• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.357-365
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• 2010

This study evaluated current status of marine sand mining and related assessment systems in Korea for supporting effective policy development. The estimated total deposit of sand was ca. 10 billion $m^3$, while the estimated minable amount was ca. 5.5 billion $m^3$, in which marine sand accounted for 21%. The proportion of marine sand to the total mined aggregates has steadily increased by 15% in 1992 to 28% in 2002, but recently slightly decreased. Marine sand mining is regulated under a consultation system on the coastal development according to the "Marine Environmental Management Act". During 2002-2009, a total of 184 million $m^3$ of marine sand was mined, and the annual amount ranged from 17,440,000-33,698,000 $m^3$ the coastal area accounted for 64.5% and the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) 35.5%. In the coastal area, the major area supplying the marine sand was Gyeonggi Bay (>62%) followed by some southwestern coastal areas. The South and the West EEZ explained 23.9% and 11.6% of the total mined sand. The extent of marine sand mining in Korea was evaluated to be greater compared with other countries. Large-scale concentrated and repeated sand mining can damage environmental changes and ecology with long-term accumulated impacts.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.337-350
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• 2010

This study conducted sedimentological and geophysical surveys for 3 years (2006-2008) in southern Gyeonggi Bay, Korea to elucidate temporal changes in subaqueous dune morphology on a sand ridge trending northeast to southwest that has been excavated by marine sand mining. The sand ridge (~20 m in height, ~2 km in width and 3~4 km in length) has a steep slope on the NW side and a gentle slope on the SE side, creating an asymmetric profile. Large (10~100 m in length) and very large (>100 m in length) dunes occurring on the SE side of the ridge show a northeastward asymmetrical shape, whereas dunes on the NW side destroyed by marine sand mining display a southwestward asymmetry. The comparison between Flemming (1988)'s correlation and the height-length correlation of this study indicates that tidal current and availability of sand sediment are major controlling factors to the development and maintenance of dunes. Depth and sedimentary characteristics (grain size) are not likely to be major controlling factors, but indirectly influence dune growth by hydrological and sedimentary processes. The length and the height of dunes decrease toward the southeastern trough away from the crest of the ridge. These features result from the decrease of tidal current and sediment availability. The length and the height of dunes on the southeast side decrease gradually over time. This is a result of the interaction between tidal current and the decrease in sediment availability due to sediment extraction by marine sand mining. Marine sand mining has destroyed the dunes directly, causing irregular shapes of shorter length and lower height. The coarse fraction of suspended sediments is transported and deposited very close to the sand pit. By contrast, relatively fine sediments are transported by the tidal current and deposited over a wide range by the settling-lag effect, resulting in a decrease of sediment grain size in the area where suspended sediments are deposited. In addition, marine sand mining, decreases the height of dunes. Therefore, morphological and sedimentological characteristics of dunes around the sand pits will be significantly changed by future sand mining activities.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.335-345
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• 2010

This paper assessed environmental impacts of marine sand mining on coastal areas and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of Korea, and diagnosed problems of the related assessment statements for suggesting key assessment items (scoping) and system improvement. To mitigate conflicts and environmental impacts caused by large-scale, concentrated sand mining, we suggest it is critical to promote sustainable and eco-friendly utilization of marine resources while listening opinions from various stakeholders and analyzing alternative plans. Especially, it should be mandatory as a scoping item to provide verifiable data on the amount of sand, potential and accumulative impacts by mining, and key assessment items (e.g. erosion and sedimentation by submarine topography, benthic change, spreading of suspended solids, water pollution, grain-size change, and impact on fisheries resources). We also suggest that postassessment and monitoring should be improved to enable tracking of environmental impacts caused by sand mining through seasonal monitoring together with intermittent short-term surveys. In addition, effective measures to mitigate the impacts is also essential. As repeated sand mining at large-scale can damage marine ecosystems by long-term accumulated impacts, we suggest that assessment systems and regulatory policies should be developed and established, especially for ensuring reliability of assessment and review on selected major sandmining projects.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.741-751
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• 2012

This article analyzes the interdependency between nonrenewable marine sand resources and renewable fishery resources by the developed dynamic bioeconomic model. The developed bioeconomic model is applied to a case study of efficient sustainable management for marine sand mining, which adversely affects a valuable blue crab fishery and its habitat in Korea. The socially-efficient extraction plan for marine sand and the time-variant environmental external costs to society in terms of diminished harvest rate of blue crab are determined. To take into account long-term effects from destroyed fishery habitat, a Beverton-Holt age structure model is integrated into the bioeconomic model. The illustrative results reveal that the efficient sand extraction plan is dynamically constrained by the stock size of the blue crab fishery over time. Thus, the dynamic environmental external cost is more realistic resource policy option than the classical fixed external cost for determining socially optimal extraction plans. Additionally, the economic value of bottom habitat, which supports the on- and off-site commercial blue crab fishery is estimated. The empirical results are interpreted with emphasis on guidelines for management policy for marine sand mining.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.205-216
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of large scale marine sand mining on the marine ecological community. For the study, four stations along the coast were selected and monitored in 1998 and 2001 at mining areas and non-mining areas about the Gyeonggi Bay. The result revealed that in 1998, 9 species of fishes, 16 species of crustaceans, and 6 species of mollusks were collected where as in 2001, 11 species of fishes, 5 species of crustaceans, and 2 species of mollusks were collected, uncovering the fact that fishes have diversified while crustaceans and mollusks have reduced on a grand scale. Also, there were two key characteristics regarding the changes of biological communities in mining and nonmining areas. The first was the dwindling of crustaceans inhabiting the sand area. This outcome may be accounted for by the facts that physical removal of seabed sediments and re-sediment due to expansion of floating particles cause direct influence on the ocean floor ecosystem and have continuous effect on the communities of crustaceans which feed on them. Secondly, the newly arrived species and their population during spring and summer seasons have increased in the non-mining areas and have decreased in the mining area. It can be concluded that highly nomadic fish species migrate toward areas with less disturbance or destruction of ecosystem from marine sand mining, and consequently, the communities of fishes change in the sea area. Setting aside the characteristics of the investigated sea areas where the arriving conditions of species vary by seasons, the clear differences of population of organisms in those areas are due to environmental alterations owing to the marine sand mining ; if those large-scale marine sand mining activities continue in the Gyeonggi Bay, their effects on biological communities in the areas will only grow.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.575-594
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• 2013

Organic soils exhibit problematic properties such as high compressibility and low shear strength; these properties may cause differential settlement or failure in structures built on such soils. Organic soil removal or stabilization are the most important methods to overcome geotechnical problems related to peat soils' engineering characteristics. This paper presents soil mechanical intervention for stabilization of peat with sand columns and focuses on a comparison between the mechanical characteristics of undisturbed peat and peat stabilized with 20%, 30% and 40% of sand on the laboratory scale. Cylindrical columns were extruded in different diameters through a nearly undisturbed peat sample in the laboratory and filled with sand. By adding sand columns to peat, higher permeability, higher shear strength and a faster consolidation was achieved. The sample with 70% peat and 30% sand displayed the most reliable compressibility properties. This can be attributed to proper drainage provided by sand columns for peat in this specific percentage. It was observed that the granular texture of sand also increased the friction angle of peat. The addition of 30% sand led to the highest shear strength among all mixtures considered. The peat samples with 40% sand were sampled with two and three sand columns and tested in direct shear and consolidation tests to evaluate the influence of the number and geometry of sand columns. Samples with three sand columns showed higher compressibility and shear strength. Following the results of this laboratory study it appears that the introduction of sand columns could be suitable for geotechnical peat stabilization in the field scale.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.54-54
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• 2017

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.446-447
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• 2002

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.163-170
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• 2013

The correlation and interaction mechanisms between marine debris and the vegetation zone were studied on the Jinu-do natural beach of the Nakdong river estuary. Laboratory wind tunnel experiments were carried out under the wind-field and bottom-sand conditions using wind tunnel test equipment to investigate the sedimentation characteristics of wind-drift sand deposition around marine debris and the vegetation zone. The major environmental factors/loads considered in this study were the motion of sand by wind on the beach, deposition of marine debris, and change in the vegetation zone/line. When the marine debris was installed in the wind tunnel, deposition at the front of the structure appeared first by wind action, and then deposition developed from behind at 70% of the front ground level. In contrast, in the case of vegetation, the deposition phenomenon appeared first from behind the vegetation zone/line, and was 60% higher than the front. When the height of the debris and vegetation was the same, the required experimental time to bury the vegetation completely was about twice that of the marine debris.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.180-194
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• 2010

Coastal sand dunes are dynamic and fragile buffer zones of sand and vegetation where the following three characteristics can be found: large quantities of sand, persistent wind capable of moving sand, and suitable locations for sand to accumulate. The functional properties of coastal sand dunes include the roles in sand storage, underground freshwater storage, coastal defense, and ecological environment space, among others. Recently, however, the integrity of coastal dune systems has been threatened by development, including sand extraction for the construction industry, military usage, conversion to golf courses, the building of seawalls and breakwaters, and recreational facility development. In this paper, we examined the development mechanisms and structural/format types of coastal sand dunes, as well as their functions and value from the perspective of coastal engineering based on reviews of previous researches and a case study of a small coastal sand dune in the Nakdong river estuary. Existing data indicate that there are a total of 133 coastal sand dunes in South Korea, 43 distributed on the East Sea coast (32 in the Gangwon area, and 11 in Gyeongsangbuk-do), 60 on the West Sea coast (4 in Incheon and Gyeonggi-do, 42 in Ghungcheongnam-do, 9 in Jellabuk-do, and 5 in Jellanam-do), and 30 on the South Sea coast (16 in Jellanam-do, 2 in Gyeongsangnam-do, and 12 in Jeju).