• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.205-217
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• 2014

As Mt. Backdu is expected to erupt, the social and economic impacts of the eruption on the Korean peninsula as well as on the world become a research topic of interest. If the volcano erupts, South Korea can be directly impacted by volcanic ash, which will bring out secondary damages in various ways. Given that the direct damage is a basis to estimate indirect and secondary damages, this paper was to review a method to estimate direct damages, called catastrophe risk models, and estimate the direct damages of available eruption scenarios of Mt. Baekdu. Based on the results, the damages by volcanic ash will occur mostly around Gangwon province if the Mt. Backdu erupts. Thus the inventory lists and their damage functions of Gangwon provinces were collected. In particular agricultural and forestry products were surveyed based on the land use. Direct damages were estimated using volcanic ash distribution of eruption scenarios, inventory information and their damage functions. In result, a scenario in winter caused the damage of 299.8 billion KRW (20.4% of total agricultural production in 2010) and 28.9 billion KRW (9.0% of total forestry production in 2010) in agriculture and forestry, respectively. The damages in agriculture was larger, and it is due to the damage functions which show the agricultural products are more vulnerable to volcanic ash than forestry products. Also the agricultural production (1,471.7 billion KRW in 2010) are more than 4.5 times the forestry production (322.3 billion KRW in 2010) in Gangwon province. Inje and Gangnung had the most damages in the scenario in winter. Inje had the most damage due to the thick ash deposit (8.5 mm in average) despite the low production. On the other hand, Goseong had a low damage compared to the ash thickness larger than 20mm, owing to the low production. The direct damage estimated through this process can be used to estimate indirect damages.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2018

It is necessary to consider various geological parameters such as lithology, geological structure, earthquake, hydraulic geology, geochemistry, geological engineering, and geothermal in order to select potential sites for HLW(high-level radioactive waste) geological disposal. In particular, the geological lineament reflects the characteristics of various geological parameters and can be used as an important criterion for site selecting such as nuclear power plants and HLW repositories. In this paper, the Finnish lineament classification method for HLW disposal site selection through the lineament analysis was applied to the lineament data in the Korean peninsula. For this purpose, we used previous lineament data from the KIGAM(Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) and obtained new lineament data from the field geologists such as structural geologist, paleoseismologist, and geomorphologist. To ensure the reliability of the new lineament analysis data, we used high-resolution satellite images and hill-shade relief maps which were constructed by a digital elevation model. In the prevailing direction analysis from the acquired lineament data, the NNE-SSW direction was the most dominant, but the ENE-WSW and NNW-SSE directions also showed highly frequency depending on the experts. Applying the Finnish classification method, the geometrical development characteristics of the lineament corresponding to the Class 1 and 2 used for the wide-wide candidate site were compared. As a result of direction analysis for Class 1, the NNE-SSW direction was the most dominant and the WNW-ESE direction also showed a high frequency. In the case of Class 2, the NNE-SSW is the most prevalent and WNW-ESE or ENE-WSW direction also had highly frequency depending on the experts. Different lineament analysis results based on the same data are interpreted as a result of subjective experience and analytical criteria from the every experts. Therefore, it is necessary to establish integrated criteria and consider geophysical data for the publication of reliable nation-wide lineament map.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.185-201
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• 2018

Nuclear power plants(NPP) are constructed and operated to ensure safety against natural disasters and man-made disasters in all processes including site selection, site survey, design, construction, and operation. This paper will introduce a series of efforts conducted in Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., to assure the safety of nuclear power plant against earthquakes and other natural hazards. In particular, the present status of the earthquake, fault, and slope safety monitoring system for nuclear power plants is introduced. A earthquake observatory network for the NPP sites has been built up for nuclear safety and providing adequate seismic design standards for NPP sites by monitoring seismicity in and around NPPs since 1999. The Eupcheon Fault Monitoring System, composed of a strainmeter, seismometer, creepmeter, Global Positioning System, and groundwater meter, was installed to assess the safety of the Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant against earthquakes by monitoring the short- and long-term behavioral characteristics of the Eupcheon fault. Through the analysis of measured data, it was verified that the Eupcheon fault is a relatively stable fault that is not affected by earthquakes occurring around the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula. In addition, it was confirmed that the fault monitoring system could be very useful for seismic safety analysis and earthquake prediction study on the fault. K-SLOPE System for systematic slope monitoring was successfully developed for monitoring of the slope at nuclear power plants. Several kinds of monitoring devices including an inclinometer, tiltmeter, tension-wire, and precipitation gauge were installed on the NPP slope. A macro deformation analysis using terrestrial LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) was performed for overall slope deformation evaluation.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.273-291
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• 2016

Some ceramic artifacts representing time-wise from comb pattern pottery in the Neolithic Age to white porcelain in Joseon Dynasty were selected from 7 sites in the north and south area of Charyeong Mountain Range in order to making techniques interpretation and development process of ancient ceramics through physicochemical and mineralogical quantitative analysis. Studied pottery samples in the Prehistoric times showed trace of ring piling in soft-type, and pottery in the Three Kingdoms Period had both soft and hard-type but kettle-ware and storage-ware were made with ring piling, but table-ware was made by wheel spinning. Different from pottery after the Three Kingdom Period when refinement of source clay was high, pottery in the Neolithic Age and in the Bronze Age exhibited highly mineral content in sandy source clay, which showed a lot of larger temper than source clay. Groundmass of celadon and white porcelain almost did not reveal primary minerals but had high content of minerals by high temperature firing. Ceramic samples showed some different in major and minor elements according to sites irrespective of times. Geochemical behaviors are very similar indicating similar basic characteristics of source clay. However, loss-on-ignition showed 0.01 to 12.59wt.% range with a large deviation but it rapidly decreased moving from the Prehistoric times to the Three Kingdom Period. They have correlation with the weight loss due to firings, according to burning degree of source clay and detection of high temperature minerals, estimated firing temperatures are classified into 5 groups. Pottery in the Neolithic Age and in the Bronze Age belongs from 750 to $850^{\circ}C$ group; pottery in the Three Kingdom Period are variously found in 750 to $1,100^{\circ}C$ range of firing temperature; and it is believed celadon and white porcelain were baked in high temperature of 1,150 to $1,250^{\circ}C$. It seems difference between refinement of source clay and firing temperature based on production times resulted from change in raw material supply and firing method pursuant to development of production skill. However, there was difference in production methods even at the same period and it is thought that they were utilized according to use purpose and needs instead of evolved development simply to one direction.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.313-324
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• 2018

In order to study the earthquake precursor in the Korean peninsula, long-term variations of chemical composition, radon-222, and water level were measured at depths (-60 m, -100 m) in the groundwater monitoring wells of the Daejeon and the Cheongwon area. The pH and electrical conductivity of groundwater in the monitoring wells showed some relationship with the Pohang earthquake. The ${HCO_3}^-$ and $Cl^-$ concentration of groundwater in the Daejeon and $Mg^{2+}$, $Cl^-$ and ${NO_3}^-$ in the Cheongwon showed some relation with the Pohang earthquake. However, it is not distinct to find the relationship between their variation and earthquake. The radon-222 concentration in Daejeon was observed a significant increase from a minimum of 162 Bq/L prior to the earthquake to 573 Bq/L right after the earthquake, that indicating a strong correlation with earthquakes. In the case of groundwater levels, it can not find some correlation between earthquakes and continuous decreasing trend in the monitoring wells of Daejeon and Cheongwon area. However, water level of a national groundwater observation well within 10 kilometers of Pohang epicenter was recorded as an abrupt drop right before the earthquake. Conclusively, although the location of monitoring wells is more than 180 kilometers apart from the epicenter of the Pohang earthquake, the radon gas in groundwater can be considered as a reliable candidate among earthquake precursors. The pH, electrical conductivity, ${HCO_3}^-$ and $Cl^-$ among hydrochemicals showed some correlation with earthquake should be monitored during a longer term to recognize distinctly as a precursor of earthquake.

• Atmosphere
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.20-42
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• 2002

Based on the "Mid to Long Term Plan for Space Development", a project to launch COMeS (Communication, Oceanography, and Meteorological Satellite) into the geostationary orbit is undergoing. Accordingly, KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) has defined the meteorological missions and prepared the user requirements to fulfill the missions. To make a realistic user requirements, we prepared a first draft based on the ideal meteorological products derivable from a geostationary platform and sent the RFI (request for information) to the sensor manufacturers. Based on the responses to the RFI and other considerations, we revised the user requirement to be a realistic plan for the 2008 launch of the satellite. This manuscript introduces the revised user requirements briefly. The major mission defined in the revised user requirement is the augmentation of the detection and prediction ability of the severe weather phenomena, especially around the Korean Peninsula. The required payload is an enhanced Imager, which includes the major observation channels of the current geostationary sounder. To derive the required meteorological products from the Imager, at least 12 channels are required with the optimum of 16 channels. The minimum 12 channels are 6 wavelength bands used for current geostationary satellite, and additional channels in two visible bands, a near infrared band, two water vapor bands and one ozone absorption band. From these enhanced channel observation, we are going to derive and utilize the information of water vapor, stability index, wind field, and analysis of special weather phenomena such as the yellow sand event in addition to the standard derived products from the current geostationary Imager data. For a better temporal coverage, the Imager is required to acquire the full disk data within 15 minutes and to have the rapid scan mode for the limited area coverage. The required thresholds of spatial resolutions are 1 km and 2 km for visible and infrared channels, respectively, while the target resolutions are 0.5 km and 1 km.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.25-50
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• 1988

The survival of rich evidence of palaeolithic occupation found in the Imjin-Hant'an River basin was possible due to many fortuitous geological conditions provided there. Formation of the basalt plain in a narrow valley system which developed during the late Mesozoic insured the appearance of a basin of sedimentation in which archaeological sites would be preserved with relatively minor post-depositional disturbance. Geomagnetic and K-Ar dating indicates that lava flows occurred during the Brunes Normal Epoch. During and after the process of basin sedimentation, erosion of the plain was confined to the major channel of the present river system which developed along the structural joints formed by the lava flow. Due to characteristic columnar structure and platy cleavage of the basalt bedrock, erosion of the basalt bedrock occurred mainly in vertical direction, developing deep but narrow entrenched valleys cut into the bedrock. Consequently, the large portion of the site area remained intact. Cultural deposits formed on top of the basalt plain were left unmodified by later fluvial disturbances due to changes in the Hant'an River base-level, since they were formed about 20 to 40m above the modern floodplain. Sedimentological evidence of cultural deposits and palynological analysis of lacustrine bed formed in the tributary basin of the Hant'an River indicate that hominid occupation occurred in this basin under rapidly deteriorating climatic conditions. From three thermoluminescence dates, the timing of hominid occupation as represented by 'Acheulian-like' bifaces apparently occur sometime during 45,000 BP. Thus, deposition of cultural layers in this basin approximately coincides with the beginning of the second stadial of the final glacial, during which the Korean Peninsula must have had provided a sanctuary for prolonged human occupation.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2008

By analyzing the observations from a number of ground- and space-based instruments, including ionosonde, magnetometers, and ACE interplanetary data, we examine the response of the ionospheric TEC over Korea during 2003 magnetic storms. We found that the variation of vertical TEC is correlated with the southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field $B_z$. It is suggested that the electric fields produced by the dynamo process in the high-latitude region and the prompt penetration in the low- latitude region are responsible for TEC increases. During the June 16 event, dayside TEC values increase more than 15%. And the ionospheric F2-layer peak height (hmF2) was ${\sim}300km$ higher and the vertical $E{\times}B$ drift (estimated from ground-based magnetometer equatorial electrojet delta H) showed downward drift, which may be due to the ionospheric disturbance dynamo electric field produced by the large amount of energy dissipation into high-latitude regions. In contrast, during November 20 event, the nightside TEC increases may be due to the prompt penetration westward electric field. The ionospheric F2-layer peak height was below 200km and the vertical $E{\times}B$ drift showed downward drift. Also, a strong correlation is observed between enhanced vertical TEC and enhaaced interplanetary electric field. It is shown that, even though TEC increases are caused by the different processes, the electric field disturbances in the ionosphere play an important role in the variation of TEC over Korea.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.134-140
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• 2012

Asian dust storms originating in the arid desert of China and Mongolia usually occur from late winter through spring, and more than one million tons of dust per year is transported to the Korean Peninsula by the prevalent westerly winds. We supposed that these dust particles could include bioaerosols and act as carriers of microorganisms. In order to clarify the dynamics of microorganisms moving with these particles, the concentration and composition of microorganisms associated with settled particles were compared between samples collected during Asian dust events and those under non-dust periods. From February to April 2008, settled dust particles were collected at one location in Ulsan using rainfall meter of 200 mm diameter. During this period, there was one Asian dust event in Ulsan. The bacterial concentrations were higher in samples collected during Asian dust event than those under non-dust period, whereas fungal concentrations were rather similar regardless of the Asian dust event. We analyzed 16S rRNA gene sequences of 45 bacterial isolates obtained from the settled particle samples. These isolates belonged to either genus Bacillus or genus Streptococcus and were tentatively identified as B. amyloliquefaciens, B. aryabhattai, B. atrophaeus, B. licheniformis, B. megaterium, B. methylotrophicus, B. pumilus, B. sonorensis, B. subtlis, B. vallismortis, S. epidermidis, and S. succinus. In cases of fungal isolates, genera such as Mucor, Alternaria, Cladosporium, and Aspergillus were tentatively identified from samples collected at both Asian dust and non-Asian dust periods. It appears that endospore-forming bacteria such as Bacillus sp. rather than fungal spores are more likely to be associated with Asian dust particles.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.300-310
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• 2006

Genomic DNA isolated from three geographical gizzard-shad (Konosirus punctatus) populations in Seocheon (SC), Busan (BS) and Gochang (GC) collected in the West Sea and the southern sea, respectively, off the Korean Peninsula, were PCR-amplified repeatedly. Eight selected decamer and 20-mer primers generated a total of 713 loci in the SC population, 791 in the BS population, and 732 in the GC population, with a DNA fragment size ranging from 100 bp to 2,800 bp. We identified 50 unique loci for the SC population, 70 unique loci for the BS population and 130 for the GC population: 120 shared loci for the three populations. There were 108 specific loci (15.1%) for the SC population, 74 (9.4%) for the BS population, and 67 (9.2%) for the GC population. Eight primers also generated 48 polymorphic loci (6.7%) for the SC population, 26 (3.3%) for the BS population, and 16 (2.2%) for the GC population. The similarity matrix ranged from 0.756 to 0.936 for the SC population, from 0.800 to 0.938 for the BS population, and from 0.731 to 0.959 for the GC population. The dendrogram obtained by the eight primers indicates three genetic clusters: cluster 1 (SEOCHEON 01~SEOCHEON 10), cluster 2 (BUSAN 11~BUSAN 20 and GOCHANG 23~GOCHANG 24), and cluster 3 (GOCHANG 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30). As stated above, some individuals of the GC population appear to belong in BS population. When seeing this result, it was thought with the fact that some individuals of 2 populations seem to come and go partially. Thus, RAPD-PCR analysis revealed a significant genetic distance between the three geographical gizzard-shad populations. Using various decamer and 20-mer primers, RAPD-PCR may be applied to identify specific/polymorphic markers that are particular to a species and geographic population, and to define genetic diversity, polymorphisms, and similarities among geographical gizzard-shad populations.