• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.2 s.171
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• pp.135-142
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• 2005

In order to investigate the contamination level and seasonal variation of heavy metals and evaluate the bioavailability of toxic elements, environmental geochemical survey was undertaken at the Dogok Au-Ag-Cu mine area. The main pollution sources in the area were suggested as tailings, mine waste materials and mine water. Elevated levels of $140{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg{\;}As,{\;}107{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg{\;}Cd,{\;} 3017{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg{\;}Cu,{\;}12926{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg{\;}Pb,{\;}9094{\cal}mg/{\cal}kg$ Zn(before rainy season) were found in mine tailings. Concentrations of heavy metals in farmland soils exceeded normal level in nature soil (Bowen, 1979). The highest level of heavy metals was found in water samples near the mine tailing dumps regarded as a main pollution source of toxic elements in the area. These concentrations decreased to downstream due to the effect of dilution. From the results of sequential extraction analyses for tailings and soils, non-residual forms of heavy metals were found, which indicate the contamination to be progressing by continuing weathering and oxidation. Cadmium and Zn would be of the highest mobility in all samples. The bioavailability of Cd, Cu, Zn and As using SBET analysis from paddy soils was $53.3{\%},{\;}46.5{\%},{\;}41.0{\%}$ and $37.0\%$, respectively. The farmland soil sample(S3) showed the highest total concentration and bioavailability of heavy metals.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.3 s.172
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• pp.207-219
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• 2005

The physical and chemical characteristics of soils in a small watershed were investigated and the effect of geology and land use on soil quality were examined by using multivariate statistical methods, principal components analysis and discriminant analysis. The soil developed from andesite had finer texture and higher contents of water extractable inorganic components, clay, and mafic minerals than the soil developed from granite. It is considered that the accumulation of salts in the farmland soils indicated by electrical conductivity, contents of cations and anions and pH was caused by fertilizer input during cultivation. The low contents of organic matter in the farmland soils was due to the enhanced oxidation of organic matter by tillage and by the harvest of crops. The contents of inorganic components are increased as following order: upland > orchard > paddy field > forest. The high contents of water soluble $SO_4\;^{2-}$ of paddy soils is due to the oxidation of sulfides mineral formed during the flooding period during the air-dry and extraction. The results of principal components analysis show the difference of soil quality was controlled by geology and land use. PCI indicate the input of fertilizer, mineral weathering and ion exchange reaction by application of nitrogenous fertilizers. The results of two discriminant analyses using water extractable inorganic components and their ratios by land use were also clearly classified by discriminant function 1 and 2. In discriminant analysis by components, discriminant function 1 indicated the effect of fertilizer application and increased as following order: upland > orchard > paddy field > forest soil. The investigated and predicted data for land use from discriminant analysis showed similar results. The discriminant analysis can be used as a useful method certifying the change of land use.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.39-53
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• 2001

Environmental pollution of the Tohyun mine creek area was investigated on the basis of geology, mineralogy and geochemistry. In soils and sediments of the mine area, ${Al_2}{O_3}/{Na_2O}$ and ${K_2}O/{Na_2}O$ ratios are partly negative correlation against ${SiO_2}/{Al_2}{O_3}$, respectively. Geochemical characteristics of some trace and rare earth elements such as V/Ni, Ni/Co, La/Ce, Th/Yb, Th/U, La/Th, ${La_N}/{Yb_N}$, La/Sc and Sc/Th are revealed a narrow range and homogeneous compositions may be explained by simple source lithology. These results suggest that sediments source of the host shale around the mine area could be originated by basic to intermediate igneous rocks. Mineral compositions of soil and sediment near the mine area were partly variable mineralogy, which are composed of quartz, mica, feldspar, chlorite, clay minerals and some pyrite. Soils and sediments with highly concentrated heavy minerals, gravity separated mineralogy, are composed of some pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, goethite and various kinds of hydroxide minerals on the polished sections. As normalized by bed rock composition, average enrichment indices of major elements in sediments, precipitates, farmland soils and paddy soils are 1.0, 1.7, 0.9 and 0.8, respectively. Maximum concentration of environmental toxic elements in the mine creek are detected with Ag = 186 ppm, As = 17,100 ppm, Bi = ]27 ppm, Cd = 77 ppm, Cu = 12,299 ppm, Pb = 8,897 ppm, Sb = 1,350 ppm, W = 599 ppm and Zn = 12,250 ppm, which are increasing with total FeO increasing, and extremely high concentrations of surface sediments and precipitates near the waste rock dump. These toxic elements (As, Bi, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, W and Zn) of the samples, normalizing by host rock concentration, revealed that average enrichment index is 106.0 for sediments, 279.6 for precipitates, 3.5 for farmland soils and 1.6 for paddy soils. However, on the basis of EPA values, enrichment indices of all the samples are 40.7, 121.4, 1.3 and 0.6, respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.457-467
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• 2003

Soil Precise Investigation(SPI) for river deposits and farmland soils around Goro abandoned Zn-mine, Korea was performed to assess the pollution level of heavy metals(As. Pb, Cd, Cu) and to estimate the remediation volume for contaminated soils. Total investigation area was about 950000 $m^2$, which was divided into each section of 1500 $m^2$ corresponding to one sampling site and 545 samples for surface soil(0-10cm in depth) and 192 samples for deep soil(10-30cm in depth) from the investigation area were collected for analysis. Concentrations of Cu, Cd, Pb at all sample sites were shown to be lower than Soil Pollution Warning Limit(SPWL). For arsenic concentration, in surface soils, 20.5% of sample sites(104 sites) were over SPWL(6mg/kg) and 6.7%(34 sites) were over Soil Pollution Counterplan Limit(SPCL: 15mg/kg) suggesting that surface soils were broadly contaminated by As. For deep soils, 10.4% of sample sites(18 sites) were over SPWL and 0.6%(1 site) were over SPCL. Four pollution grades for sample locations were prescribed by the Law of Soil Environmental Preservation and Pollution Index(PI) for each soil sample was decided according to pollution grades(over 15.0 mg/kg, 6.00-15.00 mg/kg, 2.40-6.00 mg/kg, 1.23-6.00 mg/kg). The pollution contour map around Goro mine based on PI results was finally created to calculate the contaminated area and the remediation volume for contaminated soils. Remediation area with over SPWL concentration was about 0.3% of total area between Goro mine and a projected storage dam and 0.9% of total area was over 40% of SPWL. If the remediation target concentration was determined to over background level concentration, 1.1% of total area should be treated for remediation. Total soil volume to be treated for remediation was estimated on the assumption that the thickness of contaminated soil was 30cm. Soil volume to be remediated based on the excess of SPWL was estimated at 79,200$m^3$, soil volume exceeding 40% of SPWL was about 233,700 $m^3$, and soil volume exceeding the background level(1.23 mg/kg) was 290,760 TEX>$m^3$.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.869-883
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• 2019

China is currently facing great challenges in protecting its arable soil from contamination by heavy metals, especially Cd in paddy soil. China enacted the first soil environmental quality standards (SEQS) for ten pollutants in 1995, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the results of the first nationwide soil survey in 2014. The soil survey showed that as much as 16% of China's soil and 19% of the agricultural soils were contaminated mainly with heavy metals and metalloids beyond the environmental quality limits. The exceeded rate of the contaminant limits in food crops was widespread in China, and the most severe regions were East and Southwest China. Heavy metals and metalloids accounted for 82.4% of the contaminants in soils while organic pollutants accounted for 17% of the contaminants in the soil. Among the heavy metals and metalloids exceeding the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) limit, cadmium (Cd) was highest at 7.0%, followed by nickel (4.8%), arsenic (2.7%), cobalt (2.1%), mercury (1.6%) and lead (1.5%). However, all the average concentrations of the pollutants were lower than the recommended values for the contaminants except for Cd for three levels of pH (< 6.5, 6.5 - 7.5, and > 7.5). According to the Action Plan on Prevention and Control of Soil Pollution released by the State Council in 2016, 90% of contaminated farmland will be made safe by 2020 with an increase to 95% by 2030. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the soil quality to meet the environmental quality standard for soils and heavy metal standards for food safety.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.59-69
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• 2000

Sludge is generated in the process of water and wastewater treatment, and it has been causing various environmental problems. From this point of view, recycling of sludge appears to be the best way. The firing technology in pottery industry is applied to the sludge treatment , and the final product is called artificial soil. The effect of mixed artificial soil with upland soil was investigated through the crop growth experiment and the physical & chemical characteristics of the mixed soils were analyses. After the growth experiment , mixed soil plots contained more CEC, OM, TN, TP than upland soil plots. This result shows that the artificial soil produced form sludge can be mixed with upland soil, and crop can be increased. From the growth analysis, growth of soybean and corn in the mixed soil plots was better than that in the original upland soil plots. Heavy metals contents in the mixed soil plots were within the quality standard. This is a promising result since in most cases heavy metals are the most concern in the application of sludge product to farmland.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.734-744
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• 2011

A soil stabilization method is an effective and practical remediation alternative for arsenic (As) and heavy metal contaminated farmland soils nearby abandoned metal mine in Korea. This method is a technique whereby amendments are incorporated and mixed with a contaminated soil. Toxic metal bind to the amendments, which reduce their mobility in soil, so the successful stabilization of multi-element contaminated soil depends on the combination of critical elements in the soil and the type of amendments. The objective of this study is to investigate the treatment effects and applicability of limestone (LS) and steel refining slag (SRS) as the amendment for farmland soil contaminated with As and heavy metals, and a lab-column test was conducted for achieving this purpose. The result showed that soil treated with LS and SRS maintained pH buffer capacity and, as a result, the heavy metal leaching concentration was quite low below the water quality standard compared to untreated soil which leachate exceeding the water quality standard was observed, however, the arsenic concentration rather increased with increasing mixture ratio of SRS. This was believed to be related to phosphorus (P) contained in SRS, and dominancy in the competitive adsorption relation between As and P binding strongly to iron might be different according to soil characteristic. We suggested that LS is a effective amendment for reducing heavy metals in soil, and SRS should be used after investigating its applicability based on the adsorption selectivity of arsenic and phosphorus in selected soil.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.283-299
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• 2001

The middle cover soils and clay liners collected from the Kumheung landfill in Gongiu City were analysed for As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, Ti and Zn concentrations using 0.] N HCl digestion and total/sequential extraction experiments followed by ICP-AES determination. The uncontaminated soil and sediment samples were also analyzed for the comparison. The results of sequential extraction showed that Cu was dominant in the oxidizable fraction, and As, Ni, Sr, Ba, and Mn were in the exchangeable fraction. Zinc and Mn occurred mostly in association with reducible, residual and carbonate fractions. Most of Cd and Pb were bound to the reducible and oxidizable fractions. The main carrier of Co, Cr, Fe and 11 was the residual fraction and another important carrier was the reducible fraction. The percentage of the metals of organically-bound form in the middle cover soils and clay liner was in the order of Cu(48%) > Ti(42%) > Pb(27%) > As(25%) > Cd(20%). As deduced from sequential extraction analysis, potential order of metal mobility in the middle cover soils and clay liner from the landfill was proposed: Cd > Sr > As > Ni > Mn > Ba > Cu > Pb > Zn » Co > 11 > Fe > Cr. Based on the 'geoaccumulation index' and the 'enrichment factor' normalized to A], the level of contamination of Cu, Ni and C1' was significant in the samples from Kumheung landfill and surrounding farmland. Their enrichments were attributed partly to anthropogenic pollutions.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.43-50
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• 2018

In a previous study, the feasibility of four materials (bentonite, steelmaking slag, lime and organic compost) to induce soil aggregate formation was assessed and the mixtures of organic compost and lime were chosen as most effective amendments in terms of cost benefit. This work is a subsequent study to evaluate the effectiveness of those amendments in reducing soil loss in $15^{\circ}$ sloped agricultural area by using rainfall simulation test. Three different soils were treated with two conditions of organic compost/lime mixtures (2% + 2%, 3% + 1%, w/w). In the amended soils, soil fertility was increased due to the increase of CEC, T-N, and T-P. During the rainfall simulation, suspended solid in run-off water from amended soil were reduced by 43% ~ 78%. When the content of organic compost was higher than that of lime, reduction of soil loss was also increased by 67% ~ 78%. Sediment discharge was also decreased by 72% ~ 96% in the amended soil. Similar to the suspended solid analysis, higher organic compost content led to more reduction of soil discharging, which implies organic compost is more effective than lime in reducing soil loss. The overall result suggests that the mixtures of organic compost and lime could be used as amendment materials to reduce soil loss in sloped farmland.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.187-193
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• 2011

RDA has been conducting soil survey for farmland all over the korean countries (1964-1999), including small islands and areas of the civilian passage restriction line (2000-present). We conducted a soil survey in Dokdo and Ulreungdo islands and found a new soil series "Dokdo" in Dokdo island. Soil properties of Dokdo were similar to those of Ulreungdo. Representative profiles of Dokdo soil was located at the south 20m of Daehan peak on Seodo (longitude $131^{\circ}$51'53", latitude $37^{\circ}$14'35"), Dokdo. The soil series "Dokdo" was interpreted as the soils were derived from trachyandesite, trachyte, rhyolite, and tuff. The soil properties of Dokdo series were classified as different ones from Korean soil series previously. The soil depth of Dokdo series was very shallow (0-20cm) and soil layer was consisted of very dark brown (10YR 2/2) rocky sandy loam and dark brown (7.5YR 3/2) gravelly silt loam in AC layer. The soils of Dokdo displayed characteristics of a mesic temperature regime, similar as Ulreungdo soils, which were classified as coarse loamy, mesic family of Lithic Udorthents. The total area of Dokdo soil was 18.7 ha, containing Dongdo (7.3 ha), Seodo (8.9 ha), and the others (2.6 ha). The area of Dokdo series in Dokdo was 10.47 ha (Dongdo 4.13 ha, Seodo 6.34 ha) and 808.56 ha in Ulreungdo, where the total soil area was 7,256 ha.