• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.85-106
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• 2017

The Lago Sofia conglomerate in southern Chile is a deep-marine gravelly deposit, which is hundreds of meters thick and kilometers wide and extends laterally for more than 100 km, filling the foredeep trough of the Cretaceous Magallanes Basin. For understanding the depositional processes and environments of this gigantic deep-sea conglomerate, detailed analyses on sedimentary facies, architecture and paleoflow patterns were carried out, highlighting the differences between the northern (Lago Pehoe and Lago Goic areas) and southern (Lago Sofia area) parts of the study area. The conglomerate bodies in the northern part occur as relatively thin (< 100 m thick), multiple units intervened by thick mudstone-dominated sequences. They show paleoflows toward ENE and S to SW, displaying a converging drainage pattern. In the southern part, the conglomerate bodies are vertically interconnected and form a thick (> 400 m thick) conglomerate sequence with rare intervening fine-grained deposits. Paleoflows are toward SW. The north-to-south variations are also distinct in sedimentary facies. The conglomerate bodies in the southern part are mainly composed of clast-supported conglomerate with sandy matrix, which is interpreted to be deposited from highly concentrated bedload layers under turbidity currents. Those in the northern part are dominated by matrix- to clast-supported conglomerate with muddy matrix, which is interpreted as the products of composite mass flows comprising a turbidity current, a gravelly hyperconcentrated flow and a mud-rich debris flow. All these characteristics suggest that the Lago Sofia conglomerate was formed in centripetally converging submarine channels, not in centrifugally diverging channels of submarine fans. The tributaries in the north were dominated by mass flows, probably affected by channel-bank failures or basin-marginal slope instability processes. In contrast, the trunk channel in the south was mostly filled by tractive processes, which resulted in the vertical and lateral accretion of gravel bars, deposition of gravel dunes and filling of scours and channels, similar to deposits of terrestrial gravel-bed rivers. The trunk channel developed along the axis of foredeep trough and its confinement within the trough is probably responsible for the thick, interconnected channel fills. The large-scale architecture of the trunk-channel fills shows an eastward offset stacking pattern, suggesting that the channel migrated eastwards most likely due to the uplift of the Andean Cordillera.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.383-394
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• 2014

The surface sediments from the manganese nodule exploration area of Korea in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone were investigated to understand the resource potential of and emplacement mechanism for rare earth elements (REEs). The sediments are categorized into three lithological units (Unit I, II and III from top to bottom), but into two groups (Unit I/II and Unit III) based on the distribution pattern of REEs. The distribution pattern of REEs in Unit I/II is similar to that of Post-Archean Australian Shale (PAAS), but shows a negative Ce anomaly and enrichment in heavy REEs (HREEs). In Unit III, the HREE enrichment and Ce anomaly is much more remarkable than Unit I/II when normalized to PAAS, which are interpreted as resulting from the absorption of REEs from seawater by Fe oxyhydroxides that were transported along the buoyant plume from remotely-located hydrothermal vents. It is supported by the PAAS-normalized REE pattern of Unit III which is similar to those of seawater and East Pacific Rise sediments. Meanwhile, the PAAS-normalized REE pattern of Unit I/II is explained by the 4:1 mixing of terrestrial eolian sediment and Unit III from each, indicating the much smaller contribution of hydrothermal origin material to Unit I/II. The studied sediments have the potentiality of a low-grade and large tonnage REE resource. However, the mining of REE-bearing sediment needs a large size extra collecting, lifting and treatment system to dress and refine low-grade sediments if the sediment is exploited with manganese nodules. It is economically infeasible to develop low-grade REE sediments at this moment in time because the exploitation of REE-bearing sediments with manganese nodules increase the mining cost.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.391-398
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• 2002

Trace organic contaminants in deep-sea sediments near Dokdo were analyzed. Total PAMs concentration ranged 14.8-314 ng/g dry weight and high molecular weight PAHs were dominant. The highest PAHs concentration was detected at A19 which located at Ulleung Basin. Most of organochlorines were under detection limit. Among the detected organochlorines, DDT compounds were dominant and followed by HCHs and HCB. Butyltin compounds and most of organophosphorus pesticides were not detected. Vertical distribution of PAHs showed typical sub-surface maximum and decreasing trends depending on depth. The highest PAHs concentration reached 454ng/g. Some organochlorines, DDT, HCH was detected and also showed decreasing trends. Other target organic pollutants were not detected in core sediments. Abnormally high level of PAHs concentration in A19 was discussed and the input sources were inferred to be the transport of sludge derived pollutant dumped at dumping site 'Byung' by deep current.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.630-645
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• 2009

The tropopause fold event that took place on January 1, 1997 over mid-region on the Korean Peninsula is examined by means of a numerical simulation based on a Mesoscale Model (MM5). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of moisture in reinforcing a tropopause fold linked to an explosive cyclone. Two types of simulations were carried out; 1) simulations for moist conditions in which full physical and dynamic processes are considered and 2) simulations for dry conditions in which cumulus parameterization and cloud microphysics process are excluded. The results of the moist condition simulations demonstrate that the intensity of the central pressure of the cyclone was overestimated compared with the observed values and that the location of the center and the pressure deepening rates (-17 hPa/12 hr) complied with the observed values. The potential vorticity (PV) anomaly on the isentropic surface at 305 K continued to move in a southeast direction on January 1, 1997 and thus created a single tube of tropopause fold covering the northern and the middle area of the Korean Peninsula and reaching the ground surface at 0300 UTC and 0600 UTC. The results of the dry condition simulations show that the tropopause descended to 500 and 670 hPa in 0300 and 0600 UTC, respectively at the same location for the moist condition simulation; however, there was no deep tropopause fold observed. A comparison of the simulated data between the moist and the dry conditions suggests that a deep tropopause fold should happen when there is sufficient moist in the atmosphere and significantly large PV in the lower atmosphere pulls down the upper atmosphere rather than when the tropopause descends itself due to dynamic causes. Thus, it is estimated that moisture in the atmosphere should have played a crucial role in a deep tropopause fold process.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.83-85
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• 2007

Deep-sea bacteria are adapted to extreme environments, such as high pressures and cold temperatures. We have isolated many piezophiles which grow well even under high pressures from deep-sea sediment. Shewanella violacea DSS12 and Moritella japonica DSK1 have the ability to grow at up to 70 MPa, and those bacteria have unique mechanisms of gene expression in response to high pressure conditions. The combination of gene expression systems in piezophiles, like the high pressure-dependent promoters and GFP reporter gene, may reveal highly fluorescent cells when exposed to high hydrostatic pressure conditions. It is predicted that a novel bio-sensing system can be made to probe high pressure environments using living bacteria. First, gene transformation into our piezophiles, strains DSS12 and DSK1, were examined. Eschericha coli S17-1 was used for bacterial conjugation with those piezophiles. As a result, the broad host range vector, pKT231, and the shuttle vector, pTH10, were successfully introduced to DSS12 and DSK1, respectively. Next, The pressure regulated promoters from DSS12 and DSK1 were cloned into proper vectors and combined with GFP as a reporter gene downstream of each promoter. The transformants of DSK1 and DSS12 with the recombinant pTH10 and pKT231 plasmid, which has cadA and glnA promoters (each of them is a pressure regulated promoter from DSK1 and DSS12, respectively) and GFP, were grown under high pressure and gene expression of GFP promoted by 50 MPa pressure was confirmed. This is a critical point to create a pressure-sensing bacteria, as the "High Pressure Glow Cells", which will indicate the level of environmental pressure using fluorescence of GFP as a reporter gene.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.635-646
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• 2000

Geological achievements of the 20th century revolutionized our views about geological understanding and concept. A good example is the concept of continental drift suggested early in the 20th century and later explained in terms of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. Our understanding of the compositions of materials forming earth has also improved during the20th century. Radio and stable isotopes together with biostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy allow us to interpret the evolution of sedimentary basins in terms of plate movement and sedimentation processes. The Deep Sea Drilling Project initiated in 1960s and continued as the Ocean Drilling Project in 1980s is one of the most successful international research observations, and new developments in computational techniques have provided a wholly new view about the interior of the earth. Most of the geological features and phenomena observed in deep sea and around continental margins are now explained in terms of global tectonic processes such as superplumes flowing up from the interior of our planet and interacting with such as Rodinia Pannotia and Nena back in the Precambrian time. The space explorations which began in the late 1950s opened up a new path to astrogeology, astrobiology, and astropaleontology. The impact theory rooted in the discovery of iridium and associated phenomena in 1980s revived Cuvier's catastrophism as a possible explanation for the extinctions of biotas found in the geological record of this planet. Due to the geological achievements made in the 20th century, we now have a better understanding of geologic times and processes that were too long to be grasped by human records.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.293-306
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• 2019

In this study, the observational arc-length effect on orbit determination (OD) for the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) in the Earth-Moon Transfer phase was investigated. For the OD, we employed a sequential estimation using the extended Kalman filter and a fixed-point smoother. The mission periods, comprised between the perigee maneuvers (PM) and the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver in a 3.5 phasing loop of the KPLO, was the primary target. The total period was divided into three phases: launch-PM1, PM1-PM3, and PM3-LOI. The Doppler and range data obtained from three tracking stations [included in the deep space network (DSN) and Korea Deep Space Antenna (KDSA)] were utilized for the OD. Six arc-length cases (24 hrs, 48 hrs, 60 hrs, 3 days, 4 days, and 5 days) were considered for the arc-length effect investigation. In order to evaluate the OD accuracy, we analyzed the position uncertainties, the precision of orbit overlaps, and the position differences between true and estimated trajectories. The maximum performance of 3-day OD approach was observed in the case of stable flight dynamics operations and robust navigation capability. This study provides a guideline for the flight dynamics operations of the KPLO in the trans-lunar phase.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.105-111
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• 2007

Seismic and georadar prospecting methods have been used to detect deep seated small tunnel in Korea. The tunnel position interpretation of seismic method has been performed mainly by wave travel time and amplitude. But it was very unstable to interpret the exact tunnel position because of short interval of two measuring boreholes and picking mistake of first arrivals. To solve this problem, this study applied travel-time and amplitude data simulation methods to detect tunnel position.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.550-564
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• 2009

When magnetotelluric (MT) data are obtained in the vicinity of the coast, the surrounding seas make it difficult to interpret subsurface structure, especially the deep part of the subsurface. We introduce an iterative method to correct the sea effect, based on the previous topographic correction method that removes the distortion due to topographic changes in seafloor MT data. The method first corrects the sea effect in observed MT impedance, and then inverts corrected response in a model space without the sea. Due to mutual coupling between the sea and the subsurface structure, the correction and inversion steps are iterated until the changes in each result become negligible. The method is tested for 1- and 2-D structures using synthetic MT data produced by 3-D forward modeling including surrounding seas. In all cases, the method closely recovers the true structure assumed to generate synthetic responses after a few iterations.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.58.1-58.1
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• 2018

The redshift range $1.4{\lesssim}z{\lesssim}2.5$ is often called the 'redshift desert' because of the difficulties in measuring spectroscopic redshifts due to the shifting of the major spectroscopic features into near-infrared wavelength (Steidel et al. 2004). One of the most efficient and fast way to select galaxies at this redshift range is the BzK technique designed by Daddi et al. (2004). Combining deep BVRz data from Deep Lens Survey with the wide-field (~4.08 deg2) K-band image, we select 1200 star-forming BzKs (sBzKs) and 120 passive BzKs (pBzKs) at K < 21.25. We discuss about the photometric redshifts, star formation rates, and stellar mass of the selected BzKs. Possible large scale structure at $1.4{\lesssim}z$ < 1.6 based on the spatial distribution of the BzKs is also introduced.