An integrated geophysical survey was conducted to study a construction method of the Sonsanri tombs including the Muryong royal tomb. With the distribution of soil resistivity and self potential values, the boundary between original ground and the construction site was delineated clearly. The original ground has relatively high resistivity of $1,000\~1,500$ ohm-m and low self-potential values of $0{\pm}3mV/m$, while the construction site has low resistivity less than 200 ohm-m and quite high self-potential values of $-20\~30mV/m$. It is interpreted that the open site for construction of subsurface tomb has the size of about 35 m in the north-south direction. Big difference in characteristics of ground between the tomb site and the original site gives a clue for the construction method of tombs in Baekje dynasty. The site was opened about 35 meters in the north-south direction and then a mold structure was constructed with a brick frame outside. The brick frame consists of bricks cemented each other and structually combined. The mold structure was removed from inside after refill of the opened construction site with some cemented rock debris and soil.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 1997

At the tailings dam of the disused Brukunga pyrite mine in South Australia, reaction of groundwater with the tailings causes the formation and discharge of sulphuric acid. There is a need to improve remediation efforts by decreasing groundwater flow through the tailings dam. Geophysical methods have been investigated to determine whether they can be used to characterise variations in depth to watertable and map preferred groundwater flow paths. Three methods were used: transient electromagnetic (TEM) soundings, direct current (DC) soundings and profiling, and self potential (SP) profiling. The profiling methods were used to map the areal extent of a given response, while soundings was used to determine the variation in response with depth. The results of the geophysical surveys show that the voltages measured with SP profiling are small and it is hard to determine any preferred channels of groundwater flow from SP data alone. Results obtained from TEM and DC soundings, show that the DC method is useful for determining layer boundaries at shallow depths (less than about 10 m), while the TEM method can resolve deeper structures. Joint use of TEM and DC data gives a more complete and accurate geoelectric section. The TEM and DC measurements have enabled accurate determination of depth to groundwater. For soundings centred at piezometers, this depth is consistent with the measured watertable level in the corresponding piezometer. A map of the watertable level produced from all the TEM and DC soundings at the site shows that the shallowest level is at a depth of about 1 m, and occurs at the southeast of the site, while the deepest watertable level (about 17 m) occurs at the northwest part of the site. The results indicate that a possible source of groundwater occurs at the southeast area of the dam, and the aquifer thickness varies between 6 and 13 m. A map of the variation of resistivity of the aquifer has also been produced from the TEM and DC data. This map shows that the least resistive (i.e., most conductive) section of the aquifer occurs in the northeast of the site, while the most resistive part of the aquifer occurs in the southeast. These results are interpreted to indicate a source of fresh (resistive) groundwater in the southeast of the site, with a possible further source of conductive groundwater in the northeast.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 2007

We practiced fresh water injection test to identify its applibility as a method of seawater intrusion mitigation technique, and monitored the change of borehole fluid conductivity and the behavior of injected fresh water using borehole multichannel electrical conductivity monitoring and well-logging, and DC resistivity and SP monitoring at the surface. Well-logging and multichannel EC monitoring showed the decrease of fluid conductivity due to fresh water injection. We note that such an injection effect lasts more than several month which means the applibility of fresh water injection as a seawater intrusion control technique. Although SP monitoring did not show meaningful results because of weather condition during monitoring and the defects of electrodes due to long operation time, DC resistivity monitoring showed its effectiveness and applicability as a monitoring and assessment techniques of injection test by means of imaging the behavior and the front of fresh water body in terms of the increase of resistivity with reasonable resolution. In conclusion, we note that geophysical techniques can be an effective method of monitoring and evaluation of fresh water injection test, and expect that fresh water injection may be an practical method for the mitigation of seawater intrusion when applied with optimal design of injection well distribution and injection rate based on geophysical evaluation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.111-125
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• 2022

Since landslide can cause huge damages to many facilities, close characterization of slopes is needed for appropriate reinforcements for the unstable ones in order to prevent the damages. Geophysical surveys, which can characterize a large area at a relatively low cost without disturbing slopes, have been widely employed for the assessment of slope stability in other countries. However, only conventional direct investigation methods are mainly used in Korea. In this paper, we analyzed various cases, which evaluated slope stabilities by characterizing slopes using geophysical exploration. First, we introduced changes in geophysical properties due to unstable media of slope like fracture location, fracture connectivity and distribution of groundwater level, and subsequently discussed the applicability of geophysical methods to the detection of the changes; the methods include electrical resistivity survey, seismic survey, self-potential survey, induced polarization survey and ground penetrating radar. Based on this description, we analyzed how geophysical surveys were performed on various slopes.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.275-283
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• 2013

The sea dike is the most important facility of reclamation projects, and plays an important role in securing freshwater in the reservoir. Systematic research on practical approaches and data analysis techniques are lacking even though some geophysical methods such as electrical resistivity and self-potential surveys are included within the inspection processes. Hence, geophysical methods were considered for improvement of precision safety diagnosis methods after problems in the maintenance system have been identified, such as safety checks and precision safety diagnoses. In addition, geophysical methods customized according to variations in ambient environmental limiting factors such as pore pressure changes by tidal fluctuation, compaction characteristics of the fill materials, and the surface condition of the embankment were suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2002

We performed a long-term monitoring of self-potential(SP) using the Cu-CuSO₄non-polarizable electrode and copper-clad electrodes(CCE) in a test site in order to analyze the effects of surrounding environmental noises such as temperature, rainfall and soil moisture content on the electrodes. Analysis of the temperature dependence of the non-polarizable electrodes showed that is temperature coefficient was about +0.5 mV/°Fwhen its end was exposed to atmosphere while it was less than +0.5 mV/℃ when submerged into the subsurface, which reflects that there exists an 8 to 11 hour lag between temperatures at the depth of 15 cm and atmosphere. CCE was independent of atmospheric temperature in subsurface but showed temperature coefficient of 1.0 mV/℃ when exposed to atmosphere. Drifts of 1 to 2 mV recorded with the non-polarizable electrode directly related to the soil moisture content when it was buried in subsurface. Drift with CCE also showed similar trend to the soil moisture content, and 5 mV drift was recorded according to 5% of daily variation. The soil moisture content had strong effects on the measurement with CCE in rainfall since the flow potential is generated on the surface of the electrode.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2014

Environmental problems typically occurring in abandoned mine lands (AML) include: contaminated and acidic surface water and groundwater; stockpiled waste rock and mill tailings; and ground subsidences due to mining operations. This study examines the effectiveness of various geophysical techniques for mapping potential hazard and contaminated zones. Four AML sites with sedimentation contamination problems, acid mine drainage (AMD) channels, ground subsidence, manmade liner leakage, and buried mine tailings, were selected to examine the applicability of various geophysical methods to the identification of the different types of mine hazards. Geophysical results were correlated to borehole data (core samples, well logs, tomographic profiles, etc.) and water sample data (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and heavy metal contents). Zones of low electrical resistivity (ER) corresponded to areas contaminated by heavy metals, especially contamination by Cu, Pb, and Zn. The main pathways of AMD leachate were successfully mapped using ER methods (low anomaly peaks), self-potential (SP) curves (negative peaks), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) at shallow penetration depths. Mine cavities were well located based on composite interpretations of ER, seismic tomography, and well-log records; mine cavity locations were also observed in drill core data and using borehole image processing systems (BIPS). Damaged zones in buried manmade liners (used to block descending leachate) were precisely detected by ER mapping, and buried rock waste and tailings piles were characterized by low-velocity zones in seismic refraction data and high-resistivity zones in the ER data.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2009

In field surveys using the dipole-dipole electrical resistivity method, we often encounter negative apparent resistivity. The term 'negative apparent resistivity' refers to apparent resistivity values with the opposite sign to surrounding data in a pseudosection. Because these negative apparent resistivity values have been regarded as measurement errors, we have discarded the negative apparent resistivity data. Some people have even used negative apparent resistivity data in an inversion process, by taking absolute values of the data. Our field experiments lead us to believe that the main cause for negative apparent resistivity is neither measurement errors nor the influence of self potentials. Furthermore, we also believe that it is not caused by the effects of induced polarization. One possible cause for negative apparent resistivity is the subsurface geological structure. In this study, we provide some numerical examples showing that negative apparent resistivity can arise from geological structures. In numerical examples, we simulate field data using a 3D numerical modelling algorithm, and then extract 2D sections. Our numerical experiments demonstrate that the negative apparent resistivity can be caused by geological structures modelled by U-shaped and crescent-shaped conductive models. Negative apparent resistivity usually occurs when potentials increase with distance from the current electrodes. By plotting the voltage-electrode position curves, we could confirm that when the voltage curves intersect each other, negative apparent resistivity appears. These numerical examples suggest that when we observe negative apparent resistivity in field surveys, we should consider the possibility that the negative apparent resistivity has been caused by geological structure.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.4 s.179
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• pp.473-483
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• 2006

Although application of electrical methods in Korea began with observation of self potentials before World War II, the methods were developed slowly by the beginning of 1980's when a major burst of development activity took place. DC resistivity methods are applied in Korea more to geotechnical problems rather than to environmental ones unlike other developed countries. As with every other branch of technology, the evolving speed of the silicon chip and of streaming data to hard disk has revolutionized data collection and noise reduction processing. The last two decades saw major advances in data collection, processing, and interpretation of electrical data. Development of smooth-model two-dimensional (2D) resistivity inversion is one of the most visible changes to geophysical interpretation of the last 40 years and is now routinely applied to apparent resistivity data. The ability to represent resistivities in section rather than pseudosection view has revolutionized interpretation. Although calculation of sensitivities for general electromagnetic problems require numerous forward modelings, DC resistivity methods can enjoy computational efficiencies if sources and receivers occupy the same position, and previously intractable 3D inversion is now becoming available.