• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.359-373
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• 2013

Shale is considered as a source rock for conventional oil and gas exploration and development because shale is fine-grained detrital sedimentary rock which can preserve the organic matter better. Shale has a good sealing capacity for the petroleum trap due to its low permeability. Commercial recoveries of gas from shale in the North America based on the development of technologies of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing reveal that shale also function as a effective reservoir rock. Geochemical techniques to evaluate generation potential of the hydrocarbons from organic matter in the source rocks can be applied for the exploration of the shale gas resources. To evaluate shale gas resources, it is important to understand various geochemical processes and shale characteristics controlling generation, storage and estimation of shale gas reserves. In this paper, the generation mechanism of the oil and gas from organic matter is reviewed, and geochemical techniques which can be applied for the evaluation and characterization of shale gas are introduced.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.6 s.175
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• pp.663-673
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• 2005

This study investigates the relationship between the geochemical maps and the gold-silver deposit locations. Geochemical maps of 21 elements, which are published by KIGAM, locations of gold-silver deposits, and 1:1,000,000 scale geological map of Korea are utilized far this investigation. Pixel size of the basic geochemical maps is 250m and these data are resampled in 1km spacing for the statistical analyses. Relationship between the mine location and the geochemical data are investigated using bayesian statistics and decision tree algorithms. For the bayesian statistics, each geochemical maps are reclassified by percentile divisions which divides the data by 5, 25, 50, 75, 95, and $100\%$ data groups. Number of mine locations in these divisions are counted and the probabilities are calculated. Posterior probabilities of each pixel are calculated using the probability of 21 geochemical maps and the geological map. A prediction map of the mining locations is made by plotting the posterior probability. The input parameters for the decision tree construction are 21 geochemical elements and lithology, and the output parameters are 5 types of mines (Ag/Au, Cu, Fe, Pb/Zn, W) and absence of the mine. The locations for the absence of the mine are selected by resampling the overall area by 1 km spacing and eliminating my resampled points, which is in 750m distance from mine locations. A prediction map of each mine area is produced by applying the decision tree to every pixels. The prediction by Bayesian method is slightly better than the decision tree. However both prediction maps show reasonable match with the input mine locations. We interpret that such match indicate the rules produced by both methods are reasonable and therefore the geochemical data has strong relations with the mine locations. This implies that the geochemical rules could be used as background values oi mine locations, therefore could be used for evaluation of mine contamination. Bayesian statistics indicated that the probability of Au/Ag deposit increases as CaO, Cu, MgO, MnO, Pb and Li increases, and Zr decreases.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.365-371
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• 2015

The rare earth element(REE)s play an important role in understanding of rock formation and evolution because of their similar geochemical behaviors. Sm and Nd are more useful than other REEs because Sm-Nd isotopic system has important applications for geochemical interpretation like age dating and crustal evolution. These studies require a chromatographic technique for Sm and Nd separation from the geological samples. Ln-resin method using 0.25 M HCl as the eluent is widely used for Nd separation. However, this technique has a disadvantage of the poor elemental selectivity that the Nd fraction contains Ce as a tailing of the previous fraction. This technical report is a comparison study on the effect of eluent concentration between 0.25 M HCl and 0.15 M HCl on the separation of Nd with Ln-resin method for improving the technique of Nd separation. The results showed that the separation of Ce and Nd using 0.15M HCl as the eluent was not effective compared to the separation using 0.25 M HCl. In this experiment, we could confirm that the dilution of eluent might not be effective on the high purity separation of Nd with Ln-resin method.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.175-182
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• 2023

APro, a modularized process-based total system performance assessment framework, was developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to simulate radionuclide transport considering coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical processes occurring in a geological disposal system. For reactive transport simulation considering geochemical reactions, COMSOL and PHREEQC are coupled with MATLAB in APro using an operator splitting scheme. Conventionally, coupling is performed within a MATLAB interface so that COMSOL stops the calculation to deliver the solution to PHREEQC and restarts to continue the simulation after receiving the solution from PHREEQC at every time step. This is inefficient when the solution is frequently interchanged because restarting the simulation in COMSOL requires an unnecessary setup process. To overcome this issue, a coupling scheme that calls PHREEQC inside COMSOL was developed. In this technique, PHREEQC is called through the "MATLAB function" feature, and PHREEQC results are updated using the COMSOL "Pointwise Constraint" feature. For the one-dimensional advection-reaction-dispersion problem, the proposed coupling technique was verified by comparison with the conventional coupling technique, and it improved the computation time for all test cases. Specifically, the more frequent the link between COMSOL and PHREEQC, the more pronounced was the performance improvement using the proposed technique.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.383-388
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• 2006

Simple post-wash method by ion chromatography (IC) was established for the rapid and precise determination of fluoride ion in wastewater from mine in fluorite mineralized area. High sulfate in sample was retained in a pre-column and less strongly held fluoride ion was transferred to the principal separation system using modified conventional IC with switching technique. An analytical column with high capacity (AS 9 HC) was used as a pre-column to retain the amount of high sulfate. A guard column (AG 14) as a separation column was used to increase the response of fluoride and reduce the system pressure. According to the recovery of fluoride ion with one detector and the observation of sulfate peak with another conductivity detector, the optimum switching time of 10-port chromatographic injector was 4.3 min. The limit of detection (S/N = 3) of fluoride in synthetic solution containing $500mg\;L^{-1}$ sulfate was $2.4{\mu}g/L$, with $25{\mu}L$ sample volume.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.400-406
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• 2006

Hydrogen analysis by elastic recoil detection has been performed utilizing polyimide film as a reference sample of known hydrogen content assuming the soundness of ion beam current integration. However beam current integration at higher incidence angle is not reliable. Scattering yield per unit fluence by current integration which is normalized per unit path length decreases as the sample tilt angle is getting higher. Moreover because beam current integration at high tilt angle is incomplete, hydrogen evaluation is very risky by direct comparison of sequentially collected recoil spectra between reference and target sample. In this study, primary ion beam dose is determined by backscattering spectrum that is collected simultaneously with recoil spectrum instead of ion beam current integration in order to reduce uncertainty arising in the process of current integration and to enhance the reliability of quantitative analysis. Three test samples are selected $-7.6{\mu}m$ polyimide film, hydrogen implanted silicondioxide and Au deposited carbon wafer- and analyzed by two methods and compared.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.405-415
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• 2000

This study was carried out to understand the formation of acid mine drainage (AMD) by pyrophyllite (so-called Napseok)-rainwater interaction (weathering), dispersion patterns of heavy metals, and patterns of mixing with non-polluted water in the Tongnae pyrophyllite mine. Based on the mass balance and reaction path modeling, using both the geochemistry of water and occurrence of the secondary minerals (weathering products), the geochemical evolution of AMD was simulated by computer code of SOLVEQ and CHILLER. It shows that the pH of stream water is from 6.2 to 7.3 upstream of the Tongnae mine. Close to the mine, the pH decreases to 2. Despite being diluted with non-polluted tributaries, the acidity of mine drainage water maintains as far as downstream. The results of modeling of water-rock interaction show that the activity of hydrogen ion increases (pH decreases), the goncentration of ${HCO_3}^-$ decreases associated with increasing $H^+$ activity, as the reaction is processing. The concentration of ${SO_4}^{2-}$first increases minutely, but later increases rapidly as pH drops below 4.3. The concentrations of cations and heavy metals are controlled by the dissolution of reactants and re-dissolution of derived species (weathering products) according to the pH. The continuous adding of reactive minerals, namely the progressively larger degrees of water-rock interaction, causes the formation of secondary minerals in the following sequence; goethite, then Mn-oxides, then boehmite, then kaolinite, then Ca-nontronite, then Mgnontronite, and finally chalcedony. The results of reaction path modeling agree well with the field data, and offer useful information on the geochemical evolution of AMD. The results of reaction path modeling on the formation of AMD offer useful information for the estimation and the appraisal of pollution caused by water-rock interaction as geological environments. And also, the ones can be used as data for the choice of appropriate remediation technique for AMD.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2008

A geochemical technique based on rare earth element geochemistry was used to clarity the source of the Asian dust (Yellow sand) in the Daejeon area. The Asian dusts were collected 4 times during 31th March- 2nd April and 25th May-27th May 2007. The Yellow sand shows PAAS (Post Archean Australian Shale)-normalized REE pattern of the flattened LREE and slightly depleted LREE without Eu anomaly, whereas the Daejeon soil has slightly enriched LREE and depleted HREE with negative Eu anomaly. Our results show that REE patterns of the Asian dust are LREE-flattened similar to those of the sediment from the south-eastern part of Ordos desert. This suggests that Asian dust in the Daejeon area might be derived from the south-eastern part of Ordos desert.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.181-197
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• 2010

This study is for finding a geoscientific factor for clarifying the source soil of the ancient earthenware finding. The used samples were the earthenware, soil and rocks, which were collected at the Gyeongju, Gyeongsan and Haman area. The chemical and mineralogical study for the samples were carried out for understanding the change of mineralogical and chemical composition among them. The mineralogical compositions of the earthenware are different from those of the soils from the surrounding area, which suggests that the mineralogical approach for clarifying the source soil of the earthenware should be difficult. Major element compositions of the earthenware also are different from those of the surrounding soils, which suggests that the comparison of the chemical composition using the major elements might be difficult for deducing the source soil of the earthenware. However, PAAS-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns and Nd model ages among the rock, soils and earthenware from the same sampling sites show similar characteristics one another compared to those of the major element compositions. Nd-Sr isotopic systematics among the earthenware, soils and rocks also show a close relationship. Our results suggest that REE and Nd-Sr isotope geochemistry might be more useful than the other geochemical technique in clarifying the source soils of the ancient earthenware.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2021

Several studies investigating the behavior and environmental distribution of rare earth elements (REEs) have been reviewed to determine the geochemical processes that may affect their concentrations and fractionation patterns in groundwater and whether these elements can be used as tracers for groundwater-rock interactions and groundwater flow paths in small catchments. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), equipped with an ultrasonic nebulizer and active-film multiplier detector, is routinely used as an analytical technique to measure REEs in groundwater, facilitating the analysis of dissolved REE geochemistry. This review focuses on the distribution of REEs in groundwater and their application as tracers for groundwater geochemistry. Our review of existing literature suggests that REEs in ice cores can be used as effective tracers for atmospheric particles, aiding the identification of source regions.