• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.303-320
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• 2019

Plants interact with various biotic and abiotic environmental factors. It requires much information to understand the traits of a plant species. A shortage of information would restrict the assessment, especially in the evaluation of what kind of factors influence a plant species to face extinction. Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. is one of the northern plants of which Korea is the southern distribution edge. The Korean Ministry of Environment had designated it to be the endangered species until December 2015. Although it is comparatively widespread, and a large population has recently been reported, it is assessed to be vulnerable due to the low population genetic diversity. This study evaluated the current distribution of Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. We investigated the vegetational environment, population structures, phenology, soil environment, and self-incompatibility based on the results. Lastly, we evaluated the current threats observed in the habitats. The habitats tended to be located in the areas where the masses at the edge of the stream accumulated except for those that were located on slopes of some mountainous areas. Most of them showed a stable population structure and had re-established or recruited seedlings. Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. had the difference in time when the shoots appeared above the ground depending on the depth of the rhizome located in the underground. In particular, the seedlings and juveniles had their rhizome located shallow in the soil. Visits by pollinator insects and success in pollination were crucial factors for bearing of fruits by Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. The threats observed in the habitat of Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. included the expansion of cultivated land, construction of new buildings, and construction of river banks and roads. Despite such observed risk factors, it is not likely that there would be rapid population reduction or extinction because of its widespread distribution with the total population of more than 2.7 million individuals and the new populations established by the re-colonization.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.157-169
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• 2019

Pseudotachylytes, produced by frictional heating during seismic slip, provide information that is critical to understanding the physics of earthquakes. We report the results of occurrence, structural characteristics, scanning electron microscopic observation and geochemical analysis of pseudotachylytes, which is presumed to have formed after the Late Cretaceous in outcrops of the Paleoproterozoic granitic gneiss on the Bulil waterfall of the Jirisan area, Yeongnam massif, Korea. Fault rocks, which are the products of brittle deformation under the same shear stress regime in the study area, are classified as pseudotachylyte and foliated cataclasite. The occurrences of pseudotachylyte identified on the basis of thickness and morphology are fault vein-type and injection vein-type pseudotachylyte. A number of fault vein-type pseudotachylytes occur as thin (as thick as 2 cm) layers generated on the fault plane, and are cutting general foliation and sheared foliation developed in granitic gneiss. Smaller injection vein-type pseudotachylytes are found along the fault vein-type pseudotachylytes, and appear in a variety of shapes based on field occurrence and vein geometry. At a first glance fault vein-type seudotachylyte looks like a mafic vein, but it has a chemical composition almost identical to the wall rock of granitic gneiss. Also, it has many subrounded clasts which consist predominantly of quartz, feldspar, biotite and secondary minerals including clay minerals, calcite and glassy materials. Embayed clasts, phenocryst with reaction rim, oxide droplets, amygdules, and flow structures are also observed. All of these evidences indicate the pseudotachylyte formed due to frictional melting of the wall rock minerals during fault slip related to strong seismic faulting events in the shallow depth of low temperature-low pressure. Further studies will be conducted to determine the age and mechanical aspect of the pseudotachylyte formation.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.318-331
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• 2019

In this study, comparative analysis is performed on the long-term persisted warm eddies that were generated in 2003 (WE03) and in 2014 (WE14) over the East Sea using the HYCOM reanalysis data. The overshooting of the East Korea Warm Current (EKWC) was appeared during the formation period of those warm eddies. The warm eddies were produced in the shallow Korea Plateau region through the interaction of the EKWC and the sub-polar front. In the interior of the both warm eddies, a homogeneous water mass of about $13^{\circ}C$ and 34.1 psu were generated over the upper 150 m depth by the winter mixing. In 2004, the next year of the generation of the WE03, the amount of the inflow through the western channel of the Korea Strait was larger, while the inflow was lesser than its climatology during 2015 corresponding to the development period of the WE14. The above results suggest that the heat and salt are supplied in the warm eddies through the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC), however the amount of the inflow through the Korea Strait has negligible impact on the long-term persistency of the warm eddies. Both of the warm eddies were maintained more than 18 months near Ulleung island, while they have no common feature on the pathways. In the vicinity of the Ulleung basin, large and small eddies are continuously created due to the meandering of the EKWC. The long-term persisted warm eddies in the Ulleung Island seem to be the results of the interaction between the pre-existed eddies located south of the sub-polar front and fresh eddies induced by the meanderings of the EKWC. The conclusion is also in line with the fact that the long-term persisted warm eddies were not always created when the overshooting of the EKWC was appeared.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.407-419
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• 2022

Soil(vadose zone) gas compositions were measured for about 3 days to suggest a method for monitoring and interpreting soil gas data collected around wells from which methane(CH₄) is outflowing. The vadose zone gas samples were collected within 1 m around two test wells(TB2 and TB3) at Pohang and analyzed for CO₂, CH₄, N₂ and O₂ concentrations in situ. CO₂ flux was measured beside TB2. In addition, gas samples from well head in TB2 and atmospheric air samples were collected for comparison. Carbon isotopes of CO₂(δ¹³C_CO2) of samples collected on the last day of the study period were analyzed in the laboratory. The two test wells (TB2 and 3) were 12.7 m apart and only TB3 was cemented to the surface. According to the bio-geochemical process-based interpretation, the relationships between CO₂ and O₂, N₂, and N₂/O₂ of vadose zone gas were plotted between the lines of CH₄ oxidation and CO₂ dissolution. In addition, the CH₄ concentrations of gas samples from the wellhead of the uncemented well (TB2) were 5.2 times higher than the atmospheric CH₄ concentration. High CO₂ concentrations (average 1.148%) of vadose zone gas around TB2 seemed to be attributed to the oxidation of CH₄. On the other hand, the vadose zone CO₂ around the cemented well(TB3) showed a relatively low concentration(0.136%). This difference indicates that the vadose zone gas(including CO₂) around the CH₄ outflowing well were strongly affected by well completion(cementing). This study result can be used to establish strategies for environmental monitoring of soil around natural gas sites, and can be used to monitor leakage around injection and observation wells for CO₂ geological storage. In addition, the method of this study is useful for soil monitoring in natural gas storage and oil-contaminated sites.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.27
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• pp.197-222
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• 2009

The Reform Movement(戊戌變法) of 1898 was a boundary tablet of modern history of science and technology which inherited the past and ushered in the future. Kang Youwei(康有爲), as a leader, his scientific thoughts opened up the way of Chinese enlightenity campaign and pushed the development of Chinese modem science and had an important position in modem history of scientific thoughts. The dissertation analyses the source, establishment and content of Kang Youwei. Kang Youwei developed the useful and discarded the useless of the view of implement science held by the Westernized Party, undertook a deep and throughout thinking on the nature of science, had cognition of scientific methods and spirit, by which he criticized negative proneness of ancient Chinese views of science. He put forwards a series of practical suggestions on political reform that provided a solid guarantee and support in system for scientific development. Kang Youwei rooted in the soil of Chinese traditional academic culture, but also western learning in modern western civilization. Kang go through Westernization Movement since the in-depth study of Western natural and inevitable outcome of the social sciences, are giving to science and technology. Although he was originally of Western "science" has a lot of misunderstandings and prejudices, but these shallow hazy perceptual knowledge, his view of science which constitutes the basis of the formation. In the course of scientific inquiry, Kang has begun to explore the essence of scientific development. He has a gut feeling that behind the scientific discovery of the existence of a force, which is the scientific truth and is used to grasp the scientific method. After contact with the Western world, with the traditional "Heaven(天)", and modern Chinese intellectuals began to "axiom(公理)" to recover his traditional "Heaven" of the new understanding is reflected mainly in "Zhutianjiang(諸天講)". "Zhutianjiang" is the Kang Yuwei in the absorption of traditional astronomy knowledge base, will the traditional arithmetic, as well as Buddhism and the West since the twentieth century, new knowledge of astronomy combines written. Kang while recognizing that scientific instruments, is nothing more than an extension of the role of the human senses and make the "Dao(道)" is more clear, but the "artifacts(器物)" caused by the inherent limitations of the limited nature of human knowledge, which is "Heaven" boundless nature of the broad terms, refused to concede defeat to. In reality, the activities of political reform, he gradually recognize this real-world helpless, and he recognized that the real world to achieve common ground of social ideal is impossible, so he chose comfort in life that people really get a stage of "Tianyou(天遊)". This is the cause that his writing "Datongshu(大同書)", at the same time, followed by writing "Zhutianjiang" talk "Tianyou".

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.91-103
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• 2009

Slope failure depends upon the climatic features related to related rainfall, structural geology and geomorphological features as well as the variation of the mechanical behaviors of soil constituting a slope. In this paper, among many variables, effects of soil layer thickness on the slope failure process, and variations of matric suction and volumetric water content were observed. When the soil layer is relatively thick, the descending wetting front decreases matric suction and the observed matric suction reaches to "0" value. When the wetting front reaches to the impermeable boundary, the bottom surface of steel soil box, ascending wetting front was observed. This observation can be postulated to be the effects of various sizes of pores. When macro size pores exist, the capillary effects can be reduced and infilling of pore will be limited. The partially filled pores would be filled with water during the ascending of the wetting front, which bounces from the impermeable boundary. This assumption has been assured from the observation of variation of the volumetric water contents at different depth. When the soil layer is thick (thickness = 20 cm), for granular material, erosion is a cause triggering the slope failure. It has been found that the initiation of erosion occurs when the top soil is fully saturated. Meanwhile, when the soil layer is shallow (thickness = 10 cm), slope slides as en mass. The slope failure for this condition occurs when the wetting front reaches to the interface between the soil layer and steel soil box. As the wetting front approaches to the bottom of soil layer, reduction of shear resistance along the boundary and increase of the unit weight due to the infiltration occur and these produce complex effects on the slope failure processes.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.13-35
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• 2023

Ocean currents play the most important role in causing and controlling global climate change. The water depth of the Yellow Sea is very shallow compared to the East Sea, and the circulation and currents of seawater are quite complicated owing to the influence of various wind fields, ocean currents, and river discharge with low-salinity seawater. The Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) is one of the most representative currents of the Yellow Sea in winter and is closely related to the weather of the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula, so it needs to be treated as important in secondary-school textbooks. Based on the 2015 revised national educational curriculum, secondary-school science and earth science textbooks were analyzed for content related to the YSWC. In addition, a questionnaire survey of secondary-school science teachers was conducted to investigate their perceptions of the temporal variability of ocean currents. Most teachers appeared to have the incorrect knowledge that the YSWC moves north all year round to the west coast of the Korean Peninsula and is strong in the summer like a general warm current. The YSWC does not have strong seasonal variability in current strength, unlike the North Korean Cold Current (NKCC), but does not exist all year round and appears only in winter. These errors in teachers' subject knowledge had a background similar to why they had a misconception that the NKCC was strong in winter. Therefore, errors in textbook contents on the YSWC were analyzed and presented. In addition, to develop students' and teachers' data literacy, class materials on the YSWC that can be used in inquiry activities were developed. A graphical user interface (GUI) program that can visualize the sea surface temperature of the Yellow Sea was introduced, and a program displaying the spatial distribution of water temperature and salinity was developed using World Ocean Atlas (WOA) 2018 oceanic in-situ measurements of water temperature and salinity data and ocean numerical model reanalysis field data. This data visualization materials using oceanic data is expected to improve teachers' misunderstandings and serve as an opportunity to cultivate both students and teachers' ocean and data literacy.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.143-159
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• 2024

Natural aggregate is an essential resource for human activities, closely related to construction. The aggregate demand has been increasing annually, and due to the nature of the resource, it is difficult to procure from distant locations. This study identifies the distribution and characteristics of aggregate-bearing areas as part of a municipal-level aggregate resource survey conducted in Nonsan City, Korea, in 2023. Nonsan City is located approximately 35 km straight distance from the Geum River estuary and lies at the passageway of the main stream of the Geum River. The topography of Nonsan City features eastern mountainous areas and western plains, creating an east-high-west-low geomorphic setting, with 33 streams distributed across the city, including tributaries of the Geum River like Nonsan Stream, Noseong Stream, and Ganggyeong Stream. All streams originate from the highlands in the north and east, converge with Nonsan Stream, and then join the west bank of the main stream of the Geum River at the western boundary of Nonsan City. Drilling core results show shallow depths in the highlands to the north and east, deepening towards the west, reaching a maximum depth of 25 m near the main stream of the Geum River. The total reserve of land aggregates is calculated to be 246,789,000 m³, with a developable amount of 172,750,000 m³. The total reserve of river aggregates is 5,236,000 m³, with a developable amount of 3,765,000 m³. The distribution of aggregates varies according to the geomorphic, geologic, and development pattern of the river system. Reserves are scarce in mountainous areas but are abundant in regions with rivers and wide alluvial plains, although reserves appear at depths greater than 4m. The distribution of aggregate resources in Nonsan City is influenced by stream activities and sea level changes, with the tidal range of the Yellow Sea acting as an unfavorable condition for the preservation of aggregate resources.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.13-26
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• 1968

To establish the most efficient method of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization in paddy rice a series of internationally coordinated research using $N^{15}\;P^{32}$ isotopes were carried out from the year 1962 through 1967, supervised by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Atomic Energy in Agriculture under the auspicies of FAO, UN. In Korea College of Agriculture, Seoul National University had been participated in the Coordinated Research Programme from the year 1963 through the last year, arid the results obtained through the six years' researches are summarized as follows: 1. In the application of superphosphate broadcasting or placement at the surface of paddy as basal dressing was most efficient. 2. Split or late application of superphosphate did not affect the grain yield of the rice, but its efficiency in the rice plant uptake was less than in the case of basal dressing of whole amounts. 3. The contents of available soil phoshorus of the experimental sites in Korea were above 60 ppm, and the efficiency of phosphorus utilization of the rice from the fertilizer was approximately 10 per cent. The grain yield response of the rice to phosphorus application in Korea was rather small comparing to those of other countries. 4. The nitrogen uptake of the rice plants from the fertilizer was most efficient when the fertilizer was applied at the time of ear prime growth. However, the most efficient utilization of nitrogen did not necessarily accompany the maximum yield of the rice and basic application of adequate amount of nitrogen was required to secure proper number of panicles. 5. In the application of nitrogenous fertilizer shallow placement at 5 cm depth was most efficient. The effect of split application of nitrogen was not so noticeable. It seemed due to the fact that total application amount of nitrogen, 60 kg N/ha, was smaller than that of usual dosage in Korea. 6. The efficiency of nitrogen utilization of the rice from the fertilizer was about 40 percent in Korea, and the yield reponse of the rice plant to nitrogen application was remarkable comparing to those of other countries, showing the marked differences in the fertilizer efficiency and grain yield according to the application method. 7. The nitrogen uptake of the rice plant was not likely affected by the time and the rate of phosphorus application whereas the efficiency of phosphorus utilization was affected to some degree by the method of nitrogen application.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.217-246
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• 2018

During the selection and characterization of target formations in the Small-scale Offshore $CO_2$ Storage Demonstration Project in the Pohang Basin, we have carefully investigated the possibility of induced earthquakes and leakage of $CO_2$ during the injection, and have designed the storage processes to minimize these effects. However, people in Pohang city have a great concern on $CO_2$-injection-intrigued seismicity, since they have greatly suffered from the 5.4 magnitude earthquake on Nov. 15, 2017. The research team of the project performed an extensive self-investigation on the safety issues, especially on the possible $CO_2$ leakage from the target formation and induced earthquakes. The target formation is 10 km apart from the epicenter of the Pohang earthquake and the depth is also quite shallow, only 750 to 800 m from the sea bottom. The project performed a pilot injection in the target formation from Jan. 12 to Mar. 12, 2017, which implies that there are no direct correlation of the Pohang earthquake on Nov. 15, 2017. In addition, the $CO_2$ injection of the storage project does not fracture rock formations, instead, the supercritical $CO_2$ fluid replaces formation water in the pore space gradually. The self-investigation results show that there is almost no chance for the injection to induce significant earthquakes unless injection lasts for a very long time to build a very high pore pressure, which can be easily monitored. The amount of injected $CO_2$ in the project was around 100 metric-tonne that is irrelevant to the Pohang earthquake. The investigation result on long-term safety also shows that the induced earthquakes or the reactivation of existing faults can be prevented successfully when the injection pressure is controlled not to demage cap-rock formation nor exceed Coulomb stresses of existing faults. The project has been performing extensive studies on critical stress for fracturing neighboring formations, reactivation stress of existing faults, well-completion processes to minimize possible leakage, transport/leakage monitoring of injected $CO_2$, and operation procedures for ensuring the storage safety. These extensive studies showed that there will be little chance in $CO_2$ leakage that affects human life. In conclusion, the Small-scale Offshore $CO_2$ Storage Demonstration Project in the Pohang Basin would not cause any induced earthquakes nor signifiant $CO_2$ leakage that people can sense. The research team will give every effort to secure the safety of the storage site.