• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.209-212
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• 2004

Soil environment has not received much attention from the environmental impact assessor community although soil contamination may affect human health and the eco-system. This study was the first trial to discuss the role and importance of soil environment in the environmental impact assessment(EIA) and suggest possible environmental impact assessment schemes for soil. The objectives of the study were to show the effects of soil contamination on human health, the environment and the social community, suggest efficient EIA schemes in Korea and establish the basic concepts of soil environment assessment involving fate and transport of contaminants and its risk.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.85-88
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• 2001

Since mountainous area has access restrictions for field work, assessors need to establish a conceptual model of the contamination prior to the field investigation. In this study we established a conceptual model of the contamination based on site inspection and geological survey, followed by the field investigation for the petroleum spill site. In the conceptual model, we estimated that tile contamination should have spread by groundwater and topographical characteristics within the top soil layer. The spread of contamination through rock was not considered in the conceptual model due to impermeable characteristics of metasyenite. The contaminated environmental media of the petroleum spill site include soil and groundwater. According to the analysis result of the contamination, the volume of contaminated soil is estimated approximately 4, 150 cubic meters (7, 055 ton) with most contaminants existing along the groundwater flow within top soil layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.99-102
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• 2000

There has been a steady increase in contaminated ground at municipal and industrial site. In this study, investigation and analysis on soil contamination at industrial site was carried out. Testing contaminated soils were sampled at this site. As a result of this study, the concentration of soil was investigated, and measured concentration was compared with related concentration criteria.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.227-235
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• 2022

Background: Abandoned metal mines are classified as vulnerable areas with the highest level of soil contamination among risk regions. People living near abandoned metal mines are at increased risk of exposure to toxic metals. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between soil contamination levels in areas around abandoned metal mine and the blood lead levels of local residents. Moreover, we assess the possibility of using soil contamination levels as a predictive indicator for human exposure level. Methods: Data from the Survey of Residents around Abandoned Metal Mines (2013~2017, n=4,421) and Investigation of Soil Pollution in Abandoned Metal Mines (2000~2011) were used. A random coefficient model was conducted for estimation of the lower level (micro data) of the local resident unit and the upper level (macro data) of the abandoned metal mine unit. Through a fitted model, the variation of blood lead levels among abandoned metal mines was confirmed and the effect of the operationally defined soil contamination level was estimated. Results: Among the total variation in blood lead levels, the variation between abandoned mines was 18.6%, and the variation determined by the upper-level factors such as soil contamination and water contamination was 8.1%, which was statistically significant respectively. There was also a statistically significant difference in the least square mean of blood lead concentration according to the level of soil contamination (p=0.047, low: 2.32 ㎍/dL, middle: 2.38 ㎍/dL, high: 2.59 ㎍/dL). Conclusions: The blood lead concentration of residents living near abandoned metal mines was significantly correlated with the level of soil contamination. Therefore, in biomonitoring for vulnerable areas, operationally defined soil contamination can be used as a predictor for human exposure level to hazardous substances and discrimination of high-risk abandoned metal mines.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.189-194
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• 1998

Geochemical study was carried out to find out the distribution of metals and cyanide in soil in the vicinity of the abandoned Keum-Jung mine. Chemical analysis showed that content of As in soil around tailings exceeded 15mg/kg, Korean standard of soil contamination in the farm land. That means the contamination of soil by As is due to input of tailings. According to total decomposition of tailings, As was highly concentrated in tailings. However the water in tailings impoundment was changed to acidic and contaminated by metal and sulfate because the tailings in the top of the tailings impoundment had been oxidized. Acid mine drainage contaminated the water course in the vicinity of the paddy soils. The proper measures are required to prevent contamination of the soil and water in the vicinity of the Keum-Jung mine.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2010

This study investigated the change of metal contamination levels according to amendment of enforcement regulation of the Soil Environmental Conservation Act in Korea. As an analytical result of 87 samples in abandoned metallic mine area, the extracted amount of As, Pb and Cu with aqua regia was 4.3~29.6 times higher than that with hydrochloric acid extraction and the number of samples, which contamination levels were found to exceed soil contamination standards, was also increased. On the other hand, in case of Cd, Zn, and Ni, the number of samples, which contamination levels were found to exceed soil contamination standards, was decreased or similar. These results can be used as a preliminary material in comparison between the soil pollution data accumulated previously and the data obtained by the revised standard method for the examination of soil pollution.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.31
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• pp.6.1-6.10
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• 2016

Objectives This study examined the spatial distribution and the extent of soil contamination by heavy metals resulting from primitive, unconventional informal electronic waste recycling in the Agbogbloshie e-waste processing site (AEPS) in Ghana. Methods A total of 132 samples were collected at 100 m intervals, with a handheld global position system used in taking the location data of the soil sample points. Observing all procedural and quality assurance measures, the samples were analyzed for barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn), using X-ray fluorescence. Using environmental risk indices of contamination factor and degree of contamination ($C_{deg}$), we analyzed the individual contribution of each heavy metal contamination and the overall $C_{deg}$. We further used geostatistical techniques of spatial autocorrelation and variability to examine spatial distribution and extent of heavy metal contamination. Results Results from soil analysis showed that heavy metal concentrations were significantly higher than the Canadian Environmental Protection Agency and Dutch environmental standards. In an increasing order, Pb>Cd>Hg>Cu>Zn>Cr>Co>Ba>Ni contributed significantly to the overall $C_{deg}$. Contamination was highest in the main working areas of burning and dismantling sites, indicating the influence of recycling activities. Geostatistical analysis also revealed that heavy metal contamination spreads beyond the main working areas to residential, recreational, farming, and commercial areas. Conclusions Our results show that the studied heavy metals are ubiquitous within AEPS and the significantly high concentration of these metals reflect the contamination factor and $C_{deg}$, indicating soil contamination in AEPS with the nine heavy metals studied.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.371-377
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• 1997

This paper presents the geophysical applications to the environmenml problem in an abandoned mine area. We would like to focus our attention on the mapping of the soil contamination and the detection of the buried mine tailings. For mapping the soil contamination. measurements of both in-situ magnetic susceptibility (k) and terrain conductivity were carried out. In-situ magnetic susceptibilities of the contaminated soil due to the acid mine drainage show higher values than those of the uncontaminated area. However. those data do not show the correlation with the degree of the soil contamination observed on the surface. The least-squares fitted formula obtained with the measured insitu magnetic susceptibilities is $k=4.8207{\times}W^{0.6332}$, where W is the $Fe^{+2}$ weight percentage. This weight gives most effect to magnetic susceptibility of the soil. Lateral variations of the soil contamination in the shallow subsurface can be detected by the electrical conductivity distributions from EM induction survey. TDIP (Time Domain Induced Polarization) and EM induction surveys were conducted to detect the buried mine tailings. From the results of TDIP, the spatial zone, which shows high chargeability-low resistivity, is interpreted as the buried mine tailings. Therefore, it is concluded that it is possible to discriminate the spatial zone from the uncontaminated ground.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 1998

The environmental problem of the rural area has been accelerated in soil as well as water. Soil contamination is usually caused by improper operation of landfills, abandoned mine fields, accidental spills, and illegal dumpings. Once soil contamination is initiated, pollutants migrate and may cause groundwater contamination which takes much effort for remediation. Early detection, therefore, is important to prevent further contamination. Electrical resistivity method was used to detect soil contamination, but it was not effective to the heterogeneous condition. Static cone penetrometer test (CPT) has been used widely to investigate geotechnical properties of the underground. In this study, electrical resistivity method and CPT are combined to improve the applicability of it. The pilot test was performed to examine the variation of electrical resistivity with different soil minerals and pore fluid characteristics. Soil samples used were poorly graded sand, silty sandy soil, and weathered granite soil. For all the cases, electrical resistivity decreased with increasing of moisture content. Soil mineral also affected the electrical resistivity significantly. Above all, leachate addition in the pore fluid was very sensitive and caused decreasing of electrical resistivity markedly. It implies that electrical resistivity method can be applied to investigate pollutant plume effectively. This is specially sure when the sensors contact the contaminated soils directly. The CPT method involves cone penetration to the ground, therefore, underground contamination around the cone could be investigated effectively even for heterogeneous condition as it penetrates if electrical resistivity sensors are attached on the cone.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.103-107
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• 2008

In this work, soil environment policy which should be taken into account at brownfield redevelopment projects was deduced from investigation on their environmental impact assessment statements. Soil contamination sources such as small-scale factories were found at a few large-scale brownfield projects, so contaminated soils did often exist at these sites. Especially, military facilities within the sites caused severe soil contamination problems. Therefore, soil environment policy was presented in detail to solve soil contamination problem at brownfield redevelopment projects. Furthermore, land-use planning focusing on greening (soil and vegetation) should be pursued at brownfield redevelopment projects in order to maximize environmental benefits of greenspace.