• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1086-1095
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• 2017

There is growing interest in groundwater resources to overcome the loss of surface water resources due to climate change. An understanding of the microbial community of aquifers is essential for monitoring and evaluating groundwater contamination, as well as groundwater management. Most microorganisms that inhabit aquifer ecosystems are attached to sediment particles rather than planktonic, as is the case in groundwater. Since sampling aquifer sediment is not easy, groundwater, which contains planktonic microorganisms, is generally sampled in microbial community research. Although many studies have investigated microbial communities in contaminated aquifers, there are only a few reports of microbial communities in uncontaminated or pristine aquifers, resulting in limited information on aquifer microbial diversity. Such information is needed for groundwater quality improvement. This paper describes the ecology and community structure of groundwater bacteria in uncontaminated aquifers. The diversity and structures of microbial communities in these aquifers were affected by the concentration or distribution of substrates (e.g., minerals, organic matter, etc), in addition to groundwater characteristics and human activities. Most of the microbial communities in these uncontaminated aquifers were dominated by Proteobacteria. Studies of microbial communities in uncontaminated aquifers are important to better understand the biogeochemical processes associated with groundwater quality improvement. In addition, information on the microbial communities of aquifers can be used as a basis to monitor changes in community structure due to contamination.

• Journal of Environmental Analysis, Health and Toxicology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.252-263
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• 2018

Distributions of 15 PAHs and 82 PCBs were investigated in sediment and fish samples collected from the Suyoung Estuary of Busan, one of the most urbanized and newly contaminated areas in Busan. The concentrations of $S_{15}PAH$ in sediments ranged from 17.9 to 777 ng/g-dry and were mainly originated from combustion processes. The concentrations of $S_{82}PCB$ in sediments ranged from 0.55 to 12.5 ng/g-dry and were significantly correlated with those of 12 dioxin-like PCBs and 6 non-dioxin like PCBs. Higher concentrations of PAHs and PCBs were found in the upper river and the inner Suyoung Bay than in marina and the outer Suyoung Bay. No sites exceeded the ecotoxicological values of PAHs and PCBs in marine sediments. Benzo[a]-pyrene was not detected in fish samples and the concentrations of $S_4PAH$ (0.15~0.45 ng/g-wet) were lower than the maximum level set by EU. The levels of PCBs in fish samples were at less than 1% of the Korean maximum level and 2% of the EU maximum level. The concentrations of dioxin-like PCBs were $0.01{\sim}0.32pg-TEQ_{WHO-2005}/g-wet$, and the highest concentration was found in eels, which were at less than 5% of the EU maximum level. Dietary intakes of PAHs and PCBs through fish consumption were estimated, and their lifetime cancer risk and non-cancer risk were much lower.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.9-25
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• 2020

In 2010 and 2015, total 77 surface sediment samples were collected to assess the anthropogenic effects of trace metals in surface sediments of Garolim Bay, and the physical characteristics (particle size and specific surface area) and geochemical components (major (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Ba) and trace metals (Mn, Cs, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb), organic carbon and calcium carbonate) were analyzed. Mean grain size of Garolim Bay surface sediments ranged from 0.51-5.58 Ø (mean 3.98 Ø) and increased from the inlet of bay to the inner bay, and from the waterway to the land. Most of the metal concentrations except for some elements showed the similar distribution to those of mean grain size and specific surface area. As the particle size decreased and the specific surface area increased, the metal concentration increased. In order to estimate the factors controlling the concentration of trace metals, factor analysis was performed, and three factors were extracted (92.7% of the total variation). Factor 1 accounted for 71.3% of the total variation, which was a grain size factor. Factor 2 accounted for 14.2% of the total variation, Factor 3 accounted for 7.2% of the total variance. Enrichment factor was calculated using the particle size corrected background concentration. Metals with a enrichment factor of 1.5 or higher and the number of samples were 4 for Cr (St. 1, 16, 27, 39) and 1 for Pb (St. 39), but there were little differences in the concentrations of 1M HCl leached metals for these metals. The percentage of 1M HCl leached fraction to total metal concentration decreased in the order of Pb~Co>Cu>Zn~Mn>Ni>Cr. Comparing this value with contaminated and clean sediments in other coastal areas, the percentages for each metal were similar regardless of the trace metal levels in all regions. This fact might be resulted from the reaction between the 1M HCl solution and the different sediment constituents, indicating that there is a limit to apply this percentage of leached metal to the estimation of the contamination extent.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.169-179
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• 2011

To investigate the controlling factor and accumulation of trace metal concentrations in Chun-su Bay sediments, grain-size, specific surface area, organic carbon content, calcium carbonate content, and concentration of Al, Fe, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Ti, Mn, P, S, Ba, Sr, Li, Co, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Cs, Sc, V, Sn were analyzed. Controlling factors of metals were quartz-dilution, calcium carbonate and coarse sand or K-feldspar. Although the distribution of V, Co, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sn, and Cd concentration was explained by grain-size effiect, Mn and As showed the similar importance of grain-size effect and coarse sand or K-feldspar factors. By virtue of enrichment factor and 1 M HCl experiment, there were little enrichment in all the trace metals in bay sediments, which were explained well by geochemical properties of sediments. Since the concentration levels of As in coarse sand were high as much as those in fine-grained sediments and it was combined with Mn oxide (1 M HCl leached) and K-feldspar (residual), it was suggested that when the enrichment of As in sediments would be assessed, it is necessary to separate the coarse sand from bulk sediments or to use only sediments with higher than 10% in < $16{\mu}m$ fraction.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.18 no.2 s.23
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• pp.3-3
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• 2004

One short core with length of 146cm(HB-107, at coordinates of $N51^{\circ}$11'37.5";$E100^{\circ}$24'45.6", from 229m water depth was subject of the present study. The sub-samples of the core were analyzed for the water contents (WC%), biogenic silica, identification of the main phases, grain size distribution, geochemistry and some physical properties of sediment(Wet density and Magnetic susceptibility) with aims of recording palaeo-environmental changes in Northem Mongolia. The evaluation of the geochemical and mineralogical proxies on palaeo-climated and palaeo-environmental changes are based on comparison to the behvior of biogenic silica through core, as later one had been showed itself, as good indicator of the climate and environmental fluctuation. Age model of the investigating core based on previously C 14 dated core HB105 taken from the central part of the Hobsgol Lake and the result had been published elsewhere. The core consists of two litological varieties : upper diatomaceous silt, lower clay. According to the age model the upper diatomaceous silt formed during the Holocene, lower caly-during the late Pleistocene glacial period. The geochemistry and phase identification analysis on the core samples are resulted in determining main minerals that form the bottom sediments and their geochemistry. The main include quartz, felspar, muscovite, clinochlore, amphibole and carbonate phase(dolomite and calcite). Through the core not only occur the relative quantitative changes of the main phases, but also happen that the carbonate phase completely disappear in diatomaceous silt. This is believed to be related to the lake water salinity changes, which occurred during the trassition period from Pleistocene glacial-to the Holocene interglacial. These abrupt changes of the mineralogy have been clearly traced in geochemistry of sediments, specially in calcium concentration, which is high in lower clay and low in upper diatomaceous silt. That means, geochemistry and mineralogy of the bottom sediments can be used as proxy data on palaeo-climate and palaeo-environmental changes.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.85-94
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• 2015

RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) is the most important explosive contaminant, both in concentration and in frequency, at military shooting ranges in which green technologies such as phytoremediation or constructed wetlands are the best option for mitigation of explosive compounds discharge to the environment. A study was conducted with two identical lab-scale plug flow constructed wetlands planted with Amur silver grass to treat water artificially contaminated with 40 mg/L of toxic explosive compound, RDX. The reactor was inoculated with or without RDX degrading mixed culture to evaluate plant-microorganism interactions in RDX removal, transformation products distribution, and kinetic constants. RDX and its metabolites in water, plant, and sediment were analyzed by HPLC to determine mass balance and kinetic constants. After 30 days of operation, the reactor reached steady-state at which more than 99% of RDX was removed with or without the mixed culture inoculation. The major transformation product was TNX (Trinitroso-RDX) that comprised approximately 50% in the mass balance of both reactors. It was also the major compound in the plant root and shoot system. Acute toxicity analysis of the water samples showed more than 30% of toxicity reduction in the effluent than that of influent containing 40 mg/L of RDX. In the Amur silver grass mesocosm seeded with the mixed culture, the specific RDX removal rate, that is 1st order removal rate normalized to plant fresh weight, was estimated to be 0.84 kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ which is 16.7% higher than that in the planted only mesocosm. Therefore, the results of this study proved that Amur silver grass is an effective plant for RDX removal in constructed wetlands and the efficiency can be increased even more when applied with RDX degrading microbial consortia.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.86-92
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• 2007

In this study, we tried to quantitatively study the distribution of estrogenic activity in sediment from Gwangyang Bay by E-screen assay. Besides, we compared the estrogenic activity and the concentration of chemical pollutants. The highest estrogenic activity was recorded at the stations(GY6 and GY8) close to industrial complex and the river mouth of Seomjin. These results obtained from the E-screen assay similar to those of simultaneous analytical detection of 310 chemicals. In particular, GY6 and GY8 sites are confirmed as the full agonist sites because of their RPE values were over 90% having strong estrogenic effect. Also, their EEQ(Estradiol Equivalency Quantity) values are 35.6 ng/g and 14.6 ng/g, low than that of other sites, and these results suggests that have relatively high estrogenic efficiency in Gwangyang Bay. From these results, we can estimate that the stations close to industrial complex and the river mouth of Seomjin are major sources of endocrine disrupter in Gwangyang Bay. On the other hand, when we tried to compare the endocrine disrupter activity and $COD_{Mn}$ value, that is not correlated.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2000

Heavy metal concentrations in surface sediments, seawater and oysters (Crassostrea gigas) were determined to assess heavy metal contamination in the Jinhae Bay. The ranges of cadmium, cobalt, copper, nickel, lead and zinc concentration in surface sediments were 0.1∼2.4, 12.6∼14.4, 25.3∼ 92.3, 32.4∼ 93.5, 24. 1∼81.2, 124∼477 ㎍/g, respectively. The concentrations of cadmium, copper, lead and zinc which were influenced by industrial activity were the highest in the inside of Masan Bay. Dissolved concentrations of cadmium, cobalt, copper, nickel, lead and zinc in seawater were <0.010∼0.043, 0.008∼0.120, 0.31∼0.90, 0.25∼3.10, 0.010∼0.142, 0.27∼9.04 ㎍/L, respectively. The concentrations of cadmium, cobalt, copper, nickel, lead and zinc in seawater were also the highest inside of Masan Bay, suggesting that Masan Bay is the major source of heavy metal input to the Jinhae Bay. Bioconcentration factors (BCF) of zinc, copper, cadmium, lead, cobalt and nickel in C. gigas were 647373, 280861, 145069, 44559, 13524, 2745, respectively, showing C gigas is a stronger accumulator than other bivalves.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1125-1139
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• 2020

This study investigated the distributional pattern of meiobenthos associated with future deep-sea mining in the Korea Deep Ocean Study area present in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ) located in the southeastern part of the North Pacific Ocean. Standing stocks of meiobenthos were investigated in benthic impact experiment sites (BIS) and Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology long-term monitoring (KOMO) sites during the 2008-2014 annual field survey. A total of 14 taxa of meiobenthos were identified. Nematodes were the most abundant taxon (60-86%). Harpacticoid copepods (5-26%) and benthic foraminifera (1-12%) were also dominant at all sites. The total meiobenthic densities varied from 4 to 150 ind./10 cm2. The mean value of total meiobenthic abundance was higher at BIS than at KOMO sites, but there was no significant difference between the two sites. The mean values of the number of taxa and biomass at BIS and KOMO sites were similar. The mean abundance of nematodes that were the most dominant taxa was also higher at BIS than at KOMO sites. The standing stocks in our study sites were relatively lower than those previously reported at other CCFZ sites. These results seem to reflect a low organic concentration in the study area.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 2008

The flow characteristics and the aspects of riverbed changes were analyzed for the upstream and downstream sections of Gongju Bridge. The upstream and downstream had complex topography, and the sections had the confluence of tributaries and several structures. In order to simulate the flow characteristics of the target sections, 1D HEC-RAS and 2D RMA2 were applied. As a result, the longitudinal water level of the target sections matched the results of simulated 1D and 2D samples. Also, 2D SED2D were applied to predict riverbed changes. As a result of the simulation, quantitative analysis was able to be performed for longitudinal riverbed changes from the sections of sudden change, bridges, the confluence of tributaries, and bends. Also, the distribution of riverbed changes on the main sections was in close relation to flow velocity. As a result of evaluating the sensitivity of SED2D, the concentration of suspended sediment, the thickness of sand beds, and the size of sand grains affected riverbed changes sensitively. These results will be used to apply the models of riverbed changes in the future.