• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.19 no.11
• /
• pp.1562-1567
• /
• 2009

Heavy metal contamination levels in Andong reservoir and Imha reservoir were measured with heavy metal contents in both water and sediment, and analyzed with heavy metal accumulation level in inhabitant fish, Carassius auratus, using an inductively coupled plasma spectrometer and an atomic absorption spectrometer. High levels of heavy metal contents in water, sediment and the tissues of C. auratus were detected. Likewise, relatively high levels of As were detected in water and sediment from Andong reservoir. In addition, higher levels of Cr, Cu, Cd and As content were detected in muscle and bone tissues of fish from Andong reservoir than those from Imha reservoir. As a result, the heavy metal content of water, sediment and inhabitant fish, C. auratus, in Andong reservoir was higher than Imha reservoir. We proposed that heavy metal contamination in water and inhabitant fish is attributed to various metals derived from abandoned mines and farmlands that are upstream of Andong reservoir.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.1647-1654
• /
• 2008

The characteristics of arsenic(As) contamination were investigated on soils of 3 abandoned metal mine sites in Gangwon-do, Korea. Total forty nine soils were sampled to conduct standard methods(extraction by 1HCl), sequential extraction and column leaching test. Concentration of As extracted by 1N HCl was ordered as follows: A mine > B mine > C mine, and the concentration of arsenic in the soils of A mine was significantly greater than that at any other cases and all samples of A mine were exceeded the national regulation of $6mg \;kg^{-1}$. In the results of sequential extraction, the potential contamination risk for groundwater and plants was ordered as follows: C mine > B mine > A mine because the C mine showed the relatively greater mobility and bioavailability of fraction than any other mines. And, in colume test, concentration of As was ordered as follows: C mine > B mine > A mine, and it was expected that these results were connected with fraction characteristics of the mine sites. Therefore adequate leaching investigations should be used to simulate the effect of natural leaching conditions, and to predict both the potential mobility of metals to groundwater and their bioavailability to plants under natural conditions.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.50-59
• /
• 2008

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the role of the arbuscular mycorrhizal(AM) fungus, Glomus mosseae(BEG 107) in enhancing growth and arsenic(As) and phosphorus(P) uptake of white clover(Trifolium repens) and evening primrose(Oenothera odorata) in soil collected from a gold mine having concentrations of 381.6 mg total As $kg^{-1}$ and 20.5 mg available As $kg^{-1}$. Trifolium repens and O. odorata are widely distributed on abandoned metalliferous mines in Korea. The percent root colonization by the AM fungus was 55.9% and 62.3% in T. repens and O. odorata, respectively, whereas no root colonization was detected in control plants grown in a sterile medium. The shoot dry weight of T. repens and O. odorata was increased by 323 and 117% in the AM plants compared to non-mycorrhizal(NAM) plants, respectively. The root dry weight increased up to 24% in T. repens and 70% in O. odorata following AM colonization compared to control plants. Mycorrhizal colonization increased the accumulation of As in the root tissues of T. repens and O. odorata by 99.7 and 91.7% compared to the NAM plants, respectively. The total uptake of P following AM colonization increased by 50% in T. repens and 70% in O. odorata, whereas the P concentration was higher in NAM plants than in the AM plants. Colonization with AM fungi increased the As resistance of the host plants to As toxicity by augmenting the yield of dry matter and increasing the total P uptake. Hence, the application of an AM fungus can effectively improve the phytoremediation capability of T. repens and O. odorata in As-contaminated soil.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.290-298
• /
• 2014

A bacterial strain with the potential ability to solubilize heavy metals was isolated from heavy metal contaminated soils collected from abandoned mines of Boryeong area in South Korea. The bacterial strain with the highest degree of metal resistance was shown to have close proximity with Shewanella xiamenensis FJ589031, according to 16S rRNA sequence analysis, and selected for investigating the mobilization of metals in soil or plant by the strain. The strain was found to be capable of solubilizing metals both in the absence and in the presence of metals (Co, Pb and Cd). Metal mobilization potential of the strain was assessed in a batch experiment and the results showed that inoculation could increase the concentrations of water soluble Co, Pb and Cd by 48, 34 and 20% respectively, compared with those of non-inoculated soils. Bacterial-assisted growth promotion and metal uptake in sunflower (Helianthus annuus) was evaluated in a pot experiment. In comparison with non-inoculated seedlings, the inoculation led to increase the growth of H. annuus by 24, 18 and 16% respectively in Co, Pb and Cd contaminated soils. Moreover, enhanced accumulation of Co, Pb and Cd in the shoot and root systems was observed in inoculated plants, where metal translocation from root to the above-ground tissues was also found to be enhanced by the strain. Plant growth promotion and metal mobilizing potential of the strain suggest that the strain could effectively be employed in enhancing phytoextraction of Co, Pb and Cd from contaminated soils.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.396-406
• /
• 2004

Current physical and chemical methodologies, conventionally used to clean up metal contaminated soils, are generally too expensive to apply in large hazardous waste sites including agricultural lands adjacent to closed or abandoned metal mines. Phytoremediation using plants to extract, sequester and detoxify environmental pollutants is one of the cost-effective and aesthetically-pleasing alternatives, compared with environmentally destructive remedial methods currently being practiced. But, phytoremediation has some limitations such as time consuming and low performance: in general, it is seasonally dependent and slower in removing metals than other methods, and metal accumulating plants are slow growers. Improvement of plants for metal tolerance, accumulation, and translocation using genetic engineering techniques recently opened up new possibilities for phytoremediation. In this paper, we have discussed about recent developments in conventional and genetically engineered phytoremediation. For the conventional phytoremediation, focuses are on the natural hyperaccumulator and the chemically assisted phytoremediation. Some pros and cons on the phytoremediation using transgenic plants, coupled with focusing on the mechanistic view points, are also discussed. It might be concluded that the transgenic plants will be effective tools in the practical application of phytoremediation especially for the highly contaminated soils but mechanisms involved should be deeply understood in advance.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.385-392
• /
• 2016

Geographical isolation may lead to the populations having different ecological characteristics. Geographic isolation have been known to cause echolocation call differences in bats. In order to look at geographic differences of echolocation calls of Great Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), populations of inland and Jeju island habitats were examined in Korea. The study areas were some abandoned mines in the inland and caves of Jeju island, which were known as rest sites of Great Horseshoe Bats during the active season. Recording was done in two ways: Hand-held, Free-flying. Recording pulse was analyzed into five parameters: Maximum Frequency (FMAX), Minimum Frequency (FMIN), Peak Frequency (PF), Duration (D), Inter pulse Interval (IPI). Interestingly, The present study shows that the difference in echolocation between the inland and island populations. The PF of bats inhabited inland was 69 kHz. but, the PF of bats inhabited island (Jeju) was 71 kHz. There was a difference between regions. Discriminant analyses also showed clear difference between the inland and the island populations. Especially, PF of Korea population is lower than that of Europe (82 kHz) and higher than that of Japan (65 kHz).

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.231-238
• /
• 2021

BACKGROUND: Metal contamination of farmlands nearby abandoned mines is a serious environmental problem. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of stabilizers on different type of the soils contaminated with metals. METHODS AND RESULTS: The texture of silt loam soil initially contaminated with heavy metal was artificially adjusted to loam and sandy loam by adding sand, and the soil organic matter content (1.5%) was also altered by adding peat to the soils at 3.5 and 8.0%. The soils were mixed with 3% (w/w) of each limestone, dolomite, and steel slag. For the soils with different textures, the bioavailability of As was found to be the lowest in sandy loam compared to others metals such as Cu, Pb, and Zn. The efficacy of limestone and dolomite was not significantly different compared to the soils having different organic matter contents, but the stabilization efficiency of steel slag increased as the soil organic matter content increased. Moreover, stabilizers showed inhibition effect on the uptake of metals to plant. CONCLUSION: The stabilizers were found as effective materials to immobilize metals in soil and to decrease plant uptake of metals. Studies are needed to deeply elucidate the interaction between influencing factors and various stabilizers.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.31-35
• /
• 2019

Andong-dam was built up in 1967 and it is one of the biggest dams in Korea. Previous studies showed that the sediments are highly contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead. Many research projects are going on to find out the source of the contamination, to evaluate the toxicities to ecosystem, to estimate the volume of sediment to be treated and to find out a good remediation method. Reports show that the sediment is highly contaminated and the main contamination source is supposed to be abandoned mines and a zinc refinery located upper stream of the river. A magnetic separation has been tested as a treatment method for the dredged sediment. Lab scale test showed that the magnetically captured portion is about 10% in weight but the contamination of heavy metal is much higher than the contamination of the passed portion. This indicates that a magnetic separation could be applied for the purpose of reduction of sediment to be treated and for increasing the volume of low toxic sediments which can be dumped as general waste. A magnetic separation using a HGMS has been tested for the sediment with variable magnetic field and the results showed the higher magnetic field increase the captured portion but the concentrating effect of heavy metal was weakened. Further study is needed to establish a useful technology and optimization between decontamination and reduction of sediment volume.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.347-360
• /
• 2007

In order to evaluate the degree and extent of heavy metal pollution and the environmental impacts of abandoned Cu mines in Goseong-gun, soils and paddies were collected from the mine area and have been analysed for heavy metal contents. The heavy metal contents were much higher in mountain soils than in paddy soils. Total content of heavy metals decreased in order of Cu>Zn>Pb>As>Cr>Cd in mountain soils whereas Zn>Pb>Cu>Cr>As>Cd in paddy soils. The extractable amount of heavy metals by 0.1/1N HCl decreased in order of Cu>Pb>Zn>As>Cd>Cr in mountain soils whereas Pb>Cu>Zn>As>Cd>Cr in paddy soils. Although the extraction ratios were highly various depending on the sampling site, their average values were in order of Cd(16%)>Pb(10%)>Cu(9%)>As(4.5%)>Zn-Cr(${\le}2.5%$). The soils investigated were enriched in heavy metals relative to the averages of earth crust as In order of $As{\ge}Cd$>Pb>Zn>Cu>Cr. Pollution index calculated from total or extractable heavy metals of soils indicated that the heavy metal pollution was restricted to mountain soils around abandoned Cu mines, especially the Samsan I mine. The metal contents of brown rice showed no significantly contaminated level as follows; As $nd{\sim}0.87mg/kg,\;Cd\;0.02{\sim}0.34mg/kg,\;Cu\;1.01{\sim}6.25mg/kg,\;Mn\;13.4{\sim}43.2mg/kg,\;Pb\;0.09{\sim}2.83mg/kg,\;and\;Zn\;16.5{\sim}79.1mg/kg$. From the extraction and dispersion properties of heavy metal with the soil pH ($4.5{\sim}7.8$), it can be deduced the conclusion that the heavy metal pollution is spreading in the study area mainly by the detrital migration of waste ore and gangue minerals rather than the dissolution and circulation of heavy metal.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.13-29
• /
• 1998

Recently, It is increasing popularity to research on the soil remediation in aspect of management by reason of the hazardous impact on the contaminated soil in Korea. It was investigated high levels of arsenic salts in soil near abandoned five mines(Darak, Daduk, Jingok, Dalsung, Ilkwang) located in Youngnam area. Arsenic, classified as group A(Human Carcinogens) from IRIS, have shown statistically significant increment in skin cancer with oral exposure. This paper was conducted to predict excess cancer risk value (to the skin cancer) based on multiple pathway such as soil ingestion, dermal uptake and food(plant) ingestion contaminated by arsenic, and also, to identify the remedial goal regarded in future land use. The mine having the highest arsenic level was Daduk(mean : 1950mg/kg) and the next rank was Jingok(1690mg/kg), Ilkwang(352.37mg/kg), Dalsung(86.08mg/kg), Darak(0.83mg/kg). The chronic daily intake to the multiple exposure were calculated using Monte-Carlo simulation regarded in future land use and used q: value was $1.5(mg/kg/day)^{-1}$ to the oral proposed by IRIS(1997). The computated excess cancer risk 95th value to all the mine regarding future land use as residential and rural area were more than $10^{-4}$. If the level of acceptable risk is aimed for 1$\times$$10^{-6}$, it could be used Darak as commercial and industrial area without soil remediation due to the lowest risk value(6$\times$$10^{-8}$ and 3$\times$$10^{-8}$). Computated remedial goal based on 1$\times$$10^{-6}$ of acceptable risk to the future land use as the residential, rural, commercial and industrial area were 0.02mg/kg, 0.003mg/kg, 97.31mg/kg and 194.62mg/kg, respectively.