• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.23-32
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• 2017

For exposed slopes, the weathering degree over time has a major effect on the engineering properties of rocks and the slope stability. Rocks are gradually changed by weathering into soil over time, and the resulting physical, chemical and mechanical changes of rocks affect the engineering stability of the slope. However, there are not many ways to objectively evaluate the weathering degree of a slope. In this study, therefore, to investigate the weathering characteristics of rocks, granite, gneiss and shale distributed in the Chungbuk region were sampled by weathering stage and changes in their component minerals and tissues were investigated. Furthermore, artificial weathering was induced using the freezing and thawing test and quantitatively investigated through porosity and absorption rate. In addition, the changes of microcracks due to artificial weathering were evaluated through box fractal dimension ($D_B$). Through mineralogical study the phase change of constituting minerals, the growth of secondary minerals, the development of micro-cracks and the fabric changes due to weathering were observed. The mineralogical, chemical and engineering evaluations of the weathering degree through the experimental results in this study are expected to be useful for analyzing the weathering characteristics and causes by rock type and for proposing a methodology to evaluate the degradation of physical properties comparatively and quantitatively.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.115-120
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• 2000

Oxidation of pyrite has caused a serious environmental problem such as the acidification of soil and surface water. The mineralogical change of acid sulfate weathering of hydrothermally altered andesite which contained 11.8% of pyrite and was exposed in atmosphere by lay out works for a residential area and a golf course was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electronmicroscopes. Ferrihydrite, jarosite, and an unidentified water soluble phase were observed as weathering products of the andesite. Under electronmicroscopes, showed aggregate of platy microcrystals; jarosite was platy morphology: water soluble Phase was columnar. Morphology of fresh Pyrite in the andesite changed from pyritrohedron to cubic in its frequency with increasing its particle size. The drainage water was acidic (pH 3.5) and in an equilibrium state with both ferrihydrite and jarosite.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.349-354
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• 2008

Semiquantitative mineralogical analysis of clays in soils was performed to understand the distribution of clay minerals in relation to bedrock lithology on the northern basin of the Nakdong River. The soils developed on the granitic bedrocks have high contents of kaolinite and smectite. mite was the major clay mineral in the soils from sedimentary bedrocks, with minor kaolinite, smectite, and intergrade (interstratified chlorite-smectite or hydroxy-interlayed vermiculite) clay minerals. Illite and kaolinite contents of the soils from metamorphic and volcanic bedrocks fall between those of the soils from the granitic bedrocks and those of the soils from the sedimentary bedrocks. The clay mineralogy of the soils depends on the compositions of bedrock minerals and their susceptibility to chemical weathering. The weathering of plagioclase resulted in the high kaolinite content of the soils derived from granitic bedrocks, while the soils derived from sedimentary bedrocks are abundant in residual illite.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.355-364
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• 2004

A study on the weathering grade classification has been performed for granite and granite gneiss in Korea. The qualitative classification criteria of weathering were reviewed and then modified with field studies for the weathered rock masses. The thin section observations and XRD analyses for the different weathering grades rock samples showed the petrographical and petrophysical difference with respect to the weathering : the proportion of weathering-resistant minerals suck at quartz and orthoclase has a tendency to increase with the development of weathering, but that of weathering-sensible minerals such as anorthite and biotite is decreased. The ranges of physical and mechanical rock properties for different weathering grades were obtained from the laboratory rock tests and field tests for the studied rocks. And then, along with $RDI_{sq}$(Fookes et al., 1988), the weathering index $I_{a}$, (Woo, 2003) has been developed in this study to demarcate the weathering grade. Those two indices rely mainly on the water absorption ratio of rock and on the different rock strength. The range of these weathering indices have been determined with the physical and mechanical rock properties that can be obtained from simple field or laboratory tests in 4 grades $I_{a}$＞ 7 for F, 3.5 ＜ $I_{a}$ ＜ 10 for SW, 1.0 $I_{a}$＜ 6.0 for MW and $I_{a}$＜ 2.5 for HW. Consequently, the weathering index could be utilized to classify quantitatively the rock weathering grade, especially for the studied granites and the granite gneiss in Korea.

• Proceedings of the KGS Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.46-50
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• 2003

하안단구면을 이루는 퇴적층에 포함되어 있는 퇴적물들은 하안단구가 형성된 시기부터 현재까지 풍화를 받게 된다. 즉, 하안단구 퇴적층의 풍화 기간은 바로 하안단구면의 형성시기부터 현재까지가 되는 것이다 외국의 선행 연구들을 통해 볼 때, 암석의 풍화는 초기에 빠르게 진행되지만, 어느 정도 풍화가 진전되면 풍화의 속도가 점차 늦어진다고 제시되고 있으며, 암석과 토양을 구성하고 있는 풍화에 약한 몇 가지 광물들의 존재 유무와 원소 함량의 변화는 풍화 시간과 매우 긍정적인 상관 관계가 있는 것으로 나타난다. (중략)

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.125-139
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• 2010

Behavior of heavy metals and arsenic in the tailings of Songcheon Au-Ag mine was characterized via both mineralogical and geochemical methods. Mineral composition of the tailings was investigated by X-ray diffractometry, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) and total concentrations of heavy metals and arsenic and their chemical forms were analyzed by total digestion of aqua regia and sequential extraction method, respectively. The results of mineralogical study indicate that the tailings included mineral particles of resinous shape mainly consisting of galena, sphalerite, pyrite, quartz, and scorodite, and specifically socordite was identified in the form of matrix. EPMA quantitative analyses were performed to evaluate the weatherability of each mineral, and the results suggest that it decreased in the sequence of arsenopyrite > galena > sphalerite > pyrite. The weathering pattern of galena was observed to show distinctive zonal structure consisting of secondary minerals such as anglesite and beudantite. In addition, almost all of arsenopyrite has been altered to scorodite existing asmatrix and galena, sphalerite, and pyrite which have lower weatherability than arsenopyrite were identified within the matrix of scorodite. During the process of alteration of arsenopyrite into scorodite, it is likely that a portion of arsenic was lixiviated and caused a great deal of detrimental effects to surrounding environment. The results of EPMA quantitative analyses verify that the stability of scorodite was relatively high and this stable scorodite has restrained the weathering of other primary minerals within tailings as a result of its coating of mineral surfaces. For this reason, Songcheon tailings show the characteristics of the first weathering stage, although they have been exposed to the surface environment for a long time. Based on the overall results of mineralogical and geochemical studies undertaken in this research, if the tailings are kept to be exposed to the surface environment and the weathering process is continuous, not only hazardous heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic seem to be significantly leached out because their larger portions are being partitioned in weakly-bound (highly-mobile) fractions, but the potential of arsenic leaching is likely to be high as the stability of scorodite is gradually decreased. Consequently, it is speculated that the environmental hazard of Songcheon mine is significantly high.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.771-784
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• 2007

This study shows the weathering characteristics of mica-schist affected by faulting and metamorphism through laboratory tests. Frozen-thaw test, which simulate the physical-chemical weathering processes in the laboratory, shows the important influence of foliation developed in mica-schist, resulting in $20{\sim}40%$ reduction of UCS according to weathering grade of rock. Slaking durability test was carried out for different weathering grade rock specimens and indicated that the specimens from fault area had a low durability index compared to other relatively fresh samples. XRD analysis allowed to estimate the dynamic evolution of mineral composition through wet-dry cycle in which the chlorite was the most important mineral leached out during slaking test. The creep test indicated that the main deformation produced along the foliation plane. The compacted clay minerals between discontinuity planes influence on the discontinuity shearing properties and result in a big difference between peak shear strength and residual strength. The results of laboratory tests on mica-schist show the possibility of a important deformation along the foliation plane or discontinuity.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.421-428
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• 1999

Potassium (K) released from weathering of biotite in soils has been recognized as one of major K-sources for plant growth. Sand size biotite in a soil-saprolite-parent rock profile developed under temperate climate was studied in terms of morphological, mineralogical, and chemical changes according to depth employing petrographic and electron microscopes. X-ray diffraction, and electron microprobe. Biotite showed discoloring from black to goldish white and loss paleochroism with decreasing depth. Both edge and layer weatherings of biotite showed in this study. Hexagonal holes and cracks on (001) plane of weathered biotite grains were observed and their members increased with increasing weathering degree. Biotite was altered to kaolinite with or without intermidiate products such as hydrobiotite, degraded biotite, and illite. Average chemical composition of weathered biotite changed to that of katolinite with decreasing depth: increasing concentrations of silicon (Si) and aluminum (Al) and decreasing concentrations of potassium (K), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), and taitanium (Ti).

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.115-126
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• 1996

The purpose of 1,his study is to analyze the compression and strength charactefistics of the decomposed -weathered soil originating from biotite gneiss or fine grained gneiss sampled from Poidong, Seoul : to figure out the behavioural characteristics of the decomposed -weathered soil in accordance with mineral composition and origin by comparing experimental results of residual soils. originating from granites and sampled from Bulam, Andong and Kimchun area. A series of CIU, CID CKoV, CKoD tests were car lied out. Although weathered soils have different origin and mineral composition, the slope of the NCL A was similar. It was also shown that plastic strain ratio was about 85% mainly due to the particle crushing effect during compression. The Poidong soil showed strain softening phenomenon unlike the Kimchun and Andong soils. this implies that the behavioural characteristics are affected by the origin and the mineral composition of the soil particles. Moreover, it was found that the angle of the shear resistance$(\phi')$ was dependent on the mineral composition. On the oher hand, measured Af values of decomposed weathered soils were more than one regardless of the origin and the mineral composition.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.195-204
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• 2002

Mineralogy and the exposed surface area are two of the most important factors controlling dissolution and weathering rates of soils. The mixture of inorganic and organic materials of various size distributions and structures that constitute soils makes the calculation of weathering rates difficult. The surface area of soil minerals plays an important role in most of programs for calculating the weathering rates and critical loads. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) measurement is recommended for the measurement of specific surface area. However, BET values measured without organic matter removal are in fact those far all the N2-adsorbed surface areas, including the surfaces covered and aggregated with organisms. Surfaces occupied by organisms are assumed to be more reactive to weathering by organic activities. Therefore, the BET surface area difference before and after organic removal depicts the area occupied by organisms. The present study shows that the BET values after organic matter removal using $H_2$O$_2$ are larger than those without removal by 1.68~4.87 $m^2$/g. This implies that BET measurement without organic removal excludes the reactive area occupied by organisms and that the area occupied by organisms in soils is much larger than expected. It is suggested that specific surface area measurement for calculating weathering rates of mineral soils should be made before and after organic matter removal. The results of a column experiment are presented to demonstrate the potential retarding influence that this organic matter may have on mineral dissolution and weathering.