• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.14-27
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• 2024

Unlike the shelf sand ridges moribund in motion, nearshore sand ridges are highly mobile, sensitive to changes in ocean environments, thereby becoming of particular interest with respect to morphological changes. About 5 km off the Daesan port, the Jangan Sand Ridge has been undergoing severe subsea morphological change over the past two decades. Understanding the nature of sand ridges is critical to elucidate the causes of morphological changes. In this context, this study aims at understanding the characteristics and distribution patterns of surface sediments of the ridge and its vicinity. For this purpose, 227 sediment samples were acquired using a grab-sampler, the grain sizes being analysed by the sieve-pipette method. In addition, comparison of grain sizes in sediments between 1997 and 2021 was made in order to investigate the 25-years change in sediment composition. Surface sediments along the ridge axis are fine to medium sands with 2-3 phi in mean grain size, whereas, in the trough of ridge, the sediments are composed of gravels and muddy sandy gravels with mean sizes of -2 to -6 phi. Sediments in the crest of the ridge are well-sorted with normal distribution, on the other hand, the basal sediments are poorly-sorted and positively skewed. Along the ridge crest, the sediments are negatively skewed. From 1997 to 2021, the ridge sediments became largely coarser about 0.5 phi. Such coarsening trend in mean grain size can be explained either by elimination of fine sediments during high waves in winter or elimination of fines suspended during sand mining activities in the past. Spatial distribution pattern of surface sediments shows that ca. 30 m thick of the sand ridge itself overlies the thin relict gravels. The strong asymmetry of sand ridge, the exposure of ridge base, and reworked gravel lags suggest that Jangan sand ridge is probably sediment-deficit and hence erosive in nature at present.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 1998

The transport of suspended matter was interpreted in the coastal zone off Taean Peninsula during the summer (June) in 1996. Coastal waters were homogenous in water temperature and salinity, whereas offshore waters were characterzed by the strong thermocline. Mixing between coastal and offshore waters are negligeable, largely lessened, due to the existence of strong tidal front between the two water masses. In the offshore area, less saline coastal waters from the Kyunggi Bay are considered to be transported southward along the mid-depth layer of thermocline. Concentration of suspended matters was higher than 5 mg/l in the northern coastal area near the Kyunggi Bay, but generally less than 2 mg/l in the offshore area. Less saline waters along the mid-depth layer in the offshore area sustain maximum turbidities throughout the water column. Therefore suspended matters supplied from the coastal area of Kyunggi Bay are considered to be transported southward by the advective movement of less saline coastal waters. Mean particle size of the suspended matters shows 2~9 ${\mu}m$. Coarse grains (mean size larger than 7 ${\mu}m$) are predominant in the less saline coastal waters extending to the offshore mid-depth waters. Such size distributions of suspended matters together with the characteristics of water masses are considered to be an indicator for the southward movement of suspended matters derived from Kyunggi Bay.