• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.95-107
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• 2011

The Hwangsan volcanic rocks, hosting the Moisan epithermal Au-Ag deposit arc widely distributed throughout the Seongsan district, and associated with large hydrothermal alteration. They were analyzed as the Moisan and around voleanic rocks, and most of them show dacitic to rhyolitic compositions. Hydrothermal alteration related to epithermal system causes the host rocks to show the geochemical variation due to high mobility of alkali elements. These features can be applied for quantitative estimates of alteration intensity. Alteration intensity of volcanic rocks from the Moisan ranges from subtle to intense, based on AI vs. $Na_2O$ diagram. The pattern that ($CaO+Na_2O$) content decrease with increasing $K_2O$ content results from sericitic alteration, in which hydrothermal fluids continually provide $K^+$ into country rocks but remove $Ca^{2+}$ and $Na^{2+}$ of feldspars within country rocks. The decrease of ($CaO+Na_2O$) with decreasing $K_2O$ in some samples from the Moisan may be caused by advanced argillic alteration that all alkali elements are entirely removed from country rocks by acid hydrothermal fluids. Two alteration trends, based on Al and CCPI alteration indices suggest both sericitic alterations of feldsaprs to illite and sericite+chlorite$^{\circ}{\ae}$pyritc alteration of high Mg and Fe activities. Trace and Rare Earth Elements patterns show the similar geochemical variation related to hydrothermal alteration. Of LIL elements, strong depletion of $Sr^{2+}$, substituting for $Ca^{2+}$ in feldspars, appears to be resulted from removal of $Ca^{2+}$, during replacement of feldspars to alumino-silicates or phyllo silicates minerals by hydrothermal fluids. Relatively low total REEs contents (Moisan: 119-182 ppm; Seongsan: 111-209 ppm) and gently negative slopes suggest that significant mobility of LREEs appear to occur during hydrothermal alteration.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.341-352
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• 1997

Retention ponds have been dug along some of the motorways in France to minimize environmental pollution by keeping pollutants from spreading over the surrounding area. In order to study heavy metal pollution and diagenetic behaviour of sediments, eight core samples were collected from the bottom of a retention pond located along the A-71 motorway in Sologne. The metal concentrations in interstitial waters and extractable metal concentrations in sediment layers using sequential chemical extraction method were determined. The depth distributions of Pb, Zn and Cd concentrations in interstitial water and particulate sediments were studied, and distribution coefficients (KD) were also determined to investigate the environmental mobility of these elements. In addition. the index of geoaccumulation and the Fe-normalized enrichment factor were calculated to differentiate the natural accumulation from the anthropogenic pollution. The vertical concentration profiles of heavy metals in core sediments indicate that surface enrichments (0~2 cm) of Pb, Zn, Cd and organic carbon were always observed at each core sample, due to the early diagenesis. However, the major factor contributing to the accumulation of Cd at the sediment surface is attributed to the dissolution of Cd from polluted roadside soil during periods of rainstorms and its subsequent redeposition on the sediment surface after being carried to the retention pond. A comparison of the KD values indiactes that a decrease in the KD values for Pb and Zn was observed with depth while KD values for Cd increase. According to the KD values. the relative mobility of studied metals was determined as following: Mn>Zn>Cd>Pb, for the upper layer, and Mn>Cd>Zn>Pb, for the lower layers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.847-870
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• 2023

The safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste requires accurate predictions of the long-term geochemical behavior of radionuclides. To achieve this, the present study was conducted to model geochemical behaviors of uranium (U), plutonium (Pu), and palladium (Pd) under different hydrogeochemical conditions that represent deep groundwater in Korea. Geochemical modeling was performed for five types of South Korean deep groundwater environment: high-TDS saline groundwater (G1), low-pH CO₂-rich groundwater (G2), high-pH alkaline groundwater (G3), sulfate-rich groundwater (G4), and dilute (fresh) groundwater (G5). Under the pH and Eh (redox potential) ranges of 3 to 12 and ±0.2 V, respectively, the solubility and speciation of U, Pu, and Pd in deep groundwater were predicted. The result reveals that U(IV) exhibits high solubility within the neutral to alkaline pH range, even in reducing environment with Eh down to -0.2 V. Such high solubility of U is primarily attributed to the formation of Ca-U-CO₃ complexes, which is important in both G2 located along fault zones and G3 occurring in granitic bedrocks. On the other hand, the solubility of Pu is found to be highly dependent on pH, with the lowest solubility in neutral to alkaline conditions. The predominant species are Pu(IV) and Pu(III) and their removal is predicted to occur by sorption. Considering the migration by colloids, however, the role of colloid formation and migration are expected to promote the Pu mobility, especially in deep groundwater of G3 and G5 which have low ionic strengths. Palladium (Pd) exhibits the low solubility due to the precipitation as sulfides in reducing conditions. In oxidizing condition, anionic complexes such as Pd(OH)₃^-, PdCl₃(OH)₂^-, PdCl₄^2-, and Pd(CO₃)₂^2- would be removed by sorption onto metal (hydro)oxides. This study will improve the understanding of the fate and transport of radionuclides in deep groundwater conditions of South Korea and therefore contributes to develop strategies for safe high-level radioactive waste disposal.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.87-98
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• 2004

Tailings and contaminated soils from Cheongyang mine and Seobo mine have been analysed by ICP-AES from 5-step sequential extraction method of multielement determination on extraction solutions at each step. As and Co within tailings and contaminated soils from Cheongyang mine and Seobo mine are mainly in the residual phase. In case of Cd, Cu and Zn, the most dominant fraction for tailings of Cheongyang mine is the oxidizable phase, while tailings of Seobo mine is dominated by the residual phase. In contaminated soils from Seobo mine, the predominant fraction for Cd, Cu and Zn is the Fe-Mn oxide phase. The exchangeable fraction of Pb in tailings from Cheongyang mine and Seobo mine is relatively high compared with those of other metals; whereas Pb fraction in contaminated soils from Seobo mine is largely associated with the residual fraction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.347-350
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• 2002

Arsenic speciation changes between As(V) and As(III) are subject to changes in accordance with redox conditions in the environment. It is common to find contaminated sites associated with mixed wastes including both organic pollutants and heavy metals. We conducted microcosm experiment under hypothesis that the co-disposed organic pollutants would influence on the arsenic forms and concentrations, via degradation of the organic pollutants and the consequent impact on the redox conditions in soil. Artificially contaminated soil samples were run for 40 days with control samples without artificial contamination. We noticed arsenic in the contaminated soil showed different behaviour compared with the arsenic in the control soil. The findings indicate degradation of organic pollutants in the contaminated soil influenced on the arsenic speciation and concentrations. A further work is needed to understand the process quantitatively. However, we could confirm that degradation of organic pollutants can influence on the abiotic processes associated with geochemical reactions in contaminated soil. Degradation of organic pollutants can increase the mobility and toxicity of arsenic in soil and sediment by changing redox conditions in the geological media and subsequently from As(V) to As(III).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.81-84
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• 1999

The aqueous geochemical characteristics of Cr(III) and Cr(Ⅵ) in environmental systems are very different from one another: Cr(Ⅵ) is highly soluble, mobile and toxic relative to Cr(III) Reduction of Cr(Ⅵ) to Cr(III) are beneficial in aquatic systems because of the transformation of a highly mobile and toxic species to one having a low solubility in water, thus simultaneously decreasing chromium mobility and toxicity. Fe(II) species are excellent reductants for transforming Cr(Ⅵ) to Cr(III), and in addition, keeping Cr(III) concentrations below the drinking water standard of 52 ppb at pH values between 5 and 11. Investigations of the effects of NOM on Cr(Ⅵ) reduction are for examining the feasibility of using ferrous iron to reduce hexavalent chromium in subsurface environments. Experiments in the presence of soils, however, showed that the solid phase consumes some of the reducing capacity of Fe(II) and makes the overall reduction kinetics slower. The soil components bring about consumption of the ferrous iron reductant. Particular attention is devoted to the complexation of Fe(II) by NOM and the subsequent effect on Cr(Ⅵ) reduction. Cr(Ⅵ) reduction rate by Fe(II) was affected by the presence of NOM (humic acid), The effects of humic acid was different from the solution pH values and the concentration of humic acid. It was probably due to the reactions between humic acid and Cr(Ⅵ), humic acid and Fe(II), and between Cr(Ⅵ) and Fe(II), at each pH.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.211-221
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• 1975

Weathering of granites has a geochemical role of great significance, because of their abundance and because of chemical instability near the surface of the earth, which is more pronounced than in most other rocks. On the other hand the granites are tectonically fragile and "react" to deformation with marked facility, giving rise to a whole gamut of deformed rocks. Therefore, the writer has studied on the weathering of granitic rocks at of Iri city and Jeonju city Jeollabukdo, Korea, The fresh and weathered rocks were used as material for the investigation. The results obtained by chemical analysis and observation are as follows. 1) The order of mobility in major elements was Ca, Na and K$H_2O$ was observed clearly and late stages of weathering processes. 3) The early stage of weathering is commenced by physical weathering and followed by chemical weathering. 4) The ratio of FeO/. $Fe_2O_3$, FeO/MgO, and $SiO_2/Al_2O_3 $ decreased uniformly from early to late stage of weathering processes. 5) It was proved that weathering potential of granite was larger than that of basaltic rocks.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.85-95
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• 2014

The felsitic intrusives of Bulguksa granitic rocks of late Cretaceous in age are located at Mt. Daeduk, Daegu, where two different types of tourmalines are found. Two tourmalines show rounded and radiating in morphology and are found in separated region, but in same felsitic rocks. In this study, we investigate the chemical differences between two types of tourmaline and the effect of growing condition of the crystal on the its morphology. The rounded tourmaline has more amounts of Al and vacancy and less amounts of Ca, Na, K, Fe, Mn, Mg, which commonly occupy X and Y-site of the tourmaline. On the basis of the Diffusion-limited aggregation model, morphological irregularity indicates the active mobility of the magma. The radiating tourmaline, therefore, crystallized with active magma condition relatively, and the rounded tourmaline crystallized with stable magma condition created by decreasing temperature and the concentration of felsic components as the magma differentiate continually.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.169-178
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• 2016

The Standards, Measurement and Testing Programme (SM&T-formerly BCR) extraction procedure was applied to fractionate Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in 23 top soil samples into: (i) exchangeable phase; (ii) reducible phase; (iii) oxidisable(sulfides and organics bound) phase; and (iv) residual phase. Fractions of Cr and Ni were in the order of residual > oxidisable > reducible > exchangeable phase. The oxidisable phase was identified as dominant for Cu and Pb. Zn had the highest ratio of exchangeable phase in comparision to the other metals. The bioavailability and mobility were assessed to be the greatest for Zn, followed by a decreasing order of Pb, Cu, Ni and Cr. All metal average concentrations in topsoil samples was higher in industrial sites than in agricultural sites. Our results revealed higher concentrations in topsoil samples (0~15 cm) than in sub soils (15~30 cm, 30~60 cm) for most metals at six sites (No. 5, 6, 17, 19, 20, 23). The fractions of exchangeable, reducible ad oxidisable phases showed relatively high correlation with soil pH, Fe/Mn oxide concentrations and organic matter contents, respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.443-450
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• 1997

The main purpose of this study is to investigate mineralogical and chemical changes during natural weathering, and assess the mobility of major and trace elements. Yongwol power plant utilize anthracite coal which is mainly composed of illite, kaolinite, pyrophyllite and quartz in mineralogy. Coal and coal-derived fly ash samples were sampled by the electrostatic precipitator in Yongwol coal-fired power plant in Korea. Short term weathered fly ash were also collected in ash disposal mound, and two profile soil samples were taken from an ash near the power plant. Amorphous materials are the main component of the fly ash, and mullite, quartz, magnetite and heamatite are present in all coal-derived fly ash. In chemistry, Si and Al are the most abundant elements of the total content. The ash samples were fractionated into upper $90{\mu}m$ and under $45{\mu}m$ size. Finer particles show higher concentrations in metal contents including Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, V, Zn and Pb. Concentration of Zn and Pb are nearly 4 times higher concentration in the finer particles. For the profile samples, the concentrations of $SiO_2$, $Na_2O$, MgO and $K_2O$ generally show increasing trends with depth, whereas those of $Fe_2O_3$ and $TiO_2$ appear to decrease with depth. Content of MnO does not show any specific depth trend. For the trace elements, Co, Cu, Ni and V show increasing concentrations with depth.