• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.42-47
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• 1997

This study was carried out to investigate the faunal composition and distribution pattern of meiobenthic community in the deep sea sediments of northeastern Pacific Ocean. Faunal samples were collected at 10 stations using a multiple corer and a spade type box corer during May 1996. A total of 18 meiofaunal groups were found, and Sarcomastigophora was the most dominant group which accounted for 35.8% of total meiofaunal abundance. Nematoda (30.8%), Nauplius larvae of Crustacea (11.9%), Ciliophora (6.8%) and Harpacticoida (3.0%) which were also important components of the meiofaunal community. All of these five faunal groups comprised more than 90% of total meiofauna. The highest density of 195 ind./10 $cm^2$ was found at St. 4 (4960 m water depth), but the lowest one, 85 ind./10 $cm^2$ at St. 1 (4969 m water depth). The overall mean density of meiofauna was estimated as $1.34{\times}10^5\;ind./m^2$. The abundance of meiofauna showed a slow decreasing trend along the water depth. The highest density was observed in the upper 1 cm and density decreased drastically with increasing depth from the surface.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.280-285
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• 2008

Manganese nodule abundance estimated based on operation of a Free Fall Grab(FFG) needs to be corrected to make up for its incomplete recovery of nodule, because FFGs can not recover all the nodules distributed on seabed. The correction factor for nodule abundance was proposed as 1.29 and 1.13 in 1994 and 2002, respectively, mainly based on the analyses of seabed images. In this study we collected manganese nodules using both FFG and Box Corer(BC) at same stations to examine the accuracy of the previous correction factors. It was found that the nodule recovery of the BC was 1.4 times greater than that of the FFG at the same sampling station, suggesting the necessity of re-evaluation of the previously proposed correction factor for FFG. More extensive sampling and improvement of image analysis method are required to improve the precision of nodule abundance correction factor for FFG.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 1996

This study was conducted to investigate the faunal composition and distribution patterns of macrobenthic community in the deep sea sediments of the KODOS area, the northeastern Pacific Ocean during May 1996. Benthic animals were collected at 25 stations using a spade type box corer. Sediments were sieved through -.3 mm mesh screen. A total of 17 faunal groups in 9 phyla and 363 specimens were identified. Nematoda was the most abundant faunal group which accounted for 30.0% of total abundance. Other dominant faunal groups were foraminiferans (25.1%), harpacticoids (10.2%), xenophyophores (5.2%), and polychaetes (4.7%), Polychaeta was a typically dominant component of macrobenthic community in the study area except traditionally recognized meiofauna taxa. Mean occurrence number of faunal taxa was ca. 6 per 0.01 m$\^$2/, and mean density was estimated as 1,288 indiv./m$\^$2/. The abundance of whole fauna and that of each faunal group was highest at the surface layer of sediment, and decreased monotonously along the sediment depth; 98% of faunal abundance was found within 10 cm depth layer.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.347-349
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• 2008

A single juvenile of the jawfish Stalix toyoshio (24.0 mm standard length) was collected from the South Sea of Korea at a depth of 135 m during box-corer sampling. The specimen was characterized by the absence of stripes on both the body and vertical fins, well-developed cephalic pore systems, yellowish body and fins, six transversely-forked dorsal fin spines, and five mandibular pores. Here, we describe the specimen, which represents the first record of S. toyoshio from Korea and the second record from the northwestern Pacific.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.157-165
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• 2003

In order to understand the characteristics of sedimentary environments in Ulleung Basin of the East Sea (Sea of Japan), three sediment cores were taken with a box corer during R/V Tamyang cruise in October 1999. Activities of $^{7}Be,{\;}^{210}Pb,{\;}^{226}Ra,{\;}^{234}Th,{\;}^{238}{\;}and{\;}^{137}Cs$ in sediment samples were determined by non-destructive gamma-ray spectrometry. Rates of sedimentation and particle mixing were estimated by best fitting an advection­diffusion particle mixing model to the data of $^{7}Be,{\;}^{234}Th,{\;}and{\;}^{210}Pb$. Estimated sedimentation rates were 0.06-0.08 cm/yr and particle mixing rates were $0.13-0.65{\;}\textrm{cm}^2/yr$. The use of multiple tracers in our study prevented us from probable up to 38% overestimation of sedimentation rates.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.142-148
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• 1998

Environmental baseline information is necessary in order to assess the potential environmental impact of future manganese-nodule mining on the deep-seabed ecosystem. Total ATP (T-ATP), dissolved ATP (D-ATP) and particulate ATP (P-ATP) were measured to estimate total microbial biomass and to elucidate their vertical distribution patterns in the seabed of KODOS (Korea Deep Ocean Study) area, northeast equatorial Pacific Ocean. Within the upper 6 cm depth of sediment, the concentrations of T-ATP, D-ATP and P-ATP ranged from 4.4 to 40.6, from 0.6 to 16.1, and from 3.0 to 29.2 ng/g dry sediment, respectively. Approximately 84% of T-ATP, 81% of D-ATP, and 74% of P-ATP were present within the topmost 2 cm depth of sediment, and the distributions of ATP were well correlated with water content in the sediment. These results indicate that the distribution of total microbial biomass was largely determined by the supply of organic matter from surface water column. Fine-scale vertical variations of ATP were detected within 1-cm thick veneer of the sediment samples collected by multiple corer, while no apparent vertical changes were observed in the box-cored samples. It is evident that the box-core samples were disturbed extensively during sampling, which suggests that the multiple corer is a more appropriate sampling gear for measuring fine-scale vertical distribution pattern of ATP within thin sediment veneer. Overall results suggest that the concentrations of ATP, given their clear changes in vertical distribution pattern within 6 cm depth of sediment, are a suitable environmental baseline parameter in evaluating the variations of benthic microbial biomass that are likely to be caused by deep-seabed mining operation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.475-483
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• 2011

Quantitative estimate of manganese nodules based on the operation of a free fall grab (FFG) needs to be corrected because of its less retrieval ability. Previously, the correction parameter of the nodule abundance collected by FFG was calculated based on the image analysis of the photos of bottom sediment in the northern sector of the nodule exploration area of Korea in the NE equatorial Pacific. However, nodules in the southern sector are commonly covered by sediment, which may prevent the use of the correction parameter estimated by photographic techniques. In this study, we attempted dual nodule sampling at the same location by different equipments (i.e. box corer (BC) and FFG) to examine the previous correction parameter of nodule abundance for FFG operation. During the exploration cruises in 2007 to 2009, Mn-nodules were collected from 40 stations both by BC and FFG in the southern sector. The correlation analysis between BC and FFG operations revealed that the BC collected nodules 1.43 times larger than FFG. Our result suggests that the correction parameter of 1.43 can be applied for collection of FFG data to estimate Mn-nodule distribution in the southern sector. The obtained parameter is similar to the previous parameter (1.42~1.45) calculated by the image analysis method, indicating an usefulness of new correction parameter suggested by this study.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.515-524
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• 2014

The Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology has acquired detailed biological, chemicophysical, and geological data in the northeastern Pacific through a manganese nodule program since 1983. Plenty of manganese nodules were collected to estimate the amount of resources by free-fall grab and box corer. The collected manganese nodules have been archived systematically in the rock and mineral storage section of the Library of Marine Samples (LIMS) since 2012. The LIMS provides essencial information on the stored samples including sample name, nodule type, sampling location, depth, and equipment. Although a high quality database of the information system is under construction, the samples have tagged information for manganese nodules like chemical composition, morphology, weight, size, abundance, and photograph. In this study, we attempted to provide information on the well-organized and easily accessible archived manganese nodule samples for future studies and to introduce the usefulness of the LIMS.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.113-122
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• 1998

The requisite numbers of sample replicates for the population study of soft-bottom benthos were estimated from survey data on the Songdo tidal flat and subtidal zone in Youngil Bay, Korea. Large numbers of samples were taken; two-hundred-fifty 0.02 m$^2$ box corers and fifty 0.1m$^2$ van Veen grabs were taken on the Songdo tidal flat and in Youngil Bay, respectively. The effect of sampler size on sampling efforts was investigated by pooling the unit samples in pairs, fours, eights, etc. The requisite number of sample replicates (n$_r$) was determined by sample variance (s$^2$) and mean (m) function (n$_r$:s$^2$/P$^2$m$^2$), at P=0.2 level, in which s$^2$ and m were calculated from the counts of individuals collected. For example, seven samples of 0.02 m$^2$ corer for the intertidal and two samples of 0.1 m$^2$ van Veen grab for subtidal fauna were required to estimate the total density of community. The smaller sampler size was more efficient than larger ones when sampling costs were compared on the basis of the total sampling area. The requisite number of sample replicates was also predicted ($\^{n}$n$_r$) by substituting $\^{s}$$^2$ obtained from the regression of s$^2$ against m using the Taylor's power law ($\^{s}$$^2$:am$^b$). The regression line of survey data on s$^2$ and m plotted on log scale was well fitted to the Taylor's power law (r$^2$${\geq}$0.95, p<;0.001) over the whole range of m. The exponent b was, however, varied when it was estimated from m which was categorized into classes by its scale. The fitted exponent b was large when both density class and the sampler size were large. The number of sample replicates, therefore, could be more significantly estimated, if regression coefficients (a and b) would be calculated from sample variance and mean categorized into density classes.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.311-321
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• 2004

Relationships between sedimentary environments and abundance of benthic animals were examined on the deep-sea floor, the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, in the northeast equatorial Pacific Ocean. Specimens were collected using a box corer at 8 stations by sieving through 0.3 mm mesh screen. Sediments showed finer grain size ranged from 5.63 to $7.97{\varphi}$, 83.1% of mean porosity, 1.81 kPa of mean shear strength and organic carbon content in sediment ranged from 0.97 to $1.87\;mg/cm^3$. Manganese nodules covered on the bottom layer from 4 to 57% of coverages. A total of 26 faunal groups in 6 phyla was sampled and comprised 1,467 individuals. Mean biomass were calibrated to 0.5 gWWt/$0.06\;m^2$. Small-sized animals including foraminiferans and nematods were dominated among the faunal group which comprised 49.1% (892 ind.) and 11.5% (320 ind.), respectively. In SPI-analysis, vertical bio-disturbance marks were not observed except to Beggiatoa-type bacterial mats. As the results of relationship between environments and benthos, abundance of benthic animals, especially nematode, showed only a negative correlation to the coverage of nodules, and any other sedimentary factors analyzed in this study were rarely affected to the spatial distribution of benthic animals.