• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.817-830
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• 2023

This study investigates the age of the surficial rocks in the Arunta region using Uranium-Lead (U-Pb) geochronological dating. Rock samples were collected at four locations, Cattle-Water Pass (CP 1610), Gough Dam (GD 1622 and GD 1610), and London-Eye (LE 1601), within the Strangways Metamorphic Complex and crushed by selFragging. Subsequently, the zircon grains were imaged using Cathodoluminescence (CL) analysis and the U-Pb (uranium and lead) isotope ratios and the chrono-stratigraphy were measured. The imaged zircon revealed an anomalous heterogeneous crystal structure. Ellipses of the samples at locations GD1601, CP1610, and GD1622 fall below the intercept indicating the ages produced discordant patterns, whereas LE1601 intersects the Concordia curve at two points, implying the occurrence of an event of significant impact. For the rock sample at CP1610, the estimated mean age is 1742.2 ± 9.2 Ma with mean squared weighted deviation (MSWD) = 0.49 and probability of equivalence of 0.90; 1748 ± 15 Ma - MSWD = 1.02 and probability of equivalence of 0.40 for GD1622; and 1784.4 ± 9.1 Ma with MSWD of 1.09 and probability of equivalence of 0.37 for LE1601. But for samples at GD1601, two different age groups with different means occurred: 1) below the global mean (1792.2 ± 32 Ma) estimated at 1738.2 ± 14 Ma with MSWD of 0.109 and probability of equivalence of 0.95 and 2) above it with mean of 1838.22 ± 14 Ma, MSWD of 1.6 and probability of equivalence of 0.95. Analysis of the zircon grains has shown a discrepancy in the age range between 1700 Ma and 1800 Ma compared to the ASO dated to have occurred between 440 and 300 Ma. Moreover, apparent similarity in age of the core and rim means that the mineral crystallized relatively quickly without significant interruptions and effect on the isotopic system. This may have constraint the timing and extent of geological events that might have affected the mineral, such as metamorphism or hydrothermal alteration.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.611-626
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• 2023

Overseas examples of the characterization stage of site selection proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency were reviewed to highlight the factors necessary for consideration in the deep disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Studies in Sweden, Finland, the USA, and Canada were considered. Site investigations in Sweden and Finland commonly covered the fields of geology, hydrogeology, and hydrogeochemistry using similar field investigation techniques. The USA considered survey groups and factors under pre- and post-lockdown guidelines, as well as those for desaturated and saturated surveys. involving geophysical, hydrological, hydrogeological, hydrogeochemical, mechanical/physical, and thermal-characterization investigations. Canada provided a list of investigative methods for both preliminary and detailed site assessments including geological, physical, boring, hydrological, laboratory testing, and chemical analysis studies. Results of this study should elucidate site-selection investigation factors and survey methods applicable to Korea.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.121-133
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• 2023

The demand for cement and limestone crushed materials has increased many folds due to the tremendous increase in construction activities in Pakistan during the past few decades. The number of cement production industries has increased correspondingly, and so the rock-blasting operations at the limestone quarry sites. However, the safety procedures warranted at these sites for the blast-induced ground vibrations (BIGV) have not been adequately developed and/or implemented. Proper prediction and monitoring of BIGV are necessary to ensure the safety of structures in the vicinity of these quarry sites. In this paper, an attempt has been made to predict BIGV using artificial neural network (ANN) at three selected limestone quarries of Pakistan. The ANN has been developed in Python using Keras with sequential model and dense layers. The hyper parameters and neurons in each of the activation layers has been optimized using randomized and grid search method. The input parameters for the model include distance, a maximum charge per delay (MCPD), depth of hole, burden, spacing, and number of blast holes, whereas, peak particle velocity (PPV) is taken as the only output parameter. A total of 110 blast vibrations datasets were recorded from three different limestone quarries. The dataset has been divided into 85% for neural network training, and 15% for testing of the network. A five-layer ANN is trained with Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function, Adam optimization algorithm with a learning rate of 0.001, and batch size of 32 with the topology of 6-32-32-256-1. The blast datasets were utilized to compare the performance of ANN, multivariate regression analysis (MVRA), and empirical predictors. The performance was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R²), mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and root mean squared error (RMSE)for predicted and measured PPV. To determine the relative influence of each parameter on the PPV, sensitivity analyses were performed for all input parameters. The analyses reveal that ANN performs superior than MVRA and other empirical predictors, andthat83% PPV is affected by distance and MCPD while hole depth, number of blast holes, burden and spacing contribute for the remaining 17%. This research provides valuable insights into improving safety measures and ensuring the structural integrity of buildings near limestone quarry sites.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.233-257
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• 2023

Asbestos minerals are found at rocks and soils of the Hongseong and Bibong serpentine mines, western part of Chungnam. The area consists of and metasediment, and Mesozoic igneous intrusives with minor age-known gneiss complexes and Mesozoic sediments. With detailed geological investigations, rock samples for the serpentinite and amphibolite areas are collected at sites containing asbestos. Representative asbestos and rock samples are analysed by PLM, XRD, SEM and EPMA. Serpentinites are found as steeply dipping faults with adjacent gneiss complex to the NNE direction. Repeated alteration, including serpenitization and talcification, is found at the emplacement direction for the serpentinite body. Amphibollites occur as intrusives and stratiforms within the Precambrian gneiss complex. Serpentinite and amphibolite (or amphibole schist) contain amphiboles either as asbestiform or non-asbestiform. Varying amounts of asbestos minerals, including chrysotile, tremolite asbestos and actinolite asbestos, are found within the serpentinites. The asbestos minerals are found near the cracks or fractures and along the bedding plane. They occur as cross fiber, slip fiber and mass fiber types. Varying amounts of amphibole asbestos minerals, such as tremolite and actinolite asbestos, are found within amphibolites and as a mass fiber type. Overall results suggest that rocks of the serpentine mines contain serpentine and amphibole type asbestos minerals originated from the hydrothermal alteration. Considering construction nearby the mines and environmental risks by the asbestos, additional land management plans are required.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.221-232
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• 2023

Carbon neutrality requires carbon dioxide reduction technology and alternative green energy sources. Palygorskite is a clay mineral with a ribbon structure and possess a large surface area due to the nanoscale pore size. The clay mineral has been proposed as a potential material to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) and possibly to store eco-friendly hydrogen gas (H2). We report our preliminary results of grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations that investigated the adsorption isotherms and mechanisms of CO₂ and H₂ into palygorskite nanopores at room temperature. As the chemical potential of gas increased, the adsorbed amount of CO₂ or H₂ within the palygorskite nanopores increased. Compared to CO₂, injection of H₂ into palygorskite required higher energy. The mean squared displacement within palygorskite nanopores was much higher for H₂ than for CO₂, which is consistent with experiments. Our simulations found that CO₂ molecules were arranged in a row in the nanopores, while H₂ molecules showed highly disordered arrangement. This simulation method is promising for finding Earth materials suitable for CO₂ capture and H₂ storage and also expected to contribute to fundamental understanding of fluid-mineral interactions in the geological underground.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.196-212
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• 2023

This study identifies the origin of stone remains (pavement and banister stones) excavated from the first burial site of King Jeongjo through petro-mineralogical analysis in a quarry and examines the relationship with the stone remains from Geolleung (King Jeongjo's Tomb). The excavated stones from the first burial site of King Jeongjo are all light gray fine-grained biotite granite, and mainly contain quartz, feldspar, and biotite. The magnetic susceptibility of the stones ranges from 5.55 to 12.10 (average 7.00) (SI unit). According to old documents, the quarrying sites of the stones were Mts. Aengbong and Yeogisan (Godeung-dong District, Suwon), and we found a fine-grained biotite granite outcrop behind Mr. Aengbong (currently the site of Yeonggwang Apartment) with a geological survey, and it was petrologically similar to the stone remains from the first burial site. The magnetic susceptibility of the outcrop rocks was 5.15 to 7.24 (SI unit), and their petro-mineral and geochemical characteristics were found to be the same as those of the first buried site and Geolleung Tomb. It was confirmed that most of the stone elements in the first burial site were reused to build Geolleung Tomb while moving the grave. Only the pavement and banister stones seem to have been discarded in the first grave site without being transferred. This is because the size of the new burial mound became larger than the first grave during construction because Queen Hyoui (the consort of King Jeongjo) died and was buried together with the king in the same tomb, and the stone blocks did not fit a grave that size. With these research results, it was possible to compare and examine the old records and scientific analysis data, and they are expected to be used as basic source material in related research.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.211-218
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• 2007

In this study, we investigated the spatial distribution of macrozoobenthos in the estuarine sandy flat, the Bongam tidal flat located in Masan Bay during March, 2004. A total 13 species were identified at 12 stations within the tidal flat. The mean density was $20,267\;ind./m^2$, and mean biomass was $228.1g/m^2$. Dominant species in the Bongam tidal flat were all polychaetes: Prionospio japonicus ($11,716\;ind./m^2$, 57.8%) and Polydora ligni ($3,929\;ind./m^2$, 19.4%) of spionoid polychaete, and Neanthes succinea ($3,425\;ind./m^2$, 16.9%) of nereid polychaete. The most dominant species, P. japonicus distributed evenly all stations in the tidal flat. But N. succinea showed high density at the upper area of the tidal flat. Species diversity index (H') was in the range of 0.6 to 1.2 which is relatively low due to the prominent of P. japonicus and few species richness at each station. The study area was divided into two station groups (group A and B) based on the cluster analysis and MDS ordination, and the spatial distribution of macrozoobenthos on the Bongam tidal flat seemed to be in the influence of exposure duration from tidal levels and specific geological topography.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.185-204
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• 2024

This study was conducted for evaluation the geological, physical, and chemical properties of domestic sand by analyzing about 4,800 quality data of natural sand from river and land area surveyed until 2023 through the aggregate resource survey conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The average depth of the Quaternary unconsolidated sedimentary layer in Korea, which includes a sand layer, is about 10m (maximum depth 66m). The thickness of the sand layer within the sedimentary layer is most dominant in the range of 0.5m to 4.0m. This accounts for about 70% of the entire sand layer. In the sand layer, the ratio of sand, gravel, and clay is 60:20:10. Regardless of the provenance or geology, the sand is mainly composed of quartz, plagioclase, and K-feldspar, and the minor minerals are muscovite, biotite, chlorite, magnetite, epidote. The sand includes in 45~75% of quartz, 5~20% of plagioclase and K-feldspar, each other. And other minor minerals are included in 10%. The average grain size of sand is 0.5mm to 1.0mm, which accounts for 44% of sand samples. The water absorption rate and soundness are estimated to be suitable for aggregate quality standard in almost all sand, and the absolute dry density is suitable for 66%.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2024

In this study, recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) were treated in a 5-kg-scale prototype reactor with carbon dioxide (CO₂) to enhance their material quality and geotechnical performance. The aggregate crushing value (ACV) and California bearing ratio (CBR) were measured on untreated RCAs and CO₂-treated RCAs. After CO₂ treatment, the ACV decreased from 35.6% to 33.2%, and the CBR increased from 97.5% to 102.4%. The CO₂ treatment caused a reduction of fine particle generation and an increase in bearing capacity through carbonation. When CO₂ treatment was performed with mechanical agitation, which provided additional enhancement in mechanical quality, the ACV was reduced further to 30.3%, and the CBR increased to 137.7%. If upscaled effectively, the proposed CO₂ treatment technique would be an effective method to reduce carbon emissions in construction industries.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

After 60 years since the enactment of the cultural property protection act, Korea's national system of protecting what has been valued has been transformed into a 'National Heritage System'. To meet the new system, the classification of national heritage has been re-classified into three categories as cultural heritage, natural heritage, and intangible heritage. In accordance with the sub-classification, acts for cultural heritage act and intangible heritage has been amended and act for natural heritage has been enacted. Act for natural heritage defines natural heritage as natural objects or cultural heritage formed through the interaction between human beings and natural environment. The sub-classification are categorized as follows; animal, plant, geological and natural reserves, natural landscapes, historical-cultural landscapes, and mixed landscapes. It also allows creating traditional landscapes so that traditional way of landscaping can be encouraged and integrated with modern life within historic environment. In line with the new concept of traditional landscaping, existing practices will be also needed to be changed. Traditional landscaping will play a significant role in setting out the new administrative paradigm which focuses on more value preservation. This paper recommends that effective collaboration between government, experts of traditional landscaping, and owners should be established to integrate the new policy in practice.