• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.789-792
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• 2010

Major impacts of climate change expert that soil erosion rate may increase during the $21^{st}$ century. This study was conducted to assess the potential impacts of climate change on soil erosion by water in Korea. The soil loss was estimated for regions with the potential risk of soil erosion on a national scale. For computation, Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) with rainfall and runoff erosivity factors (R), cover management factors (C), support practice factors (P) and revised USLE with soil erodibility factors (K) and topographic factors (LS) were used. RUSLE, the revised version of USLE, was modified for Korean conditions and re-evaluate to estimate the national-scale of soil loss based on the digital soil maps for Korea. The change of precipitation for 2010 to 2090s were predicted under A1B scenarios made by National Institute of Meteorological Research in Korea. Future soil loss was predicted based on a change of R factor. As results, the predicted precipitations were increased by 6.7% for 2010 to 2030s, 9.5% for 2040 to 2060s and 190% for 2070 to 2090s, respectively. The total soil loss from uplands in 2005 was estimated approximately $28{\times}10^6$ ton. Total soil losses were estimated as $31{\times}10^6$ ton in 2010 to 2030s, $31{\times}10^6$ ton in 2040 to 2060s and $33{\times}10^6$ ton in 2070 to 2090s, respectively. As precipitation increased by 17% in the end of $21^{st}$ century, the total soil loss was increased by 12.9%. Overall, these results emphasize the significance of precipitation. However, it should be noted that when precipitation becomes insignificant, the results may turn out to be complex due to the large interaction among plant biomass, runoff and erosion. This may cause increase or decrease the overall erosion.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.109-125
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• 2017

This study aimed to develop a parcel-unit soil loss estimation tool embedded in Excel worksheet, USLExls, required for the design of contaminated farmland restoration project and to analyze the impact of the project carried out soil-filling work on soil loss. USLE method was adopted for the estimation of average annual soil loss in a parcel unit, and each erosivity factor in the USLE equation was defined through the review of previous studies. USLExls was implemented to allow an engineer to try out different combinations just by selecting one among the popular formulas by each factor at a combo box and to simply update parameters by using look-up tables. This study applied it to the estimation of soil loss before and after soil-filling work at Dong-a project area. The average annual soil loss after the project increased by about 2.4 times than before on average, and about 60 % of 291 parcels shifted to worse classes under the classification criteria proposed by Kwak (2005). Although average farmland steepness was lower thanks to land grading work, the soil loss increased because the inappropriate texture of the cover soil induced the soil erosion factor K to increase from 0.33 before to 0.78 after the soil-filling work. The results showed that the selection of cover soil for soil-filling work should be carefully considered in terms soil loss control and the estimation of change in soil loss should be mandatory in planning a contaminated farmland restoration project.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.29-42
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• 2023

Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is suggested and employed in the policy to conserve soil resources and to manage the impact of development, since soil loss is very essential to nonpoint source pollution management. The equation requires only five factors to estimate average annual potential soil loss, USLE is simplicity provides benefits in use of the equation. However, it is also limitation of the model, since the estimated results are very sensitive to the five factors. There is a need to examine the application procedures. Three approaches to estimate potential soil loss were examined, In the first approach, all factors were prepared with raster data, soil loss were computed for each cell, and sum of all cell values was determined as soil loss for the watersheds. In the second approach, the mean values for each factor were defined as representing USLE factors, and then the five factors were multiplied to determine soil loss for the watersheds. The third approach was same as the second approach, except that the Vegetative and Mechanical measure was used instead of the Cover and management factor and Support practice factor. The approaches were applied in 38 watersheds, they displayed significant difference, moreover no trends were detected for the soil loss at watersheds with the approaches. Therefore, it was concluded that there is a need to be developed and provided a typical guideline or public systems so that soil loss estimations have consistency with the users.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.61-70
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• 2000

Soil erosion in the hilly and mountainous uplands in the Daekwanryong area, Kangwon-Do, were investigated through a field plot experiment. The plot size was 15m long and 2.5m wide with the average slope of 12.5 percents. Soil erodibility factor (K), surface coverage (SC), soil aggregate percentage and wind erodibility (I) were evaluated in the mountainous soils under different management practices for corn and potato cultivations. Soil erodibility factor (K) was greater in upper part than in lower part of the plots. Surface coverage (SC) values ranged from 0.01 to 0.84 depending on the amounts of crop residues. Soils having a greater crop residue in surface were less subjected to soil erosion. SC values after corn harvest were 0.4 to 0.8, while those after potato harvest were 0.4 to 0.5, indicating potato might be better than corn for erosion control. Soil aggregate percentages of the experimental plots ranged from 49.7 to 79.8%. Those were higher in potato-cultivated plots with higher surface coverage, organic fertilizer treatment and contour tillage. Soil aggregate percentage of potato-cultivated plots was significantly correlated to crop residue coverage after harvest. The dried soil aggregate percentage, showing the ranges of 26.4 to 56.4%, were higher in the plots with the increased crop residue incorporation. Wind erodibility (I) of the soil was decreased with increasing surface coverage. When soil had 26.4% of the dried aggregate percentage, wind erodibility was estimated to be $183Mgha^{-1}$ which was equivalent to soil loss of $0.5Mg\ha^{-1}day^{-1}$.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.52-64
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• 2020

The universal soil loss equation (USLE), a model for estimating the potential soil loss, has been used not only in research areas but also in establishing national policies in South Korea. Despite its wide applicability, USLE cannot adequately address the effect of seasonal variances. To overcome this limit, the ArcGIS-based Sediment Assessment Tool for Effective Erosion (ArcSATEEC) has been developed as an alternative model. Although the field-scale (< 100 ㎡) application of this model produced reliable estimation results, it is still challenging to validate accuracy of the model estimation because it only estimates potential soil losses, not the actual sediment yield. Therefore, in this study, a method for estimating actual soil loss based on the ArcSATEEC model was suggested. The model was applied to eight watersheds in South Korea to estimate sediment yields. Correction factor was introduced for each watershed, and the estimated sediment yield was compared with that of the estimated yield by LOAD ESTimator (LOADEST). Sediment yield estimation for all watersheds exhibited reliable results, and the validity of the proposed correction factor was confirmed, suggesting the correction factor needs to be considered in estimating actual soil loss.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.326-329
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• 2007

Quantifying soil organic carbon (SOC) has long been considered to improve our understanding of soil productivity, soil carbon dynamics, and soil quality. And also SOC could contribute as a major soil management factor for prescribing fertilizers and controlling of soil erosion and runoff. Reducing tillage intensity has been recommended to sequester SOC into soil. On the other hand, determination of traditional SOC could barely identify the tillage practices effect. Physical soil fractionation has been reported to improve interpretation of soil tillage practices impact on SOC dynamics. However, most of these researches were focused onupland soils and few researches were conducted on paddy soils. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate paddy soil tillage impact on SOC by physical soil fractionation. Soils were sampled in conventional-tillage (CT), partial-tillage (PT), no-tillage (NT), and shallow-tillage (ST)plots at the National Institute of Crop Science research farm. Samples were obtained at the three sampling depth with 7.5-cm increment from the surface and were sieved with 0.25- and 0.053-mm screen. Soil organic carbon was determined by wet combustion method. Significant difference of SOC contentwas found among sampling soil depth and soil particle size. SOC content tended to increase at the ST plot with increasing size of soil particle fraction. We conclude that quantifying soil organic carbon by physical soil particle fractionation could improve understanding of SOC dynamics by soil tillage practices.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 1999

Rainfall factor. R, and soil factor, K were estimated to use the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) to predict the amount of soil erosion from a land on slope in Kangwon-do, Korea. The average of R factor was 405 with a range from 251 to 601. The R factor differed among regions. The R factor at Taegwalryung, in the highland region, was 409 and those at Inje and Hongchon, in the mid mountainous regions, ranged from 310 to 493. The R factors at Wonju and Chuncheon, in the plain regions, ranged from 505 to 601. The R factors at Sokcho, Kangnung and Samchok, in the east coastal region, which ranged from 251 to 368, were lowee than those in the western part of the Taebaeg Mountains. The R factor during the winter including the effect of winter freezing and thawing was 12 to 30% of the annual average value in the east coastal and highland regions, while that in the western part of Taebaeg Mountains was lower than 7%. The average of K factor in the surface soil was 0.21 with a range from 0.06 to 0.42. The K factors of Odae and Weoljeong serieses were the lowest, while that of Imog was the highest. The average of K factor in the subsoil was 0.28 with a range from 0.07 to 0.45. The K factor of the subsoil was 1.3 times higher than that of top soil. The average of K factor in he soil including the effect of the gravel covering and percolation was 0.18 with a range from 0.03 to 0.33. In contrast. the K factor excluding the effect of the gravel covering was lower than this. The average of K factor in the frozen subsoil was 0.33, which was 1.6 times higher than that of the non frozen subsoil.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2014

This study analyzed shear stress and erosion characteristic of a vegetated levee embankment with root fiber quantity, which is an important factor for evaluating the stability of it. The averaged root fiber quantity in a vegetated levee revetment was measured by the sampler manufactured by this research. The Phragmites Japonica Steud which is somewhat dominant species in a vegetated levee embankment was selected as an experimental vegetation. As a result of experiment of each flow regime, the shear stress was increased while root fiber quantity was increased and the erosion rate was exponentially decreased as the root fiber quantity was increased. The erosion rate was exponentially decreased as the shear stress was increased which is shown that the increase of shear stress by root fiber quantity results in the increase of erosion resistance in a vegetated soil. The relationship between shear stress and erosion rate with root fiber quantity were analyzed and their regression equations were suggested with high determination coefficients. The hydraulic stability is governed by the increase of shear stress by root fiber quantity and the Froude number of flow characteristic in a vegetated levee revetment.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.1324-1328
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• 2008

RUSLE(Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) is one of empirical models for estimating the soil loss effectively, when there is no measured data from the study areas. It has been researching into application and estimation of the RUSLE parameters in Korea. As one of the RUSLE parameters, the rainfall-runoff erosivity factor R, is closely connected hydrologic characteristics of the study areas. It requires a continuous record of rainfall measurement at a minute time step for each storm to calculate an accurate R factor by the RUSLE methodology and it takes a lot of time to analyze it. For the more simplified and reasonable estimation of the rainfall erosivity, this study researched for correlation between the rainfall erosivity and mean annual precipitation used 122 data from the existing studies in Korea. Considering hydrologic homogeneity, new regression equations are presented and compared with other annual erosive empirical index for the test of application. As the results, the study presents the isoerodent map at 59 sites in Korea, using annual rainfall data by the Korea Meteorological Administration from 1978 to 2007.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.150-157
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• 2010

Biodegradation behavior of poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA) was examined when PBSA was buried in the natural soil and the soil inoculated with Burkholderia cepacia after sterilization. After 80 days of the soil burial test at room temperature, the PBSA film buried in the natural soil lost 34.0% of its intial weight, while the same film lost 59.2% of its initial weight when buried in the sterile soil inoculated with B. cepacia. The optical and SEM observations of the surface morphology of the PBSA film also indicated that the surface erosion and rupture took place faster when the film was buried in the sterile soil inoculated with B. cepacia compared to the film buried in the natural soil. Viable cell number in the natural soil and that the sterile soil inoculated with B. cepacia increased by a factor of 6~7 and 10~14, respectively as compared to the initial viable cell number.