• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.71-85
• /
• 2020

To understand behavior of fault cores in the field of geotechnical and geological engineering, we present an investigation of the physical properties (breccia and clay contents, unit weight, porosity, and water content) and friction characteristics (internal friction angle and cohesion) of fault cores, in granitic, sedimentary, and volcanic rocks in South Korea. The breccia contents in the fault cores are positively correlated with unit weight and negatively correlated with clay content, porosity, and water content. The inter-quartile ranges of internal friction angles and cohesion calculated from direct shear tests are 16.7-38.1° and 2.5-25.3 kPa, respectively. The influence of physical properties on the friction characteristics of the fault cores was analyzed and showed that in all three rock types the internal friction angles are positively correlated with breccia content and unit weight, and negatively correlated with clay content, porosity, and water content. In contrast, the cohesions of the fault cores are negatively correlated with breccia content and unit weight, and positively correlated with clay content, porosity, and water content.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.261-272
• /
• 2009

An experimental study of the accelerated weathering was performed to investigate the variations of physicomechanical properties of deteriorated rocks due to freeze-thaw weathering for the Jurassic granite specimens from Wonju, Gangwon-do. Each complete cycle of freeze and thaw was lasted 24 hours, comprising 2 hours saturating in vacuum chamber, 8 hours freezing at -20$\pm1^{\circ}C$ and 14 hours thawing at room temperature. Freeze-thaw cycles were implemented with measuring the index physical properties as well as geometries of microfractures. The seismic velocity was found to decrease with increasing freeze-thaw cycles. On the other hand, absorption tends to increase with freeze-thaw cycles. In the end, it was concluded that variations of the index properties of deteriorated specimen depend on its initial properties and flaws in rock. The size and density of the traces of the microfracture on slab specimen were changed continuously with increasing freeze-thaw weathering. The results obtained in this study show that the box fractal dimension($D_B$) has the strong capability of quantifying the combined effect of size and density of the microfractures.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.435-443
• /
• 2007

This study shows the prediction of the engineering properties of weathered zone bearing corestones through the engineering geological surveys and the scale model test in the laboratory. The window survey and the observation on the borehole core were peformed on three natural slopes in corestones area in order to analyse the distribution pattern and the geometrical properties of corestones. Natural corestones were crushed and abrased for the scale model test into less than 5 mm in maximum-2mm in average by the scale reduction ratio based on the size of natural corestones and the specimen size. Scale model tests were carried out on soil and plaster model specimens with different corestone content ratio - 0%, 10%, 20%. The direct shear test on soils shows that shear strength is increased by the increase of corestone content ratio. The increase of cohesion is, however, more important factor to the shear strength of soil for 20% corestone content ratio due to interlocking of crushed corestone particles. The plaster model test shows a tendance of increase of UCS and modulus of elasticity with increase of corestone content. The variation ratio of specimen property by change of corestone content ratio in plaster model test was applied to in situ properties in order to estimate the properties of weathered zone bearing corestones. So it could be predicted that the increase of corestone content to 10% and to 20% produce about 18% and 30% UCS's increase respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.1-17
• /
• 2022

The mechanical and thermal properties of the rock masses can affect the performance associated with both the isolating and retarding capacities of radioactive materials within the deep geological disposal system for High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLW). In this study, the essential parameters for the site descriptive model (SDM) related to the rock mechanics and thermal properties of the HLW disposal facilities site were reviewed, and the technical background was explored through the cases of the preceding site descriptive models developed by SKB (Swedish Nuclear and Fuel Management Company), Sweden and Posiva, Finland. SKB and Posiva studied parameters essential for the investigation and evaluation of mechanical and thermal properties, and derived a rock mechanics site descriptive model for safety evaluation and construction of the HLW disposal facilities. The rock mechanics SDM includes the results obtained from investigation and evaluation of the strength and deformability of intact rocks, fractures, and fractured rock masses, as well as the geometry of large-scaled deformation zones, the small-scaled fracture network system, thermal properties of rocks, and the in situ stress distribution of the disposal site. In addition, the site descriptive model should provide the sensitivity analysis results for the input parameters, and present the results obtained from evaluation of uncertainty.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.15 no.4 s.42
• /
• pp.447-462
• /
• 2005

The purposes of this study are to evaluate and discuss the importance of geochemical properties of soil materials that play an important role in the occurrence of the landslide, using analyses of microtexture, particle size distribution, XRC, and FE-SEM equipped with energy dispersive spectrum on soils collected from landslide slopes of gneiss, granite and sedimentary rock areas. Soils from gneiss and granite areas where landslides took place have much clay content relative to those from non landslide areas, particularly pronounced in the granite area. Therefore the clay content is considered a sensitive factor on landslide. Clay minerals contained in soils are illite, chlorite, kaolinite and montmorillonite. Especially the content of clay minerals in soils from the Tertiary sedimentary rocks is highest, with abundant montmorillonite as expandable species. It is believed that this area was much vulnerable to landslide comparable to other areas because of its high content of monoorillonite, even though there might be weak precipitation. Since no conspicuous differentiation in mineralogy between the landslide area and non landslide area can be made, the occurrence of landslide may be influenced not by mineralogy, but by local geography and mechanical properties of soils. Geochemical information on weathering properties, mineralogy, and microtexture of soils is helpful to better understand the causes and patterns of landslide, together with engineering geological analyses.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.69-79
• /
• 2018

The Korean government attempts to reduce $CO_2$ emissions by 37% to 314.7 Mt $CO_2$, down from the estimated 850.6 Mt $CO_2$ until 2030 in order to confront green house effect. In this context, in 2014, Korean government launched $CO_2$ Storage Environmental Management Research (K-COSEM) Center for carrying out pilot-scale research on $CO_2$ leakage from underground $CO_2$ storage facilities. For the detection of $CO_2$ leakage, it is necessary to identify hydrologeological and geophysical characteristics of the subject area. In the study site of Naesan-ri, Daeso-myeon, Eumseong-gun, Chungbuk Province, two times injection tests (June 28-July 24, 2017 and August 07-September 11, 2017) of $CO_2$ and $SF_6$ dissolved waters, respectively, was conducted to understand the leakage behavior of $CO_2$ from underground. The injection well was drilled to a depth of 24 m with a 21-m casing and screen interval of 21~24 m depth. Two times resistivity surveys on August 18, 2017 and September 1, 2017, were conducted for revealing the flow of the injected water as well as the electrical properties of the study site. The study results have shown that the high-resistivity zone and the low-resistivity zone are clearly contrasted with each other and the flow direction of the injected water is similar to natural groundwater flow. Besides, the low resistivity zone is widely formed from the depth of injection to the shallow topsoil, indicating that the weathered zone of high permeability has high $CO_2$ leakage potential.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.23-34
• /
• 2009

The adsorption of iodide on untreated bentonite and bentonites modified with organic cation (i.e., hexadecylpyridinium chloride monohydrate ($HDP^+$)) was investigated, and the organobentonites were characterized using uptake measurements, ${\mu}$-XRD, and electrophoretic mobilities measurement. Uptake measurements indicate that bentonite has a high affinity for $HDP^+$. Our ${\mu}$-XRD study indicates that organobentonites significantly expanded in basal spacing and organic cations were substantially intercalated into the interlayer spaces of bentonite. The electrophoretic mobility indicates that organobentonite tht is modified with organic cations in excess of the CEC of bentonite is completely different from untreated bentonite in the surface charge distribution. We found significant differences in adsorption capacities of iodide depending on the bentonite properties as follows: iodide adsorption capacities were 439 mmol/kg for the bentonite modified with $HDP^+$ at an equivalent amount corresponding to 200% of the CEC of bentonite whereas no adsorption of iodide was observed for the untreated bentonite. The molecular environments of iodine adsorbed on organobentonites were further studied using I K-edge and $L_{III}$-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) of iodine spectra from organobentonites was similar to that of KI reference solution. Linear combination fitting of EXAFS data suggests the fraction of iodine reacted with the organic compound increased with increasing loading of the organic compound on organobentonites. In this study, we observed significant differences in the adsorption environments of iodide depending on the modified property of bentonite and suggest that an organobentonite has potential as reactive barrier material around a nuclear waste repository containing anionic radioactive iodide.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.36 no.2_2
• /
• pp.351-363
• /
• 2020

It is well known that alluvial sediment located in coastal region has been easily affected by geohazard like ground subsidence, marine or meteorological disasters which threaten invaluable lives and properties. The subsidence is a sinking of the ground due to underground material movement that mostly related to soil compaction by water extraction. Thus, continuous monitoring is essential to protect possible damage from the ground subsidence in the coastal region. Radar interferometric application has been widely used to estimate surface displacement from phase information of synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Thanks to advanced SAR technique like the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS), a time-series of surface displacement could be successfully calculated with a large amount of SAR observations (>20). Because the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 L-band observations maintain higher coherence compared with other shorter wavelength like X- or C-band, it has been regarded as one of the best resources for Earth science. However, the number of ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 observations might be not enough for the SBAS application due to its global monitoring observation scenario. Unfortunately, the number of the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap images in area of our interest, Busan which located in the Southeastern Korea, is only 11 which is insufficient to apply the SBAS time-series analysis. Although it is common that the radar interferometry utilizes multiple SAR images collected from same acquisition mode, it has been reported that the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometric application could be possible under specific acquisition mode. In case that we can apply the Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometry with the other 18 ScanSAR observations over Busan, an enhanced time-series surface displacement with better temporal resolution could be estimated. In this study, we evaluated feasibility of the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometric application using Gamma software considering differences of chirp bandwidth and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) between two acquisition modes. In addition, we analyzed the interferograms with respect to spectral shift of radar carrier frequency and common band filtering. Even though it shows similar level of coherence regardless of spectral shift in the radar carrier frequency, we found periodic spectral noises in azimuth direction and significant degradation of coherence in azimuth direction after common band filtering. Therefore, the characteristics of spectral bandwidth in the range and azimuth direction should be considered cautiously for the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Stripmap-ScanSAR interferometry.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.241-248
• /
• 2009

Kaolinite was synthesized from amorphous $SiO_2$ and $Al(OH)_3{\cdot}xH_{2}O$ as starting materials by hydrothermal reaction conducted at $250^{\circ}C$ and $30\;kg/cm^2$. The acidity of the solution was adjusted at pH 2. The synthesized kaolinite was characterized by XRD, IR, NMR, FE-SEM, TEM and EDS to clarify the formational process according to the reaction time from 2 to 36 hours. X-ray diffraction patterns showed after 2 h of reaction time, the starting material amorphous $Al(OH)_3{\cdot}xH_{2}O$ transformed to boehmite (AlOOH) and after the reaction time 5 h, the peaks of boehmite were observed to be absent thereby indicating the crystal structure is partially destructed. Kaolinite formation was identified in the product obtained after 10 h of reaction and the peak intensity of kaolinite increased further with reaction time. The results of TGA and DTA revealed that the principal feature of kaolinite trace are well resolved. TGA results showed 13 wt% amount of weight loss and DTA analysis showed that exothermic peak of boehmite observed at $258^{\circ}C$ was decreased gradually and after 10 h of reaction time, it was disappeared. After 5 h of the reaction time, the exothermicpeak of transformation to spinel phase was observed and the peak intensiy increased with reaction time. The results of FT-IR suggested a highly ordered kaolinite was obtained after 36 hours of reaction. It was identified by the characteristic hydroxide group bands positioned at 3,696, 3670, 3653 and $3620\;cm^{-1}$. The development of the hydroxyl stretching between 3696 and $3620\;cm^{-1}$, depends on the degree of order and crystalline perfection. TEM results showed that after 15 h reaction time, curved platy kaolinite was observed as growing of (001) plane and after 36 h, the morphology of synthetic kaolinite exhibited platy crystal with partial polygonal outlines.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.311-330
• /
• 2023

Development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technique is becoming increasingly important as a method to mitigate the strengthening effects of global warming, generated from the unprecedented increase in released anthropogenic CO₂. In the recent years, the characteristics of basaltic rocks (i.e., large volume, high reactivity and surplus of cation components) have been recognized to be potentially favorable in facilitation of CCS; based on this, research on utilization of basaltic formations for underground CO₂ storage is currently ongoing in various fields. This study investigated the feasibility of underground storage of CO₂ in basalt, based on the examination of the CO₂ storage mechanisms in subsurface, assessment of basalt characteristics, and review of the global research on basaltic CO₂ storage. The global research examined were classified into experimental/modeling/field demonstration, based on the methods utilized. Experimental conditions used in research demonstrated temperatures ranging from 20 to 250 ℃, pressure ranging from 0.1 to 30 MPa, and the rock-fluid reaction time ranging from several hours to four years. Modeling research on basalt involved construction of models similar to the potential storage sites, with examination of changes in fluid dynamics and geochemical factors before and after CO₂-fluid injection. The investigation demonstrated that basalt has large potential for CO₂ storage, along with capacity for rapid mineralization reactions; these factors lessens the environmental constraints (i.e., temperature, pressure, and geological structures) generally required for CO₂ storage. The success of major field demonstration projects, the CarbFix project and the Wallula project, indicate that basalt is promising geological formation to facilitate CCS. However, usage of basalt as storage formation requires additional conditions which must be carefully considered - mineralization mechanism can vary significantly depending on factors such as the basalt composition and injection zone properties: for instance, precipitation of carbonate and silicate minerals can reduce the injectivity into the formation. In addition, there is a risk of polluting the subsurface environment due to the combination of pressure increase and induced rock-CO₂-fluid reactions upon injection. As dissolution of CO₂ into fluids is required prior to injection, monitoring techniques different from conventional methods are needed. Hence, in order to facilitate efficient and stable underground storage of CO₂ in basalt, it is necessary to select a suitable storage formation, accumulate various database of the field, and conduct systematic research utilizing experiments/modeling/field studies to develop comprehensive understanding of the potential storage site.