• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.459-472
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• 2015

Weathering hollows which develop on various rocks are the terrain whose lithological characteristics and formation of the bed rock is under active discussion. The shore in Dapyeong-ri, Sacheon-si has alternation of strata of pelite and sandstone, and the weathering hollows develop on the shore platform and the sea cliff where sandstone is exposed. To analyze the development characteristics of weathering hollows by development of joints, interpenetration of veins and physical and chemical features of the stone, the study conducted a topographic investigation, XRD analysis and an observation using a polarizing microscope. As the result of the investigation and analysis, tafoni and gnamma are spread in the same area and new tafoni is being formed as the existing weathering hollows are destroyed by the expansion and growth of the joint. The vein, which was found to be a quartz vein, may accelerate the development of weathering hollows combining with the joint but may also hamper their growth if the veins are penetrating perpendicularly. It is generally known that weathering hollows develop regardless of the type of rocks, however, the analysis on the lithological features show that the development is limited on the fractured and broken rocks.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1003-1020
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• 2017

Estimation of groundwater inflow into underground opening is of critical importance for the design and construction of underground structures. Groundwater inflow into a pilot underground storage facility in China was estimated using analytical equations, numerical modeling and field measurement. The applicability of analytical and numerical methods was examined by comparing the estimated and measured results. Field geological investigation indicated that in local scale the high groundwater inflows are associated with the appearance of open joints, fractured zone or dykes induced by shear and/or tensile tectonic stresses. It was found that 8 groundwater inflow spots with high inflow rates account for about 82% of the total rate for the 9 caverns. On the prediction of the magnitude of groundwater inflow rate, it was found that could both (Finite Element Method) FEM and (Discrete Element Method) DEM perform better than analytical equations, due to the fact that in analytical equations simplified assumptions were adopted. However, on the prediction of the spatial distribution estimation of groundwater inflow, both analytical and numerical methods failed to predict at the present state. Nevertheless, numerical simulations would prevail over analytical methods to predict the distribution if more details in the simulations were taken into consideration.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.325-330
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• 2016

The second phase of low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW) disposal facility is under planned on the sedimentary rock in unsaturated zone. In this study, we created two meshes which were a matrix continuum mesh and a fracture continuum mesh to carry out 2 dimensional numerical modeling for groundwater flow in the unsaturated zone containing fractures focused on the second phase of LILW disposal facility. Two continuum meshes were developed using MINC in meshmaker module of TOUGH2 code. A fracture continuum mesh was included the k-field distribution of the permeability derived from the Discrete Fractured Network (DFN) modeling. To apply the unsaturated zone for the modeling, the gridding steps to generate mesh were developed. Each step to generate a mesh consisted of definition of materials, setting the initial conditions and creating grids using MINC. The methodology development of meshes in this study will be applied for more precise modeling of groundwater flow and mass transport.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.98-104
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• 2007

A survey was performed to evaluate the distribution of radon concentrations in groundwater of South Korea. Groundwaters of 615 wells were sampled for this study during the four years from 1999 to 2002. The results showed radon values ranging from 4 pCi/L to 40,010 pCi/L with a mean and a median of 1,862 pCi/L and 920 pCi/L, respectively. The samples were classified into five groups according to the rock types; granite, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks, Ogcheon metamorphic rocks, and Cheju volcanics. Mean radon concentrations were highest (2,595 pCi/L) in granites and lowest (238 pCi/L) in Cheju volcanic rocks. The groundwaters generally showed the highest radon content (2,298 pCi/L) in the weathered and the fractured bedrock complex and the lowest level (672 pCi/L) in the alluvium. The results showed that the radon concentrations in South Korea are low relative to those reported from other countries. But further investigations are suggested to confirm our results.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.253-262
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• 2004

Construction of tunnels in a deep crystalline host rock for a potential High-Level Radioactive Waste(HLW) repository inevitably generates an excavation disturbed zone (EDZ). There have been a series of debates on whether a permeability in an EDZ increases or not and what would be the maximum depth of an EDZ. Recent studies show mixed opinions on permeability. However, there has been an international consensus on the thickness of an EDZ; 30 cm for TBM and 1 meter for controlled blast. One of the impacts of an EDZ is on determining the distance between adjacent deposition holes. The void gap by the excavation hinders relaxation of temperature profiles so that the current Korean reference designing distance between holes should be stretched out more to keep the maximum temperature in a buffer region below 100 degrees Celsius. The other impact of an EDZ is on the long-term post closure radiological safety. To estimate the impact, the reference scenario, the well scenario, is chosen. Released nuclides diffuse through a bentonite buffer region experiencing strong sorption and reach a fracture surrounded by a porous medium. Inside a fractured porous region, radionuclides migrate by advection and dispersion with matrix diffusion into a porous medium. Finally, they reach a well assumed to be a source of potable water for local residents. The annual individual dose is assessed on this well scenario to find out the significance of an EDZ. A profound sensitivity study was performed, but all results show that the impact is negligible. Even though the role of an EDZ turns out to be limited on overall safety assessment, still it is worthwhile to study the chemical role of an EDZ, such as a potential source for natural colloids, potential sealing of an open fracture by fine clay particles generated by the process of an EDZ, and alteration of a sorption mechanism by an EDZ in the future.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.210-221
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• 1998

In the period from the year 1500 to 1980. at least 14 large earthquake with epicenters in the northeastern China and Yellow Sea were felt or destructive in the Korean Peninsula. The most sigmificant events among them were the 1668 July 25 Tancheng earthquake of mamnitude 8.5, and the 1975 Feb. 4 Haicheng earthquake of magnitude 7.3. The Haicheng earthquake of the year 1975 in am extraordinary one among those occurred in the northeastern China in the 20th century in the sense the Shake of the event affected all over the Korean Peninsula. The tremor was felt even at the southeastern tip of the Korea and northern part of Kyushu 700km far away from the epicenter. In order to see the variation and trend of the effect of the Haicheng earthquake on the Korean Peninsula, the two data sets of the northern and southern parts of the peninsula were merged into one combined data set. The spatial variation of intensity shows smooth decrease from the value 4 of the northwestern region near the source to the value 1 of the Cheju Island and Kjushu. However, there are four regions of locally high intensity value. They are the region along downstream of Abrok(Yalu) River with intensity 5, the region around Shinpo of intensity 4, the area comprising Seoul and Chuncheon Cities of intensity 4, and Pohang-Pusan area of intensity 3. We suppose that there might be three types of possible mechanisms. The first one is concerned with the lateral inhomogeneity of velocity in the crust caused by wide distribution of relatively fractured rock. The second one is related with reflections of surface waves caused by the crestal thinning effect at border regions of the Peninsular in contact with the Ulleung Basin and the Japan Basin. The third possibility is local site effect caused by thick Tertiary or Quaternary rocks and soil layers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.503-512
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• 1995

Groundwater flow in fracture networks is simulated using a discrete fracture (DF) model which assume that groundwater flows only through the fracture network. This assumption is available if the permeability of rock matrix is very low. It is almost impossible to describe fracture networks perfectly, so a stochastic approach is used. The stochastic approach assumes that the characteristic parameters in fracture network have special distribution patterns. The stochastic model generates fracture networks with some characteristic parameters. The finite element method is used to compute fracture flows. One-dimensional line element is the element type of the finite elements. The simulation results are shown by dominant flow paths in the fracture network. The dominant flow path can be found from the simulated groundwater flow field. The model developed in this study provides the tool to estimate the influences of characteristic parameters on groundwater flow in fracture networks. The influences of some characteristic parameters on the frcture flow are estimated by the Monte Carlo simulation based on 30 realizations.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.218-223
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• 2005

This study considers to electrical resistivity characteristics for clay minerals types and contents in fractured and fault zone. The electrical resistivity is measured for an artificial agar specimen with clay minerals instead of a natural rock. The artificial agar specimen with clay minerals was special worked in study. The clay minerals used are Kaolinite and Montmorillonite in test, the clay mineral contents increases until $0\~40\%$ to the same specimen. As results, the electrical resistivity of the specimen decreased gradually as the clay mineral contents increases for all types of clay minerals. Montmorillonite shows remarkably lower resistivity than Kaolinite, although its clay content is fewer than that of Kaolinite. Also, a proposed experimental expression shows a good correlation coefficient as high as 0.89 or more in all clay minerals.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.2_spc
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• pp.28-54
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• 2020

Even though a systematic sampling approach is very crucial in both the general and detailed investigation phases to produce the best conceptual site model for contaminated sites, the concept is not yet established in South Korea. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the 'Strategic Sampling Approaches Technical guide' in 2018 to help environmental professionals choose which sampling approaches may be needed and most effective for given site conditions. The EPA guide broadly defines strategic sampling as the application of focused data collection across targeted areas of the conceptual site model (CSM) to provide the appropriate amount and type of information needed for decision-making. These strategic sampling approaches can prevent the essential data from missing, minimize the uncertainty of projects and secure the data which are necessary for the important site-decisions. Furthermore, these provide collaborative data sets through the life cycle phases of projects, which can generate more positive proofs on the site-decisions. The strategic sampling approaches can be divided by site conditions. This technical guide categorized it into eight conditions; High-resolution site characterization in unconsolidated environments, High-resolution site characterization in fractured sedimentary rock environments, Incremental sampling, Contaminant source definition, Passive groundwater sampling, Passive sampling for surface water and sediment, Groundwater to surface water interaction, and Vapor intrusion. This commentary paper introduces specific sampling methods based on site conditions when the strategic sampling approaches are applied.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.535-541
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• 2019

Combining the radial well drilling and hydraulic fracturing technique, the production capacity of the reservoirs with low-permeability can be improved effectively. Due to the existence of radial holes, the stress around the well is redistributed, and the initiation and propagation of hydraulic fractures are different with those in traditional hydraulic fracturing. Therefore, it is necessary to study the influences of radial horizontal wells on hydraulic fracturing. The laboratory experiment was conducted to simulate the hydraulic fracturing on the physical model with radial holes. The experimental results showed that, compared with the borehole without radial holes, the sample with radial hole in the direction of maximum horizontal stress was fractured with significantly lower pressure. As the angle between direction of the horizontal hole and the maximum horizontal stress increased, the breakdown pressure grew. While when the radial hole was drilled towards the direction of the minimum horizontal stress, the breakdown pressure increased to that needed in the borehole without radial holes. When the angle between the radial hole and the maximum horizontal stress increase, the pressure required to propagate the fractures grew apparently, and the fracture become complex. Meanwhile, the deeper the radial hole drilled, the less the pressure was needed for fracturing.