• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.75-80
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• 2005

Several metalliferous including Guedo mine, Manjung mine and Joil mine located at the upper watershed of Namhan river, were abandoned or closed since 1988 due to the mining industry promotion policy and thus disposed an enormous amount of mining wastes without a proper treatment facilities, resulting in soil pollution. In this research, total and fractional concentrations of heavy metals in mining wastes were analyzed and accordingly the degree of soil pollutions in the abandoned mine area were quantitatively assessed employing the several pollution indices. The mining waste samples from Guedo mine, Manjung mine and Joil mine recently abandoned were collected for the evaluation of the potential of water pollution by mining activities. Index of geoaccumulation fractional composition and removal efficiency of some heavy metals by different concentration of HCl treatment were analyzed. Index of geoaccumulation of Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni and Cr are 6, $4\~6,\;0\~6,\;4\~5$, 2 and 0 respectively. The index of geoaccumulation of Cd, Pb, Zn and Cu reveals the mining wastes has high pollution potential in the area. According to sequential extraction of metals in the mine wastes organic fraction of Cu, reducible fraction of Pb, residual fraction of Ni and Zn were the most abundant fraction of heavy metals in mining wastes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.363-370
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• 2005

There are approximately 2,000 metallic mines which have been abandoned in Korea. Most of the mines are located in the watershed area, which is main source of drinking water for Seoul Metropolitan area. Untreated mining wastes are remained around abandoned mines in study area. These mining wastes, flowing into farmland and stream in the downstream of abandoned mines, would cause water and soil pollution. The mining waste samples from Guedo mine, Manjung mine and Joil mine recently abandoned were collected for the evaluation of the potential of water pollution by mine waste. Index of geoaccumulation($M\"{u}ller$, 1979), fractional composition and removal efficiency of some heavy metals by different concentration of HCl treatment were analyzed. Index of geoaccumulation of Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni and Cr are 6, $4{\sim}6,\;0{\sim}6,\;4{\sim}5$, 2 and 0 respectively. Index of geoaccumulation of Cd, Pb, Zn and Cu reveals the mining wastes has high pollution pottential in the area. Organic fraction of Cu, reducible fraction of Pb, residual fraction of Ni and Zn were the most abundant fraction of heavy metals in mining wastes.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.296-305
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• 2021

This work investigated heavy metal pollution in surface sediments of rivers in Busan, Korea. Surface sediments were analyzed in order to conduct contamination assessment of organic matter, nutrients, and heavy metal concentrations. Contamination assessment of heavy metals was conducted using geoaccumulation index (I_geo), pollution load index (PLI), and potential ecological risk index (RI). Accumulation of organic matter and nutrients were affected by water discharged from sewage treatment plant. The concentrations of organic matter and nutrients were found to be greater in points which were close to the sewage treatment plant more than points furthest. The concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, Hg, As, Cr, and Ni were found to be greater in surface sediment more than in the background. The mean concentrations of heavy metals were in the order of Zn (323.5 mg/kg) > Cu (70.5 mg/kg) > Pb (39.8 mg/kg) > Cr (33.4 mg/kg) > Ni (13.5 mg/kg) > As (9.4 mg/kg) > Cd (0.84 mg/kg) > Hg (0.092 mg/kg). The result of geoaccumulation indices indicated that Hg > Cr > Cu > Ni > Zn > As > Pb > Cd were found in order of severe contamination by heavy metals. From PLI and RI analysis, it was evident that the Suyeonggang 2 was the most contaminated river.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.15-22
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• 2018

The main objective of this study was to analyse heavy metals in sediments obtained from Gwangan bridge and to evaluate pollution intensity of the sites. To evaluate pollution intensity of the sites, we used enrichment factor (EF), geoaccumulation index, potential ecological risk factor (PERF), and mean PEL quotient. Pollution intensities of these sites were evaluated by above methods, and we found most dangerous heavy metal and polluted sites. All sites showed non polluted or low risk for the heavy metals such as Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, but all sites were categorized as minor enrichment for Cd. G4 was evaluated as moderately polluted by Cd ($I_{geo}$) but other sites were unpolluted by heavy metals. In summary, Cd was found to be higher concentrations for all sites. For G4 and G5 sites, Pb and Zn in addition to Cd were higher than other sites.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.657-664
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• 2007

The content and distribution of some heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Cr, Co, Cu, Ni, Zn and Pb) were investigated in the <$63{\mu}m$ bed sediments of the Mangyeong river to recognize the extent of contamination. Results showed that a wide range of concentrations was apparent for every metal. These variations were particularly significant at the confluence of tributaries. High levels of metals occur mainly in the confluence of tributaries. Geoaccumulation indexes have been calculated to assess whether the concentration observed represent background or contaminated levels. It is proved that the Mangyeong River is moderately to strongly polluted for Mn, Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb. The spatial extent of pollution was examined, and it was found that the most polluted area is located in the confluence of Iksan and Jeonju tributaries.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.118-126
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• 2012

To investigate the effect of aircraft traffic emissions on soil pollution, metal levels were analyzed for 8 metals (Fe, Cr, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Mn and Cd) from the vicinity of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi, India. The texture of the airport soil was observed to be sandy. Among the metals, Cd showed minimum concentration ($2.07{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$), while Fe showed maximum concentration ($4379{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$). The highest metal accumulation was observed at the landing site. Significant correlations were observed between metals and different textures (sand, silt, and clay) as well as with organic carbon (OC). The results indicate that grain size play a major role in OC retention in soil and subsequently helps in adsorption of metals in soil. M$\ddot{u}$ller's geoaccumulation index (I-geo) showed that airport soil was contaminated due to Cd and Pb with the pollution class 2 and 1, respectively. Pollution load index of the airport site was 1.34-3 times higher than the background site. The results of factor analysis suggested that source of the soil metal is mainly from natural weathering of soil, aircraft exhaust, and automobile exhaust from near by area. With respect to Dutch target values, the airport soils showed ~3 times higher Cd concentration. The study highlighted the future risk of enhanced metal pollution with respect to Cd and Pb due to aircraft trafficking.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2022

BACKGROUND: Heavy metals discharged from various sources contaminate the soil and water and the residuals can persistently be accumulated. In this study, the concentration of soil heavy metals was assessed over the whole regions of Korea based on the contamination factor and the geoaccumulation index. METHODS AND RESULTS: The data of averaged concentrations of heavy metals and fluorine were collected from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) and the research papers published. In order to classify the levels of heavy metal concentration, the contamination index, including the contamination factor and the geoaccumulation index, based on the relative ratio of the actual concentration of heavy metals in the soil to the background concentration was calculated. In addition, the distribution of heavy metals in soils was visualized by using the geographic information system (GIS). As a result, the Cd contamination in the soils was the most concerned. CONCLUSION(S): This study very roughly indicated the outline of heavy metal concentration over the whole regions of Korea. The change in heavy metals' concentration over the time should further be monitored and the larger data of heavy metal contamination are needed for better understanding in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.45-46
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• 2005

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.520-527
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• 2005

In order to investigate the geochemical characteristics of surface sediments in streams of upper Yeongsan River drainage system, sediment samples from the main stream of Yeongsan river, Hwangryong river, Gwangju and Jiseok streams were collected and analyzed for grain size and metal and organic carbon contents. The metal contents in the sediments are mainly dependent on organic matter contents in the domestic sewage, grain size of the sediments and geology around the streams. Enrichment factor (EF) and index of geoaccumulation (Igeo) representing the degree of metal contamination in the sediments are relatively low in the main stream of Yeongsan river main stream, Hwangryong river and Jiseok stream. However, those of Gwangju stream show the EF maximum values of P=8.30, Cu=5.55, Zn=14.29 and Pb=7.45 and the Igeo maximum values of P=3.58, Cu=4.43, Zn=3.22 and Pb=1.59.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.626-637
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• 2013

We measured the grain size, ignition loss (IL), chemical oxygen demand (COD), acid volatile sulfide (AVS) and trace metals (Al, Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Mn, Hg, and As) of intertidal surface sediment collected from 11 islands (62 stations) in the southern region of Jeollanam Province. The objective of this research was to evaluate the organic matter and trace metals contaminations of sediments from coastal island tidal flats. Surface sediment texture was characterized as follows: mud, sandy silt, muddy sand, and slightly gravelly sand facies. The finer sediments are mainly dominated in the northern part of each island. The concentrations of IL, COD, AVS and some trace metals (Al, Fe, Zn, Cr, Cu, and Hg) were higher in the northwestern part of Wan Island and the area between Gogeum and Sinji Islands, and were associated with relatively finer sediment, as compared to other locations. The concentrations of Mn, Pb, Cd, and As were higher in the northwestern and southeastern parts of Geoguem and Pyungil Islands, but were not correlated with mean grain size. Based on sediment quality guidelines (SQGs), the concentrations of trace metals were lower than the values of effect range low (ERL), used in United States, and threshold effects level (TEL), used in Korea, with exception of As. Similarly, the intertidal sediments were moderately contaminated with As, based on the the enrichment factor (EF) and the geoaccumulation index ($I_{geo}$). The high concentration of As in intertidal sediments from this study region may be due to the input of naturally or artificially contaminated submarine groundwater, contaminated waste from seaweed aquaculture operations and/or land-based seaweed processing facilities. Further studies are needed to identify the sources of As in this study region, and to determine the effects of As contamination on coastal ecosystem.