• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.655-666
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• 2020

This study evaluated the characteristics of arsenic production in groundwater through microbial community analysis of groundwater contaminated with high arsenic in Haman area. Groundwater in Haman area is contaminated with arsenic in the range of 0-757.2 ㎍/L, which represents the highest arsenic contamination concentration reported in Korea as natural groundwater pollution source. Of the total 200 samples, 29 samples (14.5%) showed higher arsenic concentration than that of 10 ㎍/L, which is the standard for drinking water quality, and 8 samples (4%) found in wells with 80-100 m depth were above 50 ㎍/L. In addition, seven wells with arsenic concentration more than 100 ㎍/L located in the northern part of Haman. As a result of microbial community analysis for high arsenic-contaminated groundwater, the microbial community compositions were significantly different between each sample, and Proteobacteria was the most dominant phyla with an average of 61.5%. At the genus level, the Gallinonella genus was predominant with about 12.8% proportion, followed by the Acinetobacter and Methermicoccus genus with about 7.8 and 7.3%, respectively. It is expected that high arsenic groundwater in the study area was caused by a complex reaction of geochemical characteristics and biogeochemical processes. Therefore, it is expected that the constructed information on geochemical characteristics and microbial communities through this study could be used to identify the origin of high arsenic groundwater and the development of its controlling technology.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2023

In this study, we explore the morphological and geochemical characteristics for 440 manganese nodules collected from two different water depths [ARA12B-St52 (150 m, n = 239) and ARA12B-St58i (73 m, n = 201)] on the continental shelf of the East Siberian Sea from the ARA12B expedition in 2021. We also discussed the variations in the characteristics of manganese nodules with varying water depths in the Arctic Sea. The sizes of the nodules are generally greater than 3 cm at both sites. However, there is an obvious difference in the morphology with water depths. For the nodules collected at 150 m, brown-black colored tabular, tube, and ellipsoidal shapes with a rough surface texture are dominant. On the other hand, yellow-brown tabular shapes with a smooth surface texture are common for the nodules collected at 73 m. Furthermore, the slope of trend line between size and weight is significantly different at both sites: particularly, the slopes of nodules at 150 and 73 m are 1.60 and 0.84, respectively. This indicates the difference in the internal structure, porosity, and constituting elements between both nodules. Micro X-ray Flourescence (µ-XRF) results clearly demonstrate that the internal textures and chemical compositions are different with water depths. The nodules at 150 m are composed of a thick Mn-layer and a thin Fe-layer centered on the nucleus, while the nodules at 73 m are alternately grown with thin Mn- and Fe- layers around the nucleus. The average chemical compositions obtained by µ-XRF are 40.6 wt% Mn, 5.2 wt% Fe, and 7.9 Mn/Fe ratio at 150 m, and 10.3 wt% Mn, 19.0 wt% Fe, and 0.6 Mn/Fe ratio at 73 m. The chemical compositions of the nodules at 150 m are similar to those of nodules from the Peru Basin in the Pacific Ocean, while the compositions of the nodules at 73 m are similar to those of nodules from the Cook Islands or the Baltic Sea. The observed morphological and geochemical characteristics of the nodules show a clear difference at the two sites, which indicates that the aqueous conditions and formation processes of the nodules in the Arctic Sea vary with the water depths.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.198-208
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• 2006

To investigate the provenance of outer-shelf mud patch in the East China Sea, the geochemical compositions were analyzed and compared with those of Chinese rivers sediments. The mud sedimentary facies are distributed in the central region and sandy mud facies are also widely distributed around the study area. The major elements (Fe, Mg, K, Ti, and Mn) show strong positive correlation with Al, and trace elements also indicate the same characteristics; hence, clay minerals are likely to be the promising host for those elements. The high concentration of Fe, Ti, and Mn elements are found in the western middle part near the Changjiang estuary, indicating that it seems to result from the influence of the Changjiang River. Elemental ratios including Sc/Al, Ti/Nb, Th/Sc, Cr/Th, Nb/Co, and Th/U were thus used as provenance indicators to identify the sediment origins of the East China Sea. The discrimination diagrams clearly show that most of the sediment in the northern part are originated from the Huanghe River, while the muddy sediments in the western part near the Changjiang estuary might come from the Changjiang River, suggesting that the outer-shelf muddy sediments of East China Sea are originated from diverse sources.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.365-375
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to investigate inorganic characteristics of Devonian bitumen carbonates in Alberta using two drilling cores, Saleski 03-34-88-20w4 and Saleski 08-01-88-20w4, taken from the Core Research Center (CRC) of Canada. The bitumen carbonates are mainly composed of less than 0.2 mm dolomites and some carbonate includes small amount of quartz and calcite. The bitumen carbonates from two cores are interpreted to have formed in similar sedimentary environments and dolomitization processes. Carbonates from Saleski 03-34-88-20w4 core were formed under higher inflow of clastic sediment than those from Saleski 08-01-88-20w4 core. Range of crystallization temperature of dolomites in the both bitumen carbonate cores is about 40~$55^{\circ}C$. Dolomitizing fluid of the bitumen carbonates would be Devonian seawater. Bitumen carbonates from Cairn Formation, compared with the CRC cores, have experienced a similar crystallization temperature, but dolmititizing fluid of the bitumen carbonates from Cairn Formation have been modified from the isotopic exchange with continental crust.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.479-486
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• 2009

In natural environments, manganese (Mn) exists in the valence of +2, +3, and +4 and plays a pivotal role as a strong oxidant or reductant in the geochemical cycles of elements. Especially, Mn forms varying (oxyhydr)oxides. The oxidation state of structural Mn is characteristic to each oxide and is one of the most important factors controlling its geochemical behaviors such as solubility, sorption capacity, and redox potential. Therefore, it is important to elucidate processes governing Mn oxidation state in predicting the fate and transport of many redox sensitive elements in the environment. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a very useful method to determine the oxidation state of various elements in solid phases. In this study, the oxidation states of structural Mn in MnO, $Mn_2O_3$, $MnO_2$ were assessed based on the binding energy spectra of $Mn2p_{3/2}$ and Mn3s using XPS and were compared with those reported elsewhere. $Mn2p_{3/2}$ binding energies were determined as 640.9, 641.5, 641.8 eV for MnO, $Mn_2O_3$, $MnO_2$, respectively, which indicates that the binding energy increased with increasing Mn oxidation state. It was also noted that Ar etching may cause changes in electronic structure configuration on surface of the original sample.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2010

The geochemical and nitrogen isotopic analyses for shallow groundwater of Ogcheon area were carried out to characterize the geochemical characteristics of the groundwater and to identify the source of nitrate. Groundwater shows a neutral pH to weakly alkalic condition with pH values ranging from 6.9 to 8.4. The average of EC, Eh and DO is $344.2\;{\mu}s/cm$, 195 mV, 4 mg/L, respectively. According to piper diagram, chemical composition of groundwater is dominantly characterized by Ca-$HCO_3$ type. On the other hand, groundwater type in the study area include Ca-Cl+$NO_3$ type that were highly influenced by agricultural activities. $NO_3$-N concentration of the collected samples(n=45) range from 12.4 to 34.2 mg/l. These data show that the $NO_3$-N concentration exceeds Korea Drinking Water Standard (10 mg/l). The $\delta^{15}N-NO_3$ values range from $2.7^{\circ}/_{\circ\circ}$ to $18.8^{\circ}/_{\circ\circ}$. The enrichments of heavy isotope in the groundwater indicate that major origin of nitrate pollution were associated with animal and human waste. Also the denitrification may have partly contributed as one of the sources of nitrogen.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.15-31
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• 1991

A total of 90 surface sediment samples, collected from the continental margin area bordering east and southeast coast of Korea, were subject to the geochemical analyses with the aim of filling the gap in our knowledge of this environment. The analyzed items included the major elements (Al, Fe, Mg, Ca, K, Na, p and Mn), organic carbon, and some trace metals (Ba, Co, Cu, Sr and Zn). The sediment grain-size exerted a predominant influence on the contents of most elements, with the exceptions of Ca, K, Sr and Ba. The Ca and Sr contents, being closely interrelated each other, were mainly controlled by the calcium carbonate content. The K content, on the other hand, appeared to be influenced by both illite and feldspar. The Ba content showed a certain relationship with that of K, suggesting a common source of these two elements; potassium feldspar. The R-mode factor analysis result also reaffirmed the above-mentioned controlling factors on the sediment geochemistry. The grain-size dependency of trace metals obscures their areal distribution pattern from the total contents. However, with the metal/aluminum ratios we could differentiate the subtle difference in the metal enrichment. Hence, sediments of the southern coastal area appear to receive some anthropogenic inputs of metals, though the effect is still negligible.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.85-100
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• 2010

Devonian Cairn Formation is one of the important hydrocarbon reservoirs in Alberta, Canada. However, the Cairn Formation, outcropped in the study area, is not prospective reservoir with poor porosity and permeability by some late diagenetic processes. In this study, geochemical characteristics of the Cairn Formation were studied to use these preliminary results for advanced geological and geophysical petroleum explorations in the near future. Rock-Eval pyrolysis showed that total organic carbon content is less than 0.3 wt.%, indicating a minor amount of bitumen and/or other hydrocarbons. The carbonates in the Cairn Formation are mainly composed of subhedral and anhedral dolomites. Pore sizes in the carbonate are various, ranging from nanometer to micrometer. Clastic sediments increase in the upper and lower parts of the Cairn Formation, probably due to changing its depositional conditions. The Cairn Formation can also be divided into several intervals based on Ca/Mg ratio in dolomite and degree of amount of calcite. These could be formed by different sedimentary environment, degree of cementation and recrystallization, different saline/fresh water, etc.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.385-388
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• 2003

폐광석에 함유되어 있는 총중금속함량을 측정하기 위한 전함량분석과 중금속을 다량 함유한 폐광석이 산성환경에 노출되어 있을 경우 중금속의 지화학적 거동을 파악하기 위해 산도를 변화시키면서 용출실험을 실시하였다. 전함량분석과 용출실험을 종합한 결과, 중금속 및 미량원소의 용출거동 특성을 크게 As-Co-Fe 형태와 Cu-Mn-Cd-Zn형태와 Pb로 구분할 수 있었다. As-Co-Fe의 용출특성은 약산성의 환경에서는 용출이 미약하나, 최종 pH 1.5이하의 강산성환경에서는 용출량이 급격하게 증가하며, Cu-Mn-Cd-Zn형태에서는 최초로 용해되는 pH가 5.0-3.0으로 As-Co-Fe 보다 다소 높았다. Pb는 다른 형태에 비해 상당히 적게 용출되었다 최종 용출된 함량과 관계없이 초기 용출이 발생하는 pH값을 기준으로 한 각 원소의 상대적인 이동성은 Mn =Zn>Cd=Cu>>Fe=Co>As>Pb 순서이며, 산성비는 Zn, Mn 및 Cu를 쉽게 용출시켜 이동도를 증가시킬 것으로 판단된다.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2003

Two piston cores, obtained from the southwestern Ulleung Basin in East Sea, were analyzed to study the geochemical characteristics of the late Quaternary sediments and to detect any changes in sedimentary environment. The results show that the capacity of Total Organic Carbon is remarkably higher (average 1.8%) than that known from general open-sea. According to tephrochronology from known eruption ages, the sedimentation rates are high, ranging from 12.1 to 14.9 cm/kyr. The ratios of nitrogen and TOC (average 6.18-7.42) imply that the organic matter in the study area would be of oceanic origin. The correlation between sedimentation rates and sulfur contents suggests that the study area may be on the whole anoxic and somewhat high in primary productivity. During the Termination 1, inflows of organic matters were high. The sedimentary environments are characterized by rapid rates of sedimentation, and high anoxic values were compatible with accumulation of organic matters.