• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2007

A variety of revegetation methods are being utilized and developed. However, most of revegetation methods used on highway slopes in Korea are based on foreign-introduced plant varieties to stabilize road surfaces and to administer afforestation for surface covering at an earlier phase. Therefore. it results in various problems. such as failure to achieve harmony with the surrounding vegetation and 10 cause re-denudation of slopes as the foreign-in introduced plant varieties wane out from 2~3 years after hydro-seeding, etc. In addition, some of the revegetation plants seeded in the earlier phase grow excessively high, thus causes successional problems, such as to inhibit the invasion of the secondary vegetation from the surrounding areas, etc. Therefore, in this study, 160 slopes located in the nationwide express highways have been investigated and analyzed in order to produce basic data for restoration of ecological environment in slopes created on a long-term basis by investigating and analyzing locational characteristics of cut and filled slopes in express highways, status of revegetation methods, characteristics of soil and plant-ecological environment. 1. Investigation on cut and embanked slopes in express highways was carried out in the total of 160 locations, which include 108 cut slopes and 52 embanked slopes. As a whole, the most frequently used revegetation method was seed spray, which was found to be used in the total of 55 target slops investigated. 2. Planting method of Wistaria floribunda applied to some of the blasted rock zones was found to cause damages as Wistaria floribunda trailed up the surrounding vegetation and the secondary invaded trees. In order to prevent this, this method must be used only in the lowest parts of large-sized slopes. Also, it will be required to administer continuous management and maintenance in the areas already planted with this plants. 3. The areas of blasted rock and ripping rock slopes were applied with coir net (net + seeding) method. However, many of these areas failed in achieving ground covering. Most areas where revegetation was in progress, they were covered with Eragrostis curvula(Weeping lovegrass) only. In areas with soil, such as decomposition of granite, where afforestation is difficult. In this slopes, soil base must be improved by hrdroseeding with thin-layer vegetation base application methods in order to achieve success in afforestation with native plants. 4. Woody species, rather than herb species, are more helpful in stabilization of slope surfaces. Therefore, it is important to be able to grow and protect woody species on highway slopes. Growth of woody vegetation is most largely influenced by soil depth. Thus, when hydro-seeding woody plants, it is recommended to apply at the upper layer of the slopes, which is capable to sufficiently provide the fundamentals required in plant growth.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.80-87
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• 2011

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) present the important advantage of being able to approach the seafloor more closely than surface vessel surveys can. To collect bathymetric data, bottom material information, and sub-surface images, multibeam echosounder, sidescan sonar (SSS) and subbottom profiler (SBP) equipment mounted on an AUV are powerful tools. The 3000m class AUV URASHIMA was developed by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). After finishing the engineering development and examination phase of a fuel-cell system used for the vehicle's power supply system, a renovated lithium-ion battery power system was installed in URASHIMA. The AUV was redeployed from its prior engineering tasks to scientific use. Various scientific instruments were loaded on the vehicle, and experimental dives for science-oriented missions conducted from 2006. During the experimental cruise of 2007, high-resolution acoustic images were obtained by SSS and SBP on the URASHIMA around the northern Kumano Basin off Japan's Kii Peninsula. The map of backscatter intensity data revealed many debris objects, and SBP images revealed the subsurface structure around the north-eastern end of our study area. These features suggest a structure related to the formation of the latest submarine fan. However, a strong reflection layer exists below ~20 ms below the seafloor in the south-western area, which we interpret as a denudation feature, now covered with younger surface sediments. We continue to improve the vehicle's performance, and expect that many fruitful results will be obtained using URASHIMA.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.389-410
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• 2016

Wide ranges of fission-track (FT) ages were obtained from the Jurassic granite batholith in Jeonju-Gimje-Jeongeup area, southwestern Okcheon Belt: sphene=158~70 Ma; zircon=127~71 Ma; apatite=72~46 Ma. Thermochronological analyses based on undisturbed primary cooling and reset or partially-reduced FT ages, and some track-length data reveal complicated thermal histories of the granite. The overall cooling of the batholith is characterized by a relatively rapid earlier-cooling (${\sim}20^{\circ}/Ma$) to $300^{\circ}C$ isotherm since its crystallization and a very slow later-cooling ($2.0{\sim}1.5^{\circ}/Ma$) through the $300^{\circ}C-200^{\circ}C-100^{\circ}C$ isotherms to the present surface temperature. It is indicated that the large part of Jurassic granitic body experienced different level of elevated temperatures at least above $170^{\circ}C$ (maximum>$330^{\circ}C$) by a series of igneous activities in late Cretaceous. Consistent FT zircon ages from duplicate measurements for two sites of later igneous bodies define their formation ages: e.g., quartz porphyry=$73{\pm}3Ma$; diorite=$73{\pm}2Ma$; rhyolite=$72{\pm}3Ma$; feldspar porphyry=$78{\pm}4Ma$ (total weighted average=$73{\pm}3Ma$). Intrusions of these later igneous bodies and pegmatitic dyke swarms might play important roles in later thermal rise over the study area including hot-spring districts (e.g., Hwasim, Jukrim, Mogyokri, Hoebong etc.). On the basis of an assumption that the latercooling of granite batholith was essentially controlled by the denudation of overlying crust, the uplift since early Cretaceous was very slow with a mean rate of ~0.05 mm/year (i.e., ~50 m/Ma). Estimates of total uplifts since 100 Ma, 70 Ma and 40 Ma to present-day are ~5 km, ~3.5 km and ~2 km, respectively. The consistent values of total uplifts from different locations may suggest a regional plateau uplift with a uniform rate over the whole granitic body.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.343-363
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• 2023

Sulawesi island, as a global producer of nickel resources, is leading the rapid growth of nickel industry of Indonesia. Nickel laterite deposits in Sulawesi was formed by lateritization of the world-scale East Sulawesi Ophiolite (ESO) under the active tectonic setting and tropical rainforest climate. In this paper, exploration cases for nickel laterite deposits in five regions of Sulawesi are reported. Regional characteristics on nickel laterite deposits in Sulawesi are understood based on various exploration activities such as outcrop, trench and pit survey, petrological observation, geochemical analysis, and interpretation of drilling data, etc.. In the northeastern part of 'Southeast-Arm', which is a strategic location for nickel industry of Indonesia, ESO is extensively exposed to the surface. In the Morombo and Morowali regions, typical high-grade saprolite-type orebodies with a thickness of 10 to 20 m occur. The cases showed that topographic relief tends to regulate Ni-grade distribution and orebody thickness, and that high grade intervals tend to occur in places where joints and garnierite veins are dense. In the Tinanggea and South Palangga regions in the southern part of the Southeast-Arm, overburden composed of Neogene to Quaternary deposits is a major factor affecting the preservation and profitability of nickel laterite deposits. Despite the overburden, high-grade saprolite-type orebodies composed of Ni-bearing serpentine with garnierite veins occur in a thickness of around 10 m to secure economic feasibility. In contrast, in the Ampana region in the northern part of 'East-Arm', low-grade nickel laterite deposits with immature laterite profile was identified, which is thought to be the result of active denudation due to tectonic uplift. Exploration cases in this paper will help to understand characteristics and controlling factors on nickel laterite deposits in Sulawesi, Indonesia.