• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.110-113
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• 2002

Statistical- based, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to chemical data from two underground storage systems containing LPG to assess the usefulness of such technique at the initial stage (Pyeongtaek) or middle stage (Ulsan) of hydrochemical studies. For the first case, both natural and anthropogenic contamination characterize regional groundwater. Saline water buffered by Namyang lake affects as a natural factor, whereas cement grouting influence as an artificial factor. For the second study area, contaminations due to operation of LPG caverns, such as disinfection activity and cement grouting effect, deteriorate groundwater quality. This study indicates that principal component analysis would be particularly useful for summarizing large data set for the purpose of subsurface characterization, assessing their vulnerability to contamination and protecting recharge zones.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.310-317
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• 2022

BACKGROUND: The salt in soil interrupts crop growth. Therefore, water resources are used to remove any salt found in the soil. However, water resources have been reduced by global warming; thus, a new study is required into reducing the salt in soil. Recently, the bottom ash (BA) of a biomass power plant was found to be similar to biochar. Hence, it can be used to remove heavy metals and wastewater through the adsorption characteristics of BA. The objective of this study was to evaluate the improvement effects on crop growth in saline soil containing the BA from biomass power plants. METHODS AND RESULTS: The effect on crop growth in the saline soil supplemented with BA was studied with the crop-planted pots, which were packed by reclaimed greenhouse soils collected from Byolyang, Suncheon. The BA application level was 25, 50, 100, 200, and 400 kg/10a (referred as BA25, BA50, BA100, BA200, and BA400, respectively). The BA increased the fresh weights of the leaf and root, while nitrogen uptake increased by approximately 24-102% and 54-77%, respectively for the lead and root. The phosphorous uptake increased by 38%, although only in the leaf of the lettuce. In the case of soil, BA increased water content, pH, EC, CEC, and NH₄⁺ and the SAR of the soil decreased by 5-15%. The bottom ash increased the contents of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, and fixed the amount of Na⁺. CONCLUSION(S): It was confirmed the bottom ash of a biomass power plant, based on wood pellets, improved crop growth, and increased the nutrient uptake of crops in saline soil. In addition, bottom ash, which has a wide range of porosity and high values of pH and EC, improved properties of the saline soil. However, the BA has a large amount of B, As, and heavy metals. Finally, it may require a study on the safety and contamination of heavy metals contained in the bottom ash, which would be applied in soil for a long time.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.405-418
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• 2003

Measurements of volumetric water content and saturation of porous media are very important factors in understanding the physical characteristics of soil, groundwater recharge by rainfall, pollutant movement, and slope failure. To measure such physical parameters, a permittivity method using electromagnetic wave is applied and use is made of the special permittivity response of understand to water and ethanol. In particular, the estimation is required because permittivity is influenced by the nature of the underground environment. In this study, we carried out experiments on the relative dependency of soil density, temperature and salinity of standard sand and granitic weathered soil using FDR-V system (Frequency domain reflectometry with vector network analyzer) within a frequency range of 1 - 18 GHz. The results of the study showed that the dielectric constants of standard sand and granitic weathered soil increased with increased volumetric water content of soil. However, the dependency of soil density was found to be a little low. Changes of dielectric constant with temperature appeared definitely in the real part of 1 GHz. That is, the dielectric constant of real part at 1 GHz of water and standard sand increased with the rise of temperature. However, ethanol showed decreased tendency. The study also showed that dielectric constant increased with increase in salinity at imaginary part of 1 GHz. It could be concluded from this study FDR-V system can adequately measure the physical properties of soil and the degree of salinity concentration of porous media within 1 GHz frequency range using dielectric constant.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.244-254
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• 2018

The first geophysical technique applied to the agricultural sector in Korea was electrical resistivity sounding and conducted in purpose of groundwater exploitation in the 1970s. According to the diversity of agricultural activities since the 1990s, various geophysical methods including electrical resistivity, electromagnetic induction, and self-potential method were applied to several agricultural fields such as soil characterization with saline concentration in vast reclaimed area, delineation of seawater intrusion regions in costal aquifer, safety inspection of embankment dikes with leakage problem, detection of ground subsidence from overpumping and tracing of groundwater aquifer contamination by leachate from livestock mortality burial or waste burial site. This paper introduces representative geophysical techniques that have been utilized in various agricultural fields and suggests several ways to develop the geophysical methods required for the precision agriculture field in the near future based on the past achievements.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.575-589
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• 2009

Groundwater has been extracted for irrigation in Sacheon-Hadong area, which is close to the South Sea. We analyzed chemical components of groundwater to examine the effects of seawater intrusion and agricultural activities in the study area. Most groundwater samples displayed the Na/Cl concentration ratios similar to that of seawater (0.55) with an increasing tendency of electrical conductivity ($227-7,910\;{\mu}S/cm$) towards the coast. In addition, statistical interpretation of the cumulative frequency curves of Cl and $HCO_3$ showed that 30.1% of the groundwater samples were highly affected by seawater intrusion. Groundwaters in the study area mostly belonged to the Ca-Cl and Na-Cl type, demonstrating that they were highly influenced by seawater intrusion and cation exchange. The result of oxygen-hydrogen isotope analysis demonstrated slightly higher $\delta^{18}O$ ((-8.53)-(-6.13)‰) and ${\delta}D$ ((-58.7)-(-43.7)‰) comparing to mean oxygen-hydrogen isotope ratios in Korea. As a result of nitrogen isotope analysis, the $\delta^{15}N-NO_3$ values ((-0.5)-(19.1)‰) indicate two major sources of nitrate pollution (organic nitrogen in soil and animal and human wastes) and mixed source of the two. However, denitrification may partly contribute as a source of nitrogen. According to factor analysis, four factors were identified among which factor 1 with an eigenvalue of 6.21 reflected the influence of seawater intrusion. Cluster analysis indicated the classification of groundwater into fresh, saline, and mixed ones.