• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2021

This study is to identify the mineralogical properties of caprock samples from drilling cores of the Pohang basin, which is the research area for the demonstration-scale CO2 storage project in Korea. The interaction of water-rock-gas that can occur due to CO2 injection was identified using geochemical modeling. Results of mineralogical studies, together with petrographic data of caprock and data on the physicochemical parameters of pore water were used for geochemical modeling. Modelling was carried out using the The Geochemist's Workbench 14.0.1 geochemical simulator. Two steps of modeling enabled prediction of immediate changes in the caprocks impacted by the first stage of CO2 injection and the assessment of long-term effects of sequestration. Results of minerlaogical analysis showed that the caprock samples are mainly composed of quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase and a small amount of pyrite, calcite, kaolinite and montmollonite. After the injection of carbon dioxide, the porosity of the caprock increased due to the dissolution of calcite, and dawsonite and chalcedony were precipitated as a result of the dissolution of albite and k-feldspar. In the second step after the injection was completed, the precipitation of dawsonite and chalcedony occurred as a result of dissolution of calcite and albite, and the pH was increased due to this reaction. Results of these studies are expected to be used as data to quantitatively evaluate the efficiency of mineral trapping capture in long-term storage of carbon dioxide.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.104-113
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• 2002

The sorption of Cd$^{2+}$ on calcite was studied in aqueous solutions of several electrolytes. The Cd$^{2+}$ concentration, 10$^{-8}$ M, was kept well below saturation with respect to CdCO$_3$(s). Sorption behavior of Cd$^{2+}$ in different ionic strengths of NaClO$_4$solutions shows that sorption is independent of ionic strength. This result suggests that Cd$^{2+}$ sorption on calcite surface is of a specific nature, and adsorption is controlled by an inner-sphere type of surface complex. Two stages in the sorption behavior could be identified: an initial rapid uptake, followed by slower uptake reaching a maximum steady state by 145 hrs. No evidence was observed for surface precipitation, although it can not be entirely ruled out. Desorption of Cd$^{2+}$ from the calcite surface after resuspension into Cd-free solution is initially very rapid, but depends partly on the previous sorption history. Desorption behavior of Cd$^{2+}$ show that an initial rapid desorption followed either by slow uptake reaching a maximum, as in the adsorption experiments, or slowing desorption to reach a steady state minimum. This irreversible behavior of Cd$^{2+}$ sorption and desorption may act as one of the controls for regulating the mobility of dissolved Cd$^{2+}$ natural aqueous systems. Calculated adsorption partition coefficients suggest that overall sorption and desorption process in the concentration range are controlled by d single mechanism.ingle mechanism.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.75-86
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• 2018

This study analyzed precipitation environment, heavy metal concentration, mineral composition, and spectral characteristics associated with heavy metal concentration and mineral composition for the reddish brown precipitates occurred in the drainage of Dogye mining station. The pH of the reddish brown precipitates ranges from 7.59 to 7.94 resulting neutral. XRF analysis reveals that the precipitates has high Fe concentration, and contaminated with Ni, Cu, and Zn. Dolomite, calcite, goethite, magnetite, kaolinite, pyrophyllite, quartz and aluminum isopropoxide were identified based on XRD analysis. As a result of spectral analysis associated with heavy metal contamination, visible reflectance increases and infrared reflectance decreases with a increase in heavy metal concentration. The spectral characteristics of the reddish brown precipitates is turned out to be manifested by goethite, magnetite, kaolinite, pyrophyllite and aluminum isopropoxide.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2004

Crystallization of CaC $O_3$ from the solutions of various degrees of supersaturation was carried out by a spontaneous precipitation method. The solution was kept at $25^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.9∼8.8. The solution compositions were varied in two ways: (1) The total carbonate, [C $O_3$]$_{Τ}$, to total calcium. [Ca]$_{Τ}$, ratios vary as ; [C $O_3$]$_{Τ}$/[Ca]$_{Τ}$ >1. [C $O_3$]$_{Τ}$/[Ca]$_{Τ}$=1, and [C $O_3$]$_{Τ}$/[Ca]$_{Τ}$<1. (2) The total calcium concentration, [Ca]$_{Τ}$, held at 0.02 mo1/d $m^3$, 0.2 mo1/d $m^3$, and 0.4 mo1/d $m^3$. We found that the CaC $O_3$ phase crystallized from the solutions of [C $O_3$]$_{Τ}$/[Ca]$_{Τ}$ $\geq$ 1 was mostly calcite with less than 1% of vaterite, while the CaC $O_3$ crystals precipitated from low carbonate concentration toward calcium concentration, [C $O_3$]$_{Τ}$/[Ca]$_{Τ}$ < 1, were dominated by vaterite crystals. It appears that the polymorph of CaC $O_3$ precipitate was mainly controlled not by the calcium concentration but by the carbonate concentration during the spontaneous precipitation. Also, we found that the surface roughness of vaterite increased with decreasing carbonate concentration from 0.8 or 0.5 of [C $O_3$]$_{Τ}$/[Ca]$_{Τ}$ ratios and the surface area of vaterite increased from 5.64∼7.34 $\mu\textrm{m}$ to 8.39∼10.3 $\mu\textrm{m}$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1328-1338
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• 2015

Years of research have shown that the application of microorganisms increases the compressive strength of cement-based material when it is cured in a culture medium. Because the compressive strength is strongly affected by the hydration of cement paste, this research aimed to investigate the role of the microorganism Sporosarcina pasteurii in hydration of cement paste. The microorganism's role was investigated with and without the presence of a urea-CaCl₂ culture medium (i.e., without curing the specimens in the culture medium). The results showed that S. pasteurii accelerated the early hydration of cement paste. The addition of the urea-CaCl₂ culture medium also increased the speed of hydration. However, no clear evidence of microbially induced calcite precipitation appeared when the microorganisms were directly mixed with cement paste.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.355-365
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• 2022

Precipitation and phase transition of iron minerals in mine drainage greatly affect the behavior of trace elements. However, the precipitation of ferrihydrite, one of the major iron minerals precipitated in drainage, and the related behavior of trace elements have hardly been studied. In this study, the effects of pH change and time on mineral precipitation characteristics in mine drainage from the Munkyeong coal mine were investigated, and the behavioral changes of trace elements related to the precipitation of these minerals were studied. In the case of precipitated mineral phases, goethite was observed at pH 4, and 2-line ferrihydrite mixed with small amount of 6-line ferrihydrite was mainly identified at pH 6 or higher. In addition, it was observed that the precipitation of calcite additionally increased as the pH increased in the samples at pH 6 or higher. The occurrence of goethite was probably due to the phase change of initially precipitated ferrihydrite within a short time under the influence of low pH. Our results showed that the concentration of trace elements was strongly influenced by pH and time. With increasing time, Fe concentration in the drainage showed a abrupt decrease due to the precipitation of iron minerals, and the concentration of As existing as oxyanions in the drainage, also decreased rapidly like Fe regardless of the pH values. This decrease in As concentration was mainly due to co-precipitation with ferrihydrite, and also partly to surface adsorption on goethite at low pH in drainage. Contrary to this observation, the concentration of other trace elements, such as Cd, Co, Zn, and Ni was greatly affected by the pH regardless of the mineral species. The lower the pH value, the higher the concentration of these trace elements were observed in the drainage, and vice versa at higher pH. These results indicate that the behavior of trace elements present as cations is more greatly affected by the mineral surface charge influenced by the pH values than the type of the precipitated mineral.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2002

The chemical compositions of groundwaters from the granite areas mainly belong to Ca-HC0$_{3}$ and Na-HC0$_{3}$type, and some of these belong to Ca-(CI+S0$_{4}$) and Na-(CI+S0$_{4}$) type. Spring waters and groundwaters from anorthosite areas belong to Ca-HC03 and Na-HC03 type, respectively. The result of reaction path modeling shows that the chemical compositions of aqueous solution reacted with granite evolve from initial Ca-CI type, via CaHC0$_{3}$ type, to Na-HC0$_{3}$ type. The result of rain water-anorthosite interaction is similar to evolution path of granite reaction and both of these results agree well with the field data. In the reaction path modeling of rain watergranite/anorthosite reaction, as a reaction is progressing, the activity of hydrogen ion decreases (pH increases). The concentrations of cations are controlled by the dissolution of rock-forming minerals and precipitation and re-dissolution of secondary minerals according to the pH. The continuous addition of granite causes the formation of secondary minerals in the following sequence; gibbsite plus hematite, Mn-oxide, kaolinite, silica, chlorite, muscovite (a proxy for illite here), calcite, laumontite, prehnite, and finally analcime. In the anorthosite reaction, the order of precipitation of secondary minerals is the same as with granite reaction except that there is no silica precipitation and paragonite precipitates instead of analcime. The silica and kaolinite are predominant minerals in the granite and anorthosite reactions, respectively. Total quantities of secondary minerals in the anorthosite reaction are more abundant than those in the granite reaction.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 1994

As the groundwater flows along the fractures of crystalline rocks, it will be in contact with the fracture walls mostly coated by secondary minerals which are quite different form those of host rocks. The presence of fracture-filling minerals in crystalline rocks is important on the view point of radioactive waste disposal because of their great surface reactivity. The Surichi drill hole of 200 m in depth in the Yugu area composed mainly of Precambrian gneiss was selected to study the formation process of clay minerals on the fracture wall of gneiss, and their relation with present groundwater. The water-rock interaction in fractures resulted in the formation of gibbsite and clay minerals. They are formed by two different processes : (1) Incongruent dissolution of feldspar by groundwater diffused from a fracture path into rock matrix produced smectite and illite in situ, (2) on the wall of fracture, gibbsite, kaolinite, smectite and illite are formed by precipitation of dissolved species in groundwater. They show the paragenetic sequence such as gibbsite${\leftrightarrow}$kaolinite${\leftrightarrow}$smectite or illite. The paragenetic sequence of fracture-filling minerals was controlled by increase of pH of groundwater, decrease of fracture permeability by precipitation of fillings, and immobility of alkali or alkaline earths in groundwater. The groundwater from the Surichi borehole is a $Na-HCO_{3}$ type with pH range of 8.6-9.2. The sodium and bicarbonate in groundwater would be supplied by the dissolution of albite and calcite, respectively. The saturation index of groundwater and surface water calculated by WATEQ4F indicates that gibbsite and kaolinite are under precipitation to equilibrium state, and that smectite and illite are under equilibrium to redissolution environment. The stability relation of clay minerals in the $Na_{2}O-Al_{2}O_{3}-SiO_{2}-H_{2}O$ system shows that kaolinite is stable for all waters.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.231-240
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• 2002

Microbial metal reduction influences the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and metals as well as plays an important role in the bioremediation of metals, radionuclides, and organic contaminants. The use of bacteria to facilitate the production of magnetite nanoparticles and the formation of carbonate minerals may provide new biotechnological processes for material synthesis and carbon sequestration. Metal-reducing bacteria were isolated from a variety of extreme environments, such as deep terrestrial subsurface, deep marine sediments, water near Hydrothemal vents, and alkaline ponds. Metal-reducing bacteria isolated from diverse extreme environments were able to reduce Fe(III), Mn(IV), Cr(VI), Co(III), and U(VI) using short chain fatty acids and/or hydrogen as the electron donors. These bacteria exhibited diverse mineral precipitation capabilities including the formation of magnetite ($Fe_3$$O_4$), siderite ($FeCO_3$), calcite ($CaCO_3$), rhodochrosite ($MnCO_3$), vivianite [$Fe_3$($PO_4$)$_2$ .$8H_2$O], and uraninite ($UO_2$). Geochemical and environmental factors such as atmospheres, chemical milieu, and species of bacteria affected the extent of Fe(III)-reduction as well as the mineralogy and morphology of the crystalline iron mineral phases. Thermophilic bacteria use amorphous Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide plus metals (Co, Cr, Ni) as an electron acceptor and organic carbon as an electron donor to synthesize metal-substituted magnetite. Metal reducing bacteria were capable of $CO_2$conversion Into sparingly soluble carbonate minerals, such as siderite and calcite using amorphous Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide or metal-rich fly ash. These results indicate that microbial Fe(III)-reduction may not only play important roles in iron and carbon biogeochemistry in natural environments, but also be potentially useful f3r the synthesis of submicron-sized ferromagnetic materials.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.199-211
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• 1997

As a part of study on geological disposal of radioactive waste, hydrogeochemical characteristics of deep granitic groundwater in Korea were investigated through the construction of a large geochemical dataset of natural water, the examination on the behaviour of dissolved constituents, and the consideration of phase stability based on thermodynamic approach. In granitic region, the contents of total dissolved solids increase progressively from surface waters to deep groundwaters, which indicates the presence of more concentrated waters at depth due to water-rock interaction. The chemical composition of groundwater evolves from initial $Ca^{2＋}$－(C $l^{－}$＋S $O_4$$^{2-}$) or $Ca^{2＋}$-HC $O_3$$^{－}$ type to final N $a^{＋}$-HC $O_3$$^{－}$ or N $a^{＋}$－(C $l^{－}$＋S $O_4$$^{2-}$) type, via $Ca^{2＋}$-HC $O_3$$^{－}$ type. Three main mechanisms seem to control the chemical composition of groundwater in the granitic region; 1) congruent dissolution of calcite at shallower depth, 2) calcite precipitation and incongruent dissolution of plagioclase at deeper depth, and 3) kaolinite-smectite or/and kaolinite-illite reaction at equilibrium at deeper depth. The behaviour of dissolved major cations (C $a^{2＋}$, $K^{＋}$, $Mg^{2＋}$, M $a^{＋}$) and silica is likely to be controlled by these reactions.