• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

The effect of sediments in a waste dumping area on marine organisms was evaluated using sediment toxicity tests with a benthic amphipod (Monocorophium acherusicum) and bioluminescent bacterium (Vibrio fischeri) in accordance with the Korean Standard Method for Marine Wastes (KSMMW). Nine sites in the East Sea-Byeong, East Sea-Jeong, and Yellow Sea-Byeong areas were sampled from 2016 to 2019. The test results showed that the relative average survival rate (benthic amphipods) and relative luminescence inhibition rate (luminescent bacteria) were below 30%, which were judged to be "non-toxic." However, in the t-test, a total of 12 benthic amphipod samples (6, 1, 1, and 4 in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively) were significantly different (p<0.05) from the control samples. To identify the source of toxicity on benthic amphipods, a simple linear regression analysis was performed between the levels of eight heavy metals (Cr, As, Ni, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Hg) in sediments and the relative average survival rate. The results indicated that Cr had the highest contribution to the toxicity of benthic amphipods (p = 0.000, R2 = 0.355). In addition, Cr was detected at the highest concentration at the DB-85 station and exceeded the Marine Environment Standards every year. Although the sediments were determined as "not toxic" according to the ecotoxicity criteria of the KSMMW, the results of the statistical significance tests and toxicity identification evaluation indicated that the toxic effect was not acceptable. Therefore, revising the criteria for determining the toxic effect by deriving a reference value through quantitative risk assessment using species sensitivity distribution curves is necessary in the future.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.479-495
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• 2018

This study was carried out to research the multimedia fate modeling, concentration distribution and impact assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emitted from automobiles, which are known as carcinogenic and mutation chemicals. The amount of emissions of PAHs was determined based on the census data of automobiles at a target S-city and emission factors of PAHs, where multimedia fugacity modeling was conducted by the restriction of PAHs transfer between air-soil at the impervious area. PAHs' Concentrations and their distributions at several environmental media were predicted by multimedia fugacity model (level III). The residual amounts and the distributions of PAHs through mass transfer of PAHs between environment media were used to assess the health risk of PAHs at unsteady state (level IV), where the sensitivity analyses of the model parameter of each variable were conducted based on Monte Carlo simulation. The experimental result at S-city showed that Fluoranthene among PAHs substances are the highest residual concentrations (60%, 53%, 32% and 34%) at all mediums (atmospheric, water, soil, sediment), respectively, where most of the PAHs were highly accumulated in the sediment media (more than 80%). A result of PAHs concentration changes in S-city over the past 34 years identified that PAHs emissions from all environmental media increased from 1983 to 2005 and decreased until 2016, where the emission of heavy-duty vehicle including truck revealed the largest contribution to the automotive emissions of PAHs at all environment media. The PAHs concentrations in soil and water for the last 34 years showed the less value than the legal standards of PAHs, but the PAHs in air exceeded the air quality standards from 1996 to 2016. The result of this study is expected to contribute the effective management and monitoring of toxic chemicals of PAHs at various environment media of Metropolitan city.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.1 s.176
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• pp.63-74
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• 2006

In order to identify the Pb pollution and its sources in continental shelf and slope areas, Pb concentration and Pb isotope ratios ($^{207}Pb/^{206}Pb\;and\;^{208}Pb/^{206}Pb$) were determined far 6 box corer sediments collected from the southern East/japan Sea. Pb concentration, and $^{207}Pb/^{206}Pb\;and\;^{208}Pb/^{206}Pb$ ratios were constant at around $25\pm5 ppm$ and 0.842 and 2.092 from 1700 to 1930 year, respectively and increased steadily up to $40\pm5 ppm$ and 0.867 and 2.123 at the beginning of 1990s', respectively. The increase of concentration and isotope ratios in the labile fraction (leached by 2M HC1+0.5M $HNO_3$) explains their increase in bulk sediments, while Pb concentration and isotope ratios in the residual fraction were nearly constant during 300yrs. Temporal variation of Pb isotope ratios was explained by simple two end-members mixing of geo-genic and anthropogenic sources because isotope ratios and the inverse of Pb concentration showed the good linear relationships. Using Pb isotope ratios, we can constrain two Pb sources in the study area. The one is atmospheric particulates, compared with mean values of isotope ratios in atmospheric particulates collected at Jeju and Oki ;stands, based on the history of Pb emmission in Korea and China, and judged by oceanographic processes capable of homogenizing many sources. The other is local sources related to iron mills, refineries of Pb ore and of petroleum located at the coast of the study area. Isotope ratios of anthropogenic Pb can be estimated using two end-members mixing equation and were $0.879\pm0.005\;and\;2.144\pm0.008$ before 1950s' while they increased up to $0.900\pm0.008\;and\;2.162\pm0.011$ after 1980s', respectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.210-216
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• 2006

The concentrations of 16 priority PAHs (US EPA standard) were analyzed in the surface sediments obtained from 23 sampling sites near Kwangyang Bay in Korea. There was a local variability in the total PAHs ranged from 0.01 to 171.39 mg/kg, with a mean value of $8.13{\pm}24.8mg/kg$. The major pollution sources of PAHs near Kwanyang Bay were Taeindo, Sueo stream and Wallae stream, whose concentrations were 114.81, 38.37 mg/kg and 19.05 mg/kg, respectively. It showed that PAHs concentrations were increased with the decrease of particle size and with the increase of organic carbon contents in three fractioned sediments. From the analysis of PAHs source using LMW/HMW, Phe/Ant, and Fla/Pyr, pyrolysis by-products were mostly showed in Kwangyang Bay and some place showed the mixure of pyrolysis by-products, and crude oil by-products. Besides, the toxic effects assessment on benthic ecosystem for three major pollution sources showed that the PAHs concentration of Taindo which was mainly accumulated with carcinogenic PAHs exceeds ERM value and the PAHs of Sueo and Wallae streams are the degree of ERL value.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.431-436
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• 2001

Variations in phytoplankton concentrations result from changes of the ocean color caused by phytoplankton pigments. Thus, ocean spectral reflectance for low chlorophyll waters are blue and high chlorophyll waters tend to have green reflectance. In the Korea region, clear waters and the open sea in the Kuroshio regions of the East China Sea have low chlorophyll. As one moves even closer In the northwestern part of the East China Sea, the situation becomes much more optically complicated, with contributions not only from higher concentration of phytoplankton, but also from sediments and dissolved materials from terrestrial and sea bottom sources. The color often approaches yellow-brown in the turbidity waters (Case Ⅱ waters). To verify satellite ocean color retrievals, or to develop new algorithms for complex case Ⅱ regions requires ship-based studies. In this study, we compared the chlorophyll retrievals from NASA's SeaWiFS sensor with chlorophyll values determined with standard fluorometric methods during two cruises on Korean NFRDI ships. For the SeaWiFS data, we used the standard NASA SeaWiFS algorithm to estimate the chlorophyll_a distribution around the Korean waters using Orbview/ SeaWiFS satellite data acquired by our HPRT station at NFRDl. We studied In find out the relationship between the measured chlorophyll_a from the ship and the estimated chlorophyll_a from the SeaWiFs satellite data around the northern part of the East China Sea, in February, and May, 2000. The relationship between the measured chlorophyll_a and the SeaWiFS chlorophyll_a shows following the equations (1) In the northern part of the East China Sea. Chlorophyll_a =0.121Ln(X) + 0.504, R²= 0.73 (1) We also determined total suspended sediment mass (55) and compared it with SeaWiFS spectral band ratio. A suspended solid algorithm was composed of in-.situ data and the ratio (L/sub WN/(490 ㎚)L/sub WN/(555 ㎚) of the SeaWiFS wavelength bands. The relationship between the measured suspended solid and the SeaWiFS band ratio shows following the equation (2) in the northern part of the East China Sea. SS = -0.703 Ln(X) + 2.237, R²= 0.62 (2) In the near future, NFRDI will develop algorithms for quantifying the ocean color properties around the Korean waters, with the data from regular ocean observations using its own research vessels and from three satellites, KOMPSAT/OSMl, Terra/MODIS and Orbview/SeaWiFS.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.735-744
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• 2003

The field observations on a seasonal characteristic of organic matter and its origin in the surface sediment were carried out at 35 stations in Deukryang bay, southern coast of Korean Peninsula from May 1995 to February 1996. The analytical parameters were mud temperature, ignition loss(IL), chemical oxygen demand(COD), pheopigment, sulfide and water content. The origin and seasonal dynamics of organic matter in Deukryang Bay were analyzed by COD/IL, COD/sulfide ratio and principal component analysis(PCA). As a results of the mud temperature fluctuated between 2.1$^{\circ}C$ with the lowest mean 4.6$^{\circ}C$ in winter and 27.6$^{\circ}C$ with the highest mean 25.5$^{\circ}C$ in summer. The range of ignition loss(IL) was from 3.1% in autumn to 21.5% in winter. Chemical oxygen demand(COD) showed the highest mean value of 8.45 mg/g dry in spring within the range of 2.90∼18.21 mg/g dry, while it showed the lowest value of 4.33 mg/g dry in autumn within the range of 0.67∼10.37 mg/g dry. Pheopigments showed the highest mean value of 9.04 $\mu\textrm{g}$/g dry in autumn within the range of 1.36∼20.44 $\mu\textrm{g}$/g dry, while it did the lowest mean value of 2.20 $\mu\textrm{g}$/g dry in summer within the range of 0.33∼11.36 $\mu\textrm{g}$/g dry. The range of total sulfide (H$_2$S) was from no detect(ND) to 3.30 mg/g dry in spring. And water content showed the annual mean value of 43.6% within the range of 23.6∼54.9%. The source of organic matter by COD/IL and COD/sulfide ratio in Deukryang Bay had been producted by primary producer in sea water areas except the areas effected by small stream, domestic and animal wastes. And the analytical results of PCA was able to be divided into three different regions. The former was characterized by the shallow depth and authigenic organic matter from phytoplankton in northwest area and northeastern inner bay, the secondary was done by deeper depth and allochthonous one from lands in southeast area and eastern entrance of bay, and the latter was done by authigenic one from the farm of seaweeds such as, sea cabbage, sea mustard etc in western entrance of bay. But a study on the relationship between sulfide and COD concentration in the northeastern inner bay which was characterized by the water stagnation will to take much more studying including major constituents of organic matter in the future.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.25-40
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• 2001

In order to investigate the degree of heavy metal pollution, 280 urban gully-pot sediments were collected from 13 localities in eastern part of Seoul. The uncontaminated stream sediments were also studied for comparison. A series of studies have carried out concerning the physicochemical characteristics of the sediments and the distribution of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn. Total metal concentrations of gully-pot sediments and uncontaminated stream sediments were analyzed using acid extraction. After predigestion with $NHO_3$, the sample was digested with mixed acid ($NHO_3$-$HClO_4$). The gully-pot sediments were characterized by very high concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cr, indicating an anthropogenic contribution of these metals to the sediment chemistry Heavy metal concentrations in the gully-pot sediments were 1-329 times higher than the mean content of metals in the uncontaminated stream sediments, depending on the metals. In particular, the highest mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cr were noticed in the gully-pot sediments from Yeouido, Junggu, Junggu, and Dongdaemungu, respectively. The mean value of total Zn concentration in the business and commercial areas is 2-3.5 times higher than that in industrial areas. This suggests that Zn is mainly derived from automobiles (rubber of automobile tires). The mean concentrations of Cu and Cr are significantly high in the commercial and industrial areas, indicating that industrial activities may cause the accumulation of Cu and Cr in the sediments. The Pb level in gully-pot sediments is comparatively low, due to the use of unleaded gasoline in automobiles since 1987.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.91-100
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• 2000

It has been more than ten years since Dukun mine was abandoned. Tailings of waste deposits and slime dumps in the abandoned Dukum mine have been left to be deserted for fifty years. The results of fifty years of neglecting are nothing short of major environmental problems. Slime dumps have been exposed to air and water in the mine over ten years and then soil profile has been formed well. Soil in the upper layer (A horizon) is the light gray color due to the leaching of cations. Soil in the lower layer (A2 horizon, 0.2∼0.3m)is tinted with reddish brown and yellowish brown color due to the development of iron oxides and iron hydroxides. Soil in the lower part of B horizon of (1.0∼3.0m) with the growth of copper and zinc oxides exposes to the bluish green, light blue, and dark gray. Ranging from 3m to 8m in depth, 85 samples were taken from 22 sampling sites with 50m intervals located on the slime dump area with hand auger and trench (open cut). As tailings was distributed, heavy metal elements extracted by the process of surface water and ground water move and disperse in to the hydrosphere. Waste dumps were distributed in and around the mine and water draining from those dumps be a potential source of contamination. Soils, thus, can be dispersed into downslope and downstream through wind and water by clastic movement. These materials may be deposited in another horizon if the water is withdrawn, or if the materials are precipitated as a result of differences in pH, or other conditions in deeper horizons. These were primarily associated with acid mine drainage. The characteristics and rate of release of acid mine drainage are influenced by various chemical and biological reactions at the source of acid generations. Prolonged extration of heavy metal elements has a detrimental effect on the agricultural land and residental area. Twenty soil samples were collected from the agricultural land in the area (0∼30 cm). Seventeen samples were also taken from the sediment in the stream running alongside the dumps. The dispersion patterns of heavy metal elements are as follows: The content of As ranged 2∼6 ppm in a horizon, 20∼125 ppm in B horizon with large amount of clay mineral is concentrated and the content of Cd ranged 1∼2 ppm in A horizon, 4∼22 ppm in B horizon. Like Cd, the content of As, Cu, Zn, Pb in B horizon is higher than that in A horizon (approximately 5∼100 times). When soil formation proceeds in stages, it is necessary to investicate the B horizon with the concentration of heavy metal and preventive measures will have to established.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.24-36
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• 2003

In this study, we estimated the seasonal fluctuations of water quality and effect of small tide embankment in coastal water around the Muan Peninsula, which is located in the northern part of Mokpo city, and layer farming ground is spread around there. Some physical and chemical factors were analyzed to characterize water quality from Jan. to Oct. in 1994. The results were as follows: Dissolved oxygen was slightly under saturation in the almost areas of July, and in some bottom layer at ebb tide of October. Distribution of COD showed high values that over 2㎎/L in October and flood tide of April by the discharge of freshwater and resuspension of benthic sediment, which exceeded water quality criteria II. Maximum values of dissolved inorganic nitrogen ware appeared in surface layer during the flood tide of October, while minimum of that showed in surface layer in April. Concentration of dissolved inorganic phosphorus was higher at July than the others, which ranged from 0.24 to 2.08㎍-at/L. Mostly mean values of N/P ratio were lower than 16, it mean that nitrogen is more limiting nutrient than phosphorus for the growth of phytoplankton. The values of eutrophication index were in the range of 0.07~0.81. However, very high values due to increase of COD were estimated near the tide embankment and southern part in relation to tidal current in October. Water quality around tide embankment was suddenly changed worse within a short period after opening the water gate during the rainfall.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.193-202
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• 1998

Water quality of Masan-Jinhae Bay was monitored from January 1996 to August 1997. The monitoring focused on the spatial and vertical gradients and seasonal changes of eutrophication parameters such as nutrients, DO and water transparency. Flagellate phytoplanktons persistently bloomed from April to October with monospecific or mixed algal blooms and dynamic algal successions were observed in this area. Algal blooms were highly correlated with salinity drops and made the water less transparent. Stratification of oxygen content was persistent through summer and oligo-oxygenation was developed in the bottom waters. Nutrient gradients were consistently maintained through the depth in summer and through spatial distribution from inner Masan Bay to outer Jinhae Bay in winter. Except the rainfall seasons, water quality was under the influence of the waste waters discharged from watershed around the Masan Bay. The waste waters would act as the primary factor for the water quality deterioration of the bay. Literature data for eutrophication were gathered and analyzed to review the water quality trends of the Masan and Jinhae bays since 1970. Annual mean COD and phosphate concentration consistently increased from 1975 to 1990 and decreased or dropped after 1991. The sediment of inner part of Masan Bay was dredged from 1991 to 1994 as a decontamination process and it is assumed that the dredging has weakened more or less the deterioration trend of the water quality of the bay.