• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.242-248
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• 2001

A high resolution Chirp seismic profile and a multichannel seismic reflection profile were analysed to study the possibility of gas hydrate presence in the southwestern upper slope of the Ulleung Basin. The Chirp profile shows acoustic turbidity, acoustic void, and pockmarks, suggesting the presence of shallow gas in the sediments .Slope failures appear to have occurred in association with decomposition of gas hydrated sediments. A bottom-simulating reflector (BSR) is seen in subbottom depths of 60 to 110 m below the seafloor at water depths of 750 to 1130 m. The sediments above BSR are characterized by acoustic blanking probably due to amplitude reduction caused by a mixture of gas hydrate with sediments. The interval velocity above the BSR is 1,650 m/sec and it drops abruptly to 1,080 m/sec below the BSR. The sediment column between seafloor and the BSR thins with increasing water depth, which is very closely related to increasing geothermal gradient with increasing water depth in the Ulleung Basin.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2005

Acquisition and processing of vector seismic waves were conducted through simultaneous generation of P, SH, and SV waves and receiving those waves using three-component geophones. Test data were received by 24 8-Hz geophones at an interval of 2 m along a 94-m profile. The data were recorded for 512 ms with sampling intervals of 0.2 ms. Raw data indicate that both reflected and refracted P waves are strongly recorded on the vertical component while SH waves are significant on the transverse horizontal component. On the inline horizontal component, both direct P and converted PS waves are recorded. First arrivals of P and SH waves were detected simultaneously on the vertical and transverse horizontal axes, respectively. The recorded vector data were separately inverted using traveltime tomography to yield P- and SH-wave sections. Using those two velocity sections, Poisson's ratios were able to be obtained effectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.41-49
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• 2006

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using shallow S-wave, high-resolution seismic reflection surveys to characterize geological structure and stratigraphy of basement rocks for civil engineering purposes. S-wave seismic reflections from depths less than 20 m were recorded along the top of steep readout slopes. Seismic reflection data were recorded using a standard CDP acquisition method with a 24-channel seismograph and a sledge-hammer SH-wave source. The data were acquired using a split-spread source-receiver geometry with a 2 m shot-and-receiver interval, and then were processed to enhance S/N ratio of the data, to improve resolvable power of the seismic section, and to get velocity information of the basement rock. The final seismic reflection profiles using the CDP technique has imaged surfaces as shallow as less than 1m and resolved beds as thin as 1m. The migrated reflection sections possess sufficient quality to correlate the prominent reflection events to the bedding planes and faults identified on the readout outcrops. Similar S-wave reflection surveys could also be used to produce the necessary details of a geological structure of shallow bedrocks to pinpoint optimum locations for monitor wells of civil engineering purposes.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.67-84
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• 2002

A shallow high-resolution seismic reflection survey was carried out at the Mineopo tidal flat on the western coast of Korea. The purpose of the survey was to investigate shallow sedimentary structure of the tidal (fat associated with the recent sea level change. A total of 795 shots were generated at 1 m interval from a 5-kg hammer source and recorded on 48 channels of 100 Hz geophones along two mutually perpendicular profiles. The water-saturated ground condition resulted in suppressed ground rolls by significantly decreasing rigidity. In addition, seismic velocities over 1500 m/s provided easy segregation of reflected arrivals from lower velocity noise. As a consequence, seismic sections were created that are high in resolution and signal to noise ratio as well. The stack sections show that the tidal flat consists of 5 sedimentary sequences above acoustic basement. Although deposition is largely characterized by the transgressive sedimentary facies resulting from sea level rise, erosional surfaces are well-resolved within the sequences.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.245-256
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• 2016

In the companion paper (I - Database and Site Response Analyses), site-specific response analyses were performed at more than 300 domestic sites. In this study, a new site classification system and design response spectra are proposed using results of the site-specific response analyses. Depth to bedrock (H) and average shear wave velocity of soil above the bedrock ($V_{S,Soil}$) were adopted as parameters to classify the sites into sub-categories because these two factors mostly affect site amplification, especially for shallow bedrock region. The 20 m of depth to bedrock was selected as the initial parameter for site classification based on the trend of site coefficients obtained from the site-specific response analyses. The sites having less than 20 m of depth to bedrock (H1 sites) are sub-divided into two site classes using 260 m/s of $V_{S,Soil}$ while the sites having greater than 20 m of depth to bedrock (H2 sites) are sub-divided into two site classes at $V_{S,Soil}$ equal to 180 m/s. The integration interval of 0.4 ~ 1.5 sec period range was adopted to calculate the long-period site coefficients ($F_v$) for reflecting the amplification characteristics of Korean geological condition. In addition, the frequency distribution of depth to bedrock reported for Korean sites was also considered in calculating the site coefficients for H2 sites to incorporate sites having greater than 30 m of depth to bedrock. The relationships between the site coefficients and rock shaking intensity were proposed and then subsequently compared with the site coefficients of similar site classes suggested in other codes.

• Proceedings of the International Union of Geodesy And Geophysics Korea Journal of Geophysical Research Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2003

The first crustal refraction survey in the Korean Peninsula was carried out over the survey line connecting Seosan-Yeongdong-Kyeongiu on Dec. 15, 2002. The total length of the survey line was about 300 Km and 198 portable seismometers were deployed with approximately 1.5-km interval. The survey line itself was geologically important since it was almost normal to the so-called Sino-Korean structural trend. Two shots, one at Seosan (west end point) and the other at Yeongdong (mid-point), were exploded. They were 100-m deep drill well explosions. The Seosan shot consisted of a ton emulsion type explosive, while Youngdong consisted of 500 kg one. Both shots generated signals with good S/N ratios to the farthest receivers. Seismic signals were recorded by 195 receivers out of 198 ones. Although the originally planned Kyeongju shot (east end point) could not be exploded due to public discontent, the experiment was evaluated very successful. First breaks in all recorded traces were picked up and two preliminary analyses were carried out. The one is conventional flat layer analysis and the other was refraction tomographic analysis. The one resulted in average 32-km thick two-layer crust and the underlying mantle with 8.05-km/s P-velocity. The top crust layer with 3.86 kw/s P-velocity was 2.5-km thick and the lower crust layer with 6.0l km/s P-velocity was 29.5-km thick. The other resulted in a velocity cross-section. The confidence level of the velocity cross-section could not be evaluated at this time because only two shot were exploded. Detailed analyses such as surface wave dispersion are on going. Continuing crustal scale refraction surveys are planned in Korea.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.132-146
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• 2000

Seismic refraction survey was performed for 10 lines along NE-SW and NW-SE directions above Nampoong gallery at Makyo-ri, Dogye, Samcheok, Kangwon-do. 48 geophones were laid in line with the interval of 1m, and a 5Kg hammer was used as a source at 5 points for each line. Data processing was done using reciprocal time method, GRM, and traveltime tomography which utilizes wavefront expansion method for forward process and STRT for inversion. The result shows that the first layer has its lower boundary between 3.49m and 8.88m. The P-wave velocity of the first and the second layer were estimated as 270${\~}$360m/s and 1550${\~}$1940m/s respectively. When the boundary of the first and second layer is smooth enough and the velocity difference is large enough, GRM has little advantage over reciprocal time method. The result of reciprocal method and traveltime tomography shows consistency. The northeast part of the boundary has syncline structure, which is similar to the topography above. This implies that the collapse of the cavities of Nampoong gallery result in the subsidence of the ground surface. The subsidence is in progress across the Youngdong railroad, therefore a proper reinforcement work is required.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.9-26
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• 1999

The Ulleung Basin (Tsushima Basin) in the southwestern East Sea (Japan Sea) is floored by a crust whose affinity is not known whether oceanic or thinned continental. This ambiguity resulted in unconstrained mechanisms of basin evolution. The present work attempts to define the nature of the crust of the Ulleung Basin and its tectonic evolution using seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction data recorded on ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs). Although the thickness of (10 km) of the crust is greater than typical oceanic crust, tau-p analysis of OBS data and forward modeling by 2-D ray tracing suggest that it is oceanic in character: (1) the crust consists of laterally consistent upper and lower layers that are typical of oceanic layers 2 and 3 in seismic velocity and gradient distribution and (2) layer 2C, the transition between layer 2 and layer 3 in oceanic crust, is manifested by a continuous velocity increase from 5.7 to 6.3 km/s over the thickness interval of about 1 km between the upper and lower layers. Therefore it is not likely that the Ulleung Basin was formed by the crustal extension of the southwestern Japan Arc where crustal structure is typically continental. Instead, the thickness of the crust and its velocity structure suggest that the Ulleung Basin was formed by seafloor spreading in a region of hotter than normal mantle surrounding a distant mantle plume, not directly above the core of the plume. It seems that the mantle plume was located in northeast China. This suggestion is consistent with geochemical data that indicate the influence of a mantle plume on the production of volcanic rocks in and around the Ulleung Basin. Thus we propose that the opening models of the southwestern East Sea should incorporate seafloor spreading and the influence of a mantle plume rather than the extension of the crust of the Japan Arc.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.127-136
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• 2008

To identify the potential area of gas hydrate in the Ulleung Basin, 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys using R/V Tamhae II were conducted in 2005 and 2006. Seismic survey equipment consisted of navigation system, recording system, streamer cable and air-gun source. For reliable velocity analysis in a deep sea area where water depths are mostly greater than 1,000 m and the target depth is up to about 500 msec interval below the seafloor, 3-km-long streamer and 1,035 $in^3$ tuned air-gun array were used. During the survey, a suite of quality control operations including source signature analysis, 2-D brute stack, RMS noise analysis and FK analysis were performed. The source signature was calculated to verify its conformity to quality specification and the gun dropout test was carried out to examine signature changes due to a single air gun's failure. From the online quality analysis, we could conclude that the overall data quality was very good even though some seismic data were affected by swell noise, parity error, spike noise and current rip noise. Especially, by checking the result of data quality enhancement using FK filtering and missing trace restoration technique for the 3-D seismic data inevitably contaminated with current rip noises, the acquired data were accepted and the field survey could be conducted continuously. Even in survey areas where the acquired data would be unsuitable for quality specification, the marine seismic survey efficiency could be improved by showing the possibility of noise suppression through onboard data processing.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2013

Shear-wave velocity ($v_s$) structures beneath two seismic stations, JJU and JJB on the flanks of the volcano Halla on Jeju island, Korea, were estimated by receiver-function inversion and H-${\kappa}$ stacking applied to 150 teleseismic events ($M_W{\geq}5.5$) recorded since 2007. $P_S$ waves converted at the Moho discontinuity does not appear clearly for northwesterly back-azimuths ($207{\sim}409^{\circ}$, average $308^{\circ}$) at station JJU and southeasterly back-azimuths ($119{\sim}207^{\circ}C$, average $163^{\circ}$) at station JJB. This may be due to a gradual velocity increase at Moho or heterogeneity within the crust. The $v_s$ models derived by inversion of receiver functions indicate a distinct low velocity layer ($v_s{\leq}3.5km/s$; LVL) within the crust and a gradual increase in $v_s$ in the depth interval of 30 to 40 km. Within the radius of 18 km beneath station JJB, the LVL occurs at depths of 14 ~ 26 km and the 'Moho' ($v_s{\geq}4.3km/s$) is at 34 km depth. Ten kilometers to the west, within the radius of 16 km beneath station JJU, both the LVL and the Moho are significantly shallower, at depths of 14 to 24 km and 30 km, respectively. H-${\kappa}$ analyses for stations JJU and JJB yield estimated crustal thickness of 29 and 33 km and $v_p/v_s$ ratios of 1.64 and 1.75, respectively. The lesser $v_p/v_s$ ratio was derived for rocks nearest to th peak of the volcano.