• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.703-713
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• 2020

In many geological fields, including hydrogeology, it is of great importance to determine the heterogeneity of the subsurface media. This study briefly introduces the concept and theory of the method that can estimate the hydraulic properties of the media constituting the aquifer, which was recently introduced by Park (2020). After the introduction, the method was applied to the synthetic aquifer to demonstrate the practicality, from which various implications were drawn. The introduced technique uses a global optimization technique called the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES). Conceptually, it is a methodology to characterize the aquifer heterogeneity by assimilating the groundwater level time-series data due to the imposed hydraulic stress. As a result of applying the developed technique to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of a hypothetical aquifer, it was confirmed that a total of 40000 unknown values were estimated in an affordable computational time. In addition, the results of the estimates showed a close numerical and structural similarity to the reference hydraulic conductivity field, confirming that the quality of the estimation by the proposed method is high. In this study, the developed method was applied to a limited case, but it is expected that it can be applied to a wider variety of cases through additional development of the method. The development technique has the potential to be applied not only to the field of hydrogeology, but also to various fields of geology and geophysics. Further development of the method is currently underway.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.121-126
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• 2010

Current technology for radioactive waste disposal facility is operated as part of KURT site characterization in terms of reliability assessment is conducted to expand. In this study, a geological model of KURT surrounding area on the basis of flow characteristics of the site-scale hydrogeological study was about. Distributed in the study area into four boreholes were plotted using the stereo net NS, NW, EW, Low-angle fracture group was able to identify the components of geological models and include top soil layer, belt of weathering, Low-angle fracture zone, fracture zone was divided into. Separated by fracture of the hydraulic test of through the groundwater aquifer that provides the flow hydraulic conductivity and insulation hydraulic affecting the slope of the normal distribution for the size and direction by performing statistical analysis of fracture in the direction of local ns The advantage was confirmed. In addition, Low-angle fracture hydraulic conductivity of the value of 3.61e-07 m/s has a value greater than the major fracture, the fracture zones exist in the base rock and base rock and the hydraulic characteristics of the different methods applied and had to have a different interpretation judged by was.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.471-484
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• 2002

Alluviums in the Keum River watershed cover an areal extent of $3,029{\;}\textrm{km}^2$ and contain about 8.1 billion tons of groundwater. However, the waters are severely polluted by nitrate, possibly due to the application of nitrogen fertilizer (>250 N kg/ha) on agricultural land. This paper aims to elucidate the pollution status and behaviors of nitrate in alluvial groundwaters in the Keum River watershed area, based on regional hydrogeochemical study. Most of the collected samples (n = 186) are polluted by nitrate (average = 42.2 mg/L, maximum = 295 mg/L). About 29% of the samples have the nitrate concentrations exceeding Korean Drinking Water Standard (44 mg/L $NO_3$). The distribution of nitrate concentrations in the study area is largely dependant on geochemical environments of alluvial aquifers. In particular, the decrease of redox potential of alluvial groundwaters showed a good correlation with the decreases of nitrate, iron, and manganese concentrations. Thus, the change of redox state in alluvial aquifers, likely reflecting their sedimentary environments, controls both the behavior and fate of nitrogen compounds and their natural attenuation (denitrification) in aquifers. A carbon-rich, silty layer within alluvium strata forms a reducing condition and possesses a buffering capacity on nitrate pollution.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.156-162
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• 2005

Particularly in research related to seawater intrusion the change of fluid electrical conductivity is one of major concerns, and effective monitoring can help to optimize a water pumping performance in coastal areas. Special considerations should be given to the mounting of sensors at proper depth during the monitoring design since the vertical distribution of fluid electrical conductivity is sensitive to the characteristics of seawater intrusion zone. This tells us the multi-channel electrical conductivity monitoring is of paramount consequence. It, however, is a rare event when this approach becomes routinely available in that commonly used commercial stand-alone type sensors are very expensive and inadequate for a long term monitoring of electrical conductivity or water level due to their restricted storage and difficulty of real-time control. For this reason, we have developed a real-time monitoring system that could meet these requirements. This system is user friendly, cost-effective, and easy to control measurement parameters - sampling interval, acquisition range, and others. And this devised system has been utilized for the electrical conductivity monitoring in boreholes, Yeonggwang-gun, Korea. Monitoring has been consecutively executed for 24 hours, and the responses of electrical conductivity at some channels have been regularly increased or decreased while pumping up water. It, with well logging data implemented before/after pumping water, verifies that electrical conductivity changes in the specified depths originate from fluid movements through sand layer or permeable fractured rock. Eventually, the multi-channel electrical conductivity monitoring system makes an effective key to secure groundwater resources in coastal areas.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.209-218
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• 2013

This study was to characterize the minerals in fractured and bedrock zone, and determine quantitatively sorption for radioactive cesium ($^{137}Cs$) at the Korean nuclear facility site. The rock samples were granite group that mainly consists of quartz and feldspar with 10~20% mica minerals. Chlorite was observed as secondary mineral for the rock samples collected from fractured zone, but not for bedrock samples. The $^{137}Cs$ sorption distribution coefficients increased to $K_d$ = 880~960 mL/g in the fractured zone because of the presence of secondary minerals formed by weathering processes, compared to the bedrock zone ($K_d$ = 820~840 mL/g). These results suggest that the released $^{137}Cs$ to groundwater environment could be significantly retarded in the fractured zone in the case of severe nuclear accident at the study site.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2005

This research is aimed at investigating the ground characterization of the Cheongju granite area using the geophysical methods. Test site was chosen from the building site in Chungbuk University, Chongju, Chungbuk province. Furthermore, geophysical methods are employed on the outcrops in the east to map the distribution of fault and intrusion and reveal the degree of weathering. The subsurface structure mapped from seismic re-fraction survey mainly consists of two units of weathered soil and rock. Threshold of the units were determined on the basis of seismic velocity of 800 m/s, supported from the standard classification table. From the results of standard penetrating test(SPT), these units are found to show medium-high and high density, respectively. Weathering soil is subdivided in unsaturated layer and saturated layer with thresholds of seismic velocity (500 m/s) and resistivity (200 ohm-m). In particular, unsaturated layer is again classified into dry and wet portions using the GPR section. The boundary between unsaturated and saturated weathering soils corresponds to the groundwater table at depth of approximately 5～6.2 m, which is well correlated with the one from drill-core data. However, bedrock is not delineated by geophysical methods. In the GPR section, fault and intrusion observed on the outcrop are revealed not to extend to the building site. With respect to weathering degree, the outcrop characterized by low resistivity and velocity corresponds to the grade of 'completely weathered' from the geotechnical investigations.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.16 no.4 s.50
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• pp.455-463
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• 2006

The electrical resistivity prospecting method with dipole-dipole array was applied to the Mooreung landfill site in order to survey the existence of leachate around the landfill site. Moreover, if there is leachate within Mooreung landfill site, the analysis of potential pathways to exterior environments was tried. Within the landfill site, the over-all characteristics of the electrical resistivity anomalies suggest that the leachate induced from the landfill materials has infiltrated the basement rock and fill the pores of basement rock in some parts of the landfill site. The consistency of the anomaly locations (left part of each survey line), anomaly geometries, and absolute resistivity value of anomaly through the 3 survey lines suggests that the resistivity anomaly be connected from the upstream to the downstream and correspond to the leachate material. Finally, the result from the electrical resistivity survey line near the gateway of the landfill site suggests that some of the leachate induced from landfill material leaks to the exterior groundwater system. It is necessary that more surveys using both geochemical and geophysical methods should be performed to find out potential pathways and depths of the leachate more precisely.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.68-77
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• 2008

We have developed an inversion algorithm for loop-loop electromagnetic (EM) data, based on the localised non-linear or extended Born approximation to the solution of the 2.5D integral equation describing an EM scattering problem. Source and receiver configuration may be horizontal co-planar (HCP) or vertical co-planar (VCP). Both multi-frequency and multi-separation data can be incorporated. Our inversion code runs on a PC platform without heavy computational load. For the sake of stable and high-resolution performance of the inversion, we implemented an algorithm determining an optimum spatially varying Lagrangian multiplier as a function of sensitivity distribution, through parameter resolution matrix and Backus-Gilbert spread function analysis. Considering that the different source-receiver orientation characteristics cause inconsistent sensitivities to the resistivity structure in simultaneous inversion of HCP and VCP data, which affects the stability and resolution of the inversion result, we adapted a weighting scheme based on the variances of misfits between the measured and calculated datasets. The accuracy of the modelling code that we have developed has been proven over the frequency, conductivity, and geometric ranges typically used in a loop-loop EM system through comparison with 2.5D finite-element modelling results. We first applied the inversion to synthetic data, from a model with resistive as well as conductive inhomogeneities embedded in a homogeneous half-space, to validate its performance. Applying the inversion to field data and comparing the result with that of dc resistivity data, we conclude that the newly developed algorithm provides a reasonable image of the subsurface.

• 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.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.75-87
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• 2012

Hyporheic zone is a region beneath and alongside a stream, river, or lake bed, where there is mixing of shallow groundwater and surfacewater. Hyporheic exchange controls a variety of physical, biogeochemical and thermal processes, and provides unique ecotones in a aquatic ecosystem. Field and experimental observations, and modeling studies indicate that hyporheic exchange is mainly in response to pressure gradients driven by the geomorphological features of stream beds. In the reach scale of a stream, pool-riffle structures dominate the exchange patterns. Flow over a pool-riffle sequence develops recirculation zones and stagnation points, and this flow structures make irregular pressure gradient which is driving force of the hyporheic exchange. In this study, 3 D hydro-dynamic model solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for the surface water and Darcy's Law and the continuity equation for ground water. The two sets of equations are coupled via the pressure distribution along the interface. Simulation results show that recirculation zones and stagnation points in the pool-riffle structures dominantly control the upwelling and downwelling patterns. With decrease of recirculation zones, length of donwelling zone formed in front of riffles is reduced and position of maximum downwelling point moves downward. The numerical simulation could successfully predict the behavior of hyporheic exchange and contribute the field study, river management and restoration.