• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09c
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• pp.37-46
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• 2010

Marine clays are soft soil deposits having complicated mineralogy and formation characteristics. Thus, characterization of its geotechnical behavior has been a main issue for geotechnical engineers. Nowadays, the importance and applications of geophysical exploration on marine clays are increasing significantly according to the accuracy, efficiency, and reliability of geophysical survey technology. For marine clays, seismic survey is effective for density and elasticity characterization, while electro-magnetic wave provides the information about the fluid conductivity phenomena inside soil. For practical applications, elastic wave technology can evaluate the consolidation state of natural marine clay layers and estimate important geotechnical engineering parameters of artificially reclaimed marine deposits. Electrical resistivity can provide geophysical characteristics such as particle cementation, pore geometry shape, and pore material phase condition. Furthermore, nondestructive geophysical monitoring is applicable for risk management and efficiency enhancement during natural methane gas extraction from gas hydrate-bearing sediments.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.50-53
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• 2006

Regional geophysical surveys and geological cal studies on natural gas hydrate (NGH) in the East Sea were carried out by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) from 2000 to 2004. 16 piston cores, 2270 L-km of multi-channel reflection seismic (MCRS) data and 730 L-km of 3.5kHz Chirp data obtained from the southwestern part of the deep-water Ulleung Basin were analyzed in this study. In piston cores, cracks generally developed parallel to bedding suggest significant gas content. The core analyses showed high total organic carbon (TOC) content, sedimentation rate and heat flow of sediments. These are in favor of the general ion of substantial biogenic methane, which can form the NGH within the stability zone of the near seafloor sediments in the study area. The cores generally show also high residual hydrocarbon gas concentrations for the formation of natural gas hydrates The geophysical indicators of the presence of gas and/or NGH such as bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs), seismic blank Bones, pockmarks and gas seeping features were well defined on the MCRS and Chirp data.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.666-671
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• 2012

Gas hydrates are inclusion compounds formed when small-sized guest molecules are incorporated into the well defined cages made up of hydrogen bonded water molecules. Since large masses of natural gas hydrates exist in permafrost regions or beneath deep oceans, these naturally occurring gas hydrates in the earth containing mostly $CH_4$ are regarded as future energy resources. The heat of dissociation is one of the most important thermal properties in exploiting natural gas hydrates. The accurate and direct method to measure the dissociation enthalpies of gas hydrates is to use a calorimeter. In this study, the high pressure micro DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimeter) was used to measure the dissociation enthalpies of methane, ethane, and propane hydrates. The accuracy and repeatability of the data obtained from the DSC was confirmed by measuring the dissociation enthalpy of ice. The dissociation enthalpies of methane, ethane, and propane hydrates were found to be 54.2, 73.8, and 127.7 kJ/mol-gas, respectively. For each gas hydrate, at given pressures the dissociation temperatures which were obtained in the process of enthalpy measurement were compared with three-phase (hydrate (H) - liquid water (Lw) - vapor (V)) equilibrium data in the literature and found to be in good agreement with literature values.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.423-429
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• 2014

Development of a reservoir pressure core sampler (PCS) with a built-in data logging system (DLS) for recording real-time temperature and pressure observations is critical in domestic hydrocarbon production to accurately measure and monitor reserves of shale gas, coalbed methane, and gas-hydrate. Another purpose of this new technology is to minimize the loss of gas from the core as the drill core is collected. This is accomplished by maintaining the pressure of the sample from the moment the drill core is obtained at depth, thus allowing an accurate analysis of shale gas, coalbed methane gas, and gashydrate within the core. Currently, the United States and European countries have monopolized the development and marketability of PCS technologies. We are thus developing a reservoir PCS by analyzing the operating principle and mechanisms of the existing PCS, and by conducting tests on the existing PCS. We further aim to develop a PCS with a maximum operating pressure of 100 bar, a maximum operating temperature of $-20^{\circ}C$ to $40^{\circ}C$, and a pressure loss rate of 10%.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.14-20
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• 2006

During the 11 year period of 1995-2005, there was about a 40% increase in the world copper demand mainly because of the Asian economic growth. In the increase, about a half was consumed by China. Most of the China's copper demand increase has been taken place over the final 5-6 years of that period. The growth is expected to continue for several years, and in 10 years or sooner the same situation is expected for India. Copper is the third metal in global demand, but its little abundance in the Earth's crust is not well recognized. From the production rate and the abundance, a copper shortage, or crisis, has a high probability than the other metals. Deep ocean mineral resources such as manganese nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zones, Kuroko-type massive seafloor sulfides (SMS), and cobalt-rich manganese crusts in the EEZ and the high sea areas have big potentials for the future sources. We need to re-evaluate their potentials as copper resources and other metals to realize their developments. The same situation is under progress in the hydro-carbon markets. Methane hydrates that are classified into non-conventional hydro-carbon resources have an important role as the future sources, too.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 2016

In this paper, we perform a numerical analysis to evaluate the potential of fault reactivation during gas production from hydrate bearing sediments and the moment magnitude of induced seismicity. For the numerical analysis, sequential coupling of TOUGH+Hydrate and FLAC3D was used and the change in effective stress and consequent geomechanical deformation including fault reactivation was simulated by assuming that Mohr-Coulomb shear resistance criterion is valid. From the test production simulation of 30 days, we showed that pore pressure reduction as well as effective stress change hardly induces the fault reactivation in the vicinity of a production well. We also investigated the influence of stress state conditions to a fault reactivation, and showed that normal fault stress regime, where vertical stress is relatively greater than horizontal, may have the largest potential for the reactivation. We tested one simulation that earthquake can be induced during gas production and calculated the moment magnitude of the seismicity. Our calculation presented that all the magnitudes from the calculation were negative values, which indicates that induced earthquakes can be grouped into micro-seismic and as small as hardly perceived by human beings. However, it should be noted that the current simulation was carried out using the highly simplified geometric model and assumptions such that the further simulations for a scheduled test production and commercial scale production considering complex geometric conditions may produce different results.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.137-140
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• 2008

During CHAOS (2003, 2006) and SSGH projects (2007), acoustic investigation including hydroacoustic (HA), side-scan sonar (SSS) and highresolution sparker seismic (HSS) surveys was carried out on the northeastern Sakhalin slope ($53^{\circ}56'\;N$, $143^{\circ}52'\;E$ to $54^{\circ}40'\;N$, $144^{\circ}32'\;E$). More than 130 methane seeps with high backscatter intensity are identified on SSS mosaic, which are well accompanied with gas flares in the water column on HA profiles and subbottom gas chimneys on HSS profiles. It is likely that that some seeps align along a NW strike parallel to the Lavrentiev Fault.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.660-662
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• 2005

본 연구에서는 미 인근 해저에서 ODP로 확인된 부존 하이드레이트 샘플을 다양한 분광학 및 실험적 분석 방법을 통해 시료의 물성 및 특성을 파악하여 부존된 하이드레이트 자원의 성분 파악을 목적으로 하고 있다. 일반적으로 가스 하이드레이트 연구에 있어서 X-ray diffractometer, NMR stectrometer, Raman spectrometer 등 분광학적 분석기기를 이용하여 가스 하이드레이트의 구조 및 성분을 규명한다. 본 연구에서는 실험실에서 인위적으로 만들어진 메탄 하이드레이트와 심해저 천연가스 하이드레이트 층에서 채취된 샘플의 비교 분석을 통하여 심해에 매장되어 있는 천연가스 하이드레이트의 구조 및 성분을 규명하였다 XRD 결과로부터 천연가스 하이드레이트는 sI의 구조를 가지며 NMR 및 Raman 결과에 의하면 하이드레이트 내에 포집되어 있는 가스의 주 성분은 메탄인 것으로 밝혀졌다. 또한 천연가스 하이드레이트를 이용한 이산화탄소의 치환 실험을 통하여 심해저 천연가스 하이드레이트 층의 이산화탄소 저장 매체로의 활용 가능성을 조사하였다.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.149-157
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• 2003

Deep sea core samples were taken in the southwestern part of the Ulleung Basin in order to characterize the properties of shallow gases in the sediment. Amount of shallow gases in the sediments were calculated by head space techniques, and chemical and isotopic compositions of hydrocarbon gases were analyzed. Geochemical analyses were carried out on the gas bearing sediments to find out relationship between natural gas contents and organic characteristics of the sediments. Seismic characteristics of shallow gases in the sediments were also examined in this study. The amount of the hydrocarbon gases in the sediments range from 0.01% to 11.25%. Calculation of volume of gas per volume of wet sediment varies from 0.1 to 82.0 ml HC/L wet sediment. Methane consists 98% of the total hydrocarbon gases except for two samples. Based on the methane content and isotopic composition$(\delta^{13}c)$: -94.31$\textperthousand$~-55.5$\textperthousand$), the hydrocarbon gases from the sediments are generated from bacterial activities of methanogenic microbes. Contents of hydrocarbon gases are variable from site to site. Volume of shallow gases in the sediments shows no apparent trends vs. either characteristics of organic matter or particle sizes of the sediments. Gas concentration is high in the area of seismic anomalies such as blanking zone or chimney structures in the section. Physicochemically the pore water and the formation water systems are saturated with gases in these areas. Concentration of hydrocarbon gases in the sediments in these area shows favorable condition for generation of gas hydrate, as far as the other conditions are satisfied.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.9
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• pp.973-980
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• 2015

With their wide geographical distribution, unconventional resources are continuously compared against conventional resources, but their development is expanding because TRRs (Technical Recoverable Resources) are similar to conventional resources. In particular, there is active development of unconventional gas resources such as shale gas, tight gas, CBM (coalbed methane) and gas hydrate. However, it is difficult to calculate the material properties of unconventional resources, especially the gas content, with current geophysical logging technology. Additionally, some overseas companies have monopolies on related equipment and materials. Therefore, this study developed a reservoir PCS (Pressure Core Sampler). It can collect core samples without gaseous loss by maintaining high pressure from the moment the core is sampled and record pressure and temperature in real time. Successful performance testing was also carried out for official verification of the manufactured PCS. The reservoir PCS will contribute to the acquisition of geophysical well logging data as well as accurate and reliable cores.