• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.277-287
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• 2007

To understand the effects of the powdered manganese nodule and sea bottom sediment pumped up with nodules on the mining process, the shattering ratio of manganese nodule and their physical properties are analyzed. The self shattering ratio and crushing shattering ratio are about 27% and about 3%, respectively. Then total shattering ratio is about 30%. The initial turbidity of the powdered manganese nodule and the bottom sediment show high, i.e., about 3,100 and 1,850 respectively. But their turbidities decrease rapidly with time. After 1 hour, turbidity of the powdered manganese nodule drops to about 1,570 and that of the bottom sediment to 1,310. The turbidity of Na-bentonite changes from 820 to 730 after 1 h and to 700 after 2 h. The viscosity of powdered manganese nodule is $1.4{\sim}1.5cP$, and the viscosity of bottom sediment is less than 1 cP. The viscosity fo Na-bentonite is initially 37.2 and increase with time to 86.4 cP after 30 min. The high initial turbidity of powdered manganese nodule is due to dark color of the powder. The high specific gravity makes rapid precipitation and then decreases the turbidity rapidly. The bottom sediment shows high initial turbidity because of easy suspension with very fine particle size. But it cannot be hydrated and formed gel in suspension, then it is easily precipitated. However Na-bentonite is hydrated to the expended state and makes gel state, then it shows high turbidity and high viscosity. These physical properties of the powdered manganese nodule suggest that the powder of manganese nodule should not make scaling inside of lifting pipe or pump. And the bottom sediment lifted up with manganese nodule should not play the role of drilling mud shch as Na-bentonite.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2011

Xylanase is a class of enzymes that hydrolyze the linear polysaccharide ${\beta}$-1,4-xylan into xylose. This enzyme is applied in the process of paper making and may be used for the process of biofuel production in the future. The Paenibacillus donghaensis JH8, isolated from Donghae deepsea sediment and reported as a novel bacterium, was known to degrade xylan and its xylanase was characterized in this study. The enzyme was maximally induced in the presence of 0.1% xylan. The production of xylanase was started at early logarithmic phase and reached about 55 miliunit at stationary phase of growth. The optimal temperature and pH of extracellular xylanase were found to be $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.0, respectively. The activity of xylanase was inhibited by the presence of $Ca^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Al^{3+}$ or EDTA, and activated by $K^+$, $Ag^+$ or DTT. This xylanase was stable at $40^{\circ}C$ for 120 min, but lost almost their activity in 30 min at $60^{\circ}C$. Zymography analysis of concentrated culture supernatant revealed one major band at 42 kDa and two faint bands at 68 and 120 kDa.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.245-253
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• 2004

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), where the southeast and northeast trade winds converge, is the effective climatological barrier that separates the southern and northern hemispheres in dust budget. Asian and N. American dusts dominate in fhe Pacific north of the ITCZ, while Central and S. American dust prevails south of the ITCZ. In order to understand the nature of latitudinal and depth-related variations of mineral composition in terms of relative position to the ITCZ, deep-sea core sediments were collected from $9^{\circ}N$ to $17^{\circ}N$ at a $2^{\circ}N$ interval along the $131.5^{\circ}W$ meridian and analyzed for mineral composition. The amount of illite in surface sediments decreases gradually from 65% at $17^{\circ}N\;to\;31^{\circ}N$ to 31% at 9f. In contrast, smectite increases from 11% to 56% southward. The observed mineralogical variation toward the ITCZ is attributed to the increased supply of volcaniclastic material transported via the southeast trade winds from the Central and South America source regions. Smectite-illite transition, a phenomenon that the amount of smectite increases over illite, occurs at around $10^{\circ}N$, the northern margin of the ITCZ. This result indicates that the change in latitudinal position of the ITCZ in geologic past could be recorded as a form of smectite-illite transition in deep-sea cores. The studied cores show down-core variation of mineral composition from illite-rich at the surface to smectite-rich clay suit at depths, similar to the latitudinal variation. The smectite-illite transitions observed in these cores are likely the records of changes in latitudinal position of the ITCZ. The depth and age of smectite-illite transition is getting shallower and younger toward equator, implying that the ITCZ was located farther north during late Tertiary and has shifted southward to the present position of $5^{\circ}N-10^{\circ}N$.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.10 no.1_2 s.11
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• pp.23-33
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• 2004

The Lago Sofia conglomerate in southern Chile is a lenticular unit encased within mudstone-dominated, deep-sea successions (Cerro Toro Formation, upper Cretaceous), extending from north to south for more than $120{\cal}km$. The Lago Sofia conglomerate is a unique example of long, gravelly deep-sea channels, which are rare in the modern environments. In the northern part (areas of Lago Pehoe and Laguna Goic), the conglomerate unit consists of 3-5 conglomerate bodies intervened by mudstone sequences. Paleocurrent data from these bodies indicate sediment transport to the east, south, and southeart. The conglomerate bodies in the northern Part are interpreted as the tributary channels that drained down the Paleoslope and converged to form N-S-trending trunk channels. In the southern part (Lago Sofia section), the conglomerate unit comprises a thick (> 300 m) conglomerate body, which probably formed in axial trunk channels of the N-5-trending foredeep trough. The well-exposed Lago Sofia section allowed for detailed investigation of sedimentary facies and large-scale architecture of the deepsea channel conglomerate. The conglomerate in Lago Sofia section comprises stratified conglomerate, massive-to-graded conglomerate, and diamictite, which represent bedload deposition under turbidity currents, deposition by high-density turbidity currents, and muddy debris flows, respectively. Paleocurrent data suggest that the debris flows originated from the failure of nearby channel banks or slopes flanking the channel system, whereas the turbidity currents flowed parallel to the orientation of the overall channel system. Architectural elements produced by turbidity currents represent vertical stacking of gravel sheets, lateral accretion of gravel bars, migration of gravel dunes, and filling of channel thalwegs and scoured hollows, similar to those in terrestrial gravel-bed braided rivers. Observations of large-scale stratal pattern reveal that the channel bodies are offset stacked toward the east, suggestive of an eastward migration of the axial trunk channel. The eastward channel migration is probably due to tectonic tilting related to the uplift of the Andean protocordillera just west of the Lago Sofia deep-sea channel system.