• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.233-241
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• 2024

This study was conducted to investigate the geological distribution characteristics of fluorine in rocks, which can be a major resource of forest aggregates in Korea. Samples of forest aggregates were collected from 224 sites in 22 cities and counties for this study. The national background concentration was 344 mg/kg, which was significantly lower than the average fluorine concentration of crustal, which was 625 mg/kg, and slightly higher than the average fluorine concentration of world soil, which was 321 mg/kg. In terms of region and tectonic structure, fluorine concentrations were investigated to be highest in Gyeonggi-do(394 mg/kg) and Gyeonggi massif(396 mg/kg), respectively. The concentration distribution by the origin of the parent rock was in the order of metamorphic rock(362 mg/kg) > sedimentary rock(354 mg/kg) > igneous rock(328 mg/kg), and the concentration distribution by geologic ages was the highest in the Paleozoic at 394 mg/kg. The concentration distribution by rock types was in the order of diorite(515 mg/kg) > gneisses(377 mg/kg) > schists(344 mg/kg) > phyllite(306 mg/kg) > granites(305 mg/kg) > quartz porphyry(298 mg/kg). Consequently, it is speculated that gneisses and schists, Precambrian metamorphic rocks in the Gyeonggi massif that forms the crust of Gyeonggi-do, contain high fluorine concentrations.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.34-48
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• 1982

1. Production and consumption of chemical fertilizers in Korea could be divided into five different phases of total imports, setting up fertilizer plants, self-sufficiency in production, net export, and diversification in compound fertilizers. Currently the nation has production capacity of 800 thousand M/T of nitrogen, 400 thousand M/T of phosphate ($P_2O_5$) and 200 thousand M/T of potash ($K_2O$). 2. Yearly consumption increased every year, since 1964, 28,000 M/T N, 7,700 M/T $P_2O_5$, and 7,500 M/T $K_2O$ until 1972, when the increase jumped by eight times for $P_2O_5$ and seven times for $K_2O$ for the following 3 years in anticipation of their short supply. Now total consumption has been more or less stabilized at the level of 450 thousand M/T N, 220 thousand M/T $P_2O_5$ and 180 thousand M/T $K_2O$ for the last 7 years. 3. Current operation rate of fertilizer plants is around 80% throughout the whole industry, after going through several different levels depending on demand at times. 4. Fertilizer export started in 1967 and reached a peak of 150 thousand nutrient ton in 1972, about 20% of total production, before temporarily stopping due to over-demand for next three years. The export resumed again in 1976 rise to the all time high of 670 thousand nutrient ton in 1980, almost half of total production, and then started to decline due to higher price of petroleum since then. 5. The decline in fertilizer export appears to be accelerated because several countries, in South-Eastern Asia, traditional export market for Korean fertilizers, started to build their own plants, since 1980, based on their raw materials of especially petroleum. 6. Current consumption in Korea is about 30 nutrient Kg per 10a, equivalent to that in Western European countries, partly due to new high-yielding rice varieties and extensive cultivation of fruit trees and vegetables. Additional fertilizer demand in future can be anticipated in reclaimed land for growing grass and forestry.