• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.120-129
• /
• 2001

A sand shoal (1300 m long and 400 m wide) with an orientation of north-south is formed on the lower tidal flat of Gomso Bay, southwestern coast of Korea. Surface bedforms, sedimentary structures, sedimentation rate, grain size distribution and can-corer sediments have been measured and analysed along the sand shoal proper zone B and its offshore zone A and onshore zone C during the period of 14 months. These three zones can be differentiated based on sedimentological characteristics: A zone - fine sand (3${\varphi}$ mean), linguoid-type ripples, 70 mm/month in sedimentation rate and no bioturbation, B zone - medium sand (2.5${\varphi}$ mean), dunes (4${\sim}$5 m in wavelength), 30 mm/month in sedimentation rate and no bioturbation, and C zone - coarse silt (5${\varphi}$ mean), sinuous-type ripples, 10 mm/month in sedimentation rate and well-developed bioturbation. These characteristics indicate that the zone C represents a relatively low-energy regime environment whereas the zone A corresponds to a relatively high-energy environment. The zone B would play an important role for a barrier to dissipate the approaching wave energy, resulting in maintaining of low-energy conditions in the inner part of Gomso-Bay intertidal flat behind.

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.212-228
• /
• 1993

A chenier, about 860 m long, 30 to 60 m wide and 0.6∼1.6 m high, occurs on the upper muddy tidal flat in the Gomso bay, western coast of Korea, It consists of medium to fine sands and shells with small amounts of subangular gravels. Vertical sections across the chenier show gently landward dipping stratifications which include small-scale cross-bedded sets. the most probable source of the chenier is considered to be the intertidal sandy sediments. Vibracores taken along a line transversing the tidal flat reveal that the intertidal sand deposits are more than 5 m thick near the low-water line and become thinner toward the chenier. The most sand deposits are undertrain by tidal muds which occur behind the chenier as salt marsh deposits. C-14 age dating suggests that the sand deposits and the chenier are younger than about 1,800 years B.P. The chenier has originated from the intertidal sand shoals at the lower to mid sand flat, and has continuously moved landward. A series of aerial photographs (1967∼1989) reveal that intertidal sand shoals (predecessor of the western part of chenier) on the mid flat have continuously moved landward during the past two decades and ultimately attached to the eastern part of the chenier already anchored at the present position in the late 1960s. Repeated measurements (four times between 1991 and 1992) of morphological changes of the chenier indicate that the eastern two thirds of the chenier, mostly above the mean high water, has rarely moved whereas the western remainder below the mean high water, has moved continuously at a rate of 0.5 m/mo during the last two years (1991∼1992). This displacement rate has been considerably accelerated up to 1.0 m/mo in winter, and during a few days of typhoon in the summer of 1992 the displacement amounted to about 8∼11 m/mo for the entire chenier. these facts suggest that macro-tidal currents, coupled with winter-storm waves and infrequent strong typhoons, should play a major role for the formation and migration of chenier after 1,800 B.P., when the sea level already rose to the present position and thereafter remained constant.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.149-157
• /
• 1998

Seasonal changes of topography, sediment grain size and accumulation rate in the Gomso-Bay tidal flat, west coast of Korea, have been studied in order to understand the seasonal accumulation pattern and preservation potential of the tidal-flat sediments. Seasonal levelings across the tidal flat show that the landward movement of both intertidal sand shoals and cheniers accelerates during the winter and typhoon periods, but it almost stops in summer when mud deposition is instead predominant at the middle and upper tidal flats. Seasonal variations of mean grain size were largest on the upper part of middle tidal flat where summer mud layers were eroded during the winter and typhoon periods. Measurements of accumulation depths from sea floor to basal plate reveal that accumulation rates were seasonally controlled according to the elevation of tidal-flat surface. The upper tidal flat where the accumulation rate of summer was generally higher than that of winter was characterized by a continuous deposition throughout the entire year, whereas in the middle tidal flat, sediment accumulations were concentrated in winter relative to summer and were intermittently eroded by typhoons. The lower tidal flat were deposited mostly in winter and eroded during summer typhoons. Can cores taken across the tidal flat reveal that sand-mud interlayers resulting from such seasonal changes of energy regime are preserved only in the upper part of the deposits and generally replaced by storm layers downcore. Based on above results, it is suggested that the storm deposits by winter storms and typhoons would consist of the major part of the Gomso-Bay sediments.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.117-126
• /
• 1999

Hampyong Bay is a semienclosed and macrotidal bay which opens to the eastern Yellow Sea through a narrow inlet in the southwestern coast of Korea. In order to understand the tidal-flat sedimentation in the semienclosed setting, morphology, sediments, accumulation rate and sea cliff erosion were investigated in the tidal flat of Hampyong Bay. The tidal flat of Hampyong Bay lacks intertidal drainage systems, and generally shows the concave-upward profile whose relief is designated by marked morphological features such as high-tide beaches, intertidal sand shoals and tidal creeks. Surfacial sediments of the tidal flat mainly consist of mud, sandy mud, gravelly mud, gravelly sand and muddy gravel, thus showing the textural characteristics of multimodal grain-size distribution, poorly sorting and positive skewness. The sediments generally coarsen landward due to the increase in coarse fraction content. Sedimentary structures are deeply bioturbated, but parallel lamination and lenticular bedding are locally found in the mudflat near mean low water line. Annual accumulation rates across the tidal flat (along Line SM) average -5.2 cm/yr with a range of -45.8~+4.2 cm/yr, indicating that the tidal flat is erosional. In general, erosion rates of upper and lower tidal flat are higher than those of middle tidal flat. Seasonally, the erosion rates are much higher during spring and winter when dominant wind direction corresponds to the long axis of Hampyong Bay. Sea cliffs are eroded at a rate of 1.4 m/yr. The biggest sea cliff erosion generally occurs 1~2 months later after tidal flats were extensively eroded. Such erosions of tidal Oats and sea cliffs in the semienclosed bay setting are interpreted to be due to wind waves coupled with local sea-level rise.