• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.137-150
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• 2021

The rock-carved standing Buddha triad in Seoak-dong is a large stone Buddha statue of the Unified Silla era (AD 676 to 935) in ancient Korea, built near the top of the southeastern side of mountain Seondosan in Gyeongju, is characterized by its locational importance, the powerful Amitabha and the gentle sculptural technique of the Bodhisattva. In particular, Amitabha Buddha in andesite rock slope with biotite granite pedestal and two Bodhisattva parallel made by alkali granites seems to express the dignity through the color and texture of the stones. In the Amitabha Buddha, deterioration characteristics are accelerating due to the combination of various joint systems, instability of the slopes and relaxation by the root pressure of plants occurring at the top. In addition, physical properties have deteriorated owing to the increase of discontinuous surfaces as joints, cracks and scalings, and the coverage of algae and lichen is also high. Therefore, deterioration degree in Buddha triad is accelerated due to the physical weathering characteristics from natural rock mass and various biological invasion.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.663-671
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• 2020

Recently, there have been many natural disasters in Korea, not only in forest areas but also in urban areas, and the national requirements for them are increasing. In particular, there is no pre-disaster information system that can systematically manage the collapse of the slope of the national highway. In this study, big data analysis was conducted on the factors causing slope collapse based on the detailed investigation report on the slope collapse of national roads in Gangwon-do and Gyeongsang-do areas managed by the Cut Slope Management System (CSMS) and the basic survey of slope failures. Based on the analysis results, a slope collapse risk prediction model was established through Adaboost, a classification-based machine learning model, reflecting the collapse slope location and weather information. It also developed a visualization map for the risk of slope collapse, which is a visualization program, to show that it can be used for preemptive disaster prevention measures by identifying the risk of slope due to changes in weather conditions.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.731-739
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• 2021

This research aimed to analyze the characteristics of topsoil for soil conservation and promote the process of turning subsoil into topsoil. The physicochemical characteristics of topsoil and subsoil of different types of soil were compared, and their quantitative differences were examined. 204 soil samples were collected from a total of 102 areas according to rock types. These samples were tested to measure grain size, water content, and unit weight, along with XRF and XRD analyses. The topsoil and subsoil of the soil samples were also analyzed. The results of this research showed that the topsoil and subsoil had different physical characteristics, and that the chemical alteration index of the topsoil was higher than that of the subsoil. This would imply that the topsoil was high in clay minerals since it was directly affected by weathering more than the subsoil. In particular, vermiculite, one of the final products generated from weathering, was common in the topsoil.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.155-166
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• 2023

Through COVID-19, the importance of supply chain management of raw material minerals has been maximized. In particular, supply chain management is important for rare metals, which are difficult to manage demand and supply, in order to secure raw materials for the parts and materials industry that Korea is actively promoting. In this study, a system was established and evaluated to select Critical minerals that need to respond to Korea's industrial structure and global risks by quantifying tangible and intangible risk factors. Global Supply Concentration, Supplying country risk, Policy Social Environment Regulation, Domestic Import Instability, Risk responsiveness, Market Scale, Demand Fluctuation and Economic Importance were evaluated as evaluation indicators. The degree of risk and risk impact were quantitatively measured using the criticality matrix-criticality level. After evaluating 40 types of minerals used in domestic new growth businesses, 15 types of Critical minerals(Li, Pt, Co, V, REE, Mg, Mo, Cr, Ti, W, C, Ni, Al, Mn, Si) in Korea were selected. The results are expected to be used to establish policies to strengthen resource security and to make decisions to form a company's raw material portfolio.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.215-224
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• 2017

Arsenic (As) is known to be the most toxic element and frequently detected in groundwater environment. Inorganic As exists as arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] in reduced and oxidized environments, respectively. It has been reported that the toxicity of arsenite is much higher than that of arsenate and furthermore arsenite shows relatively higher mobility in aqueous environments. For this reason, there have been numerous researches on the process for oxidation of arsenite to arsenate to reduce the toxicity of arsenic. In particular, photooxidation has been considered to be simple, economical, and efficient to attain such goal. This study was conducted to evaluate the applicability of naturally-occurring goethite as a photocatalyst to substitute for $TiO_2$ which has been mostly used in the photooxidation processes so far. In addition, the effects of several factors on the overall performance of arsenite photocatalytic oxidation process were evaluated. The results show that the efficiency of the process was affected by total concentration of dissolved cations rather than by the kind of those cations and also the relatively higher pH conditions seemed to be more favorable to the process. In the case of coexistence of arsenite and arsenate, the removal tendency by adsorption onto goethite appeared to be different between arsenite and arsenate due to their different affinities with goethite, but any effect on the photocatalytic oxidation of arsenite was not observed. In terms of effect of humic acid on the process, it is likely that the higher concentration of humic acid reduced the overall performance of the arsenite photocatalytic oxidation as a result of competing interaction of activated oxygen species, such as hydroxyl and superoxide radicals, with arsenite and humic acid. In addition, it is revealed that the injection of oxygen gas improved the process because oxygen contributes to arsenite oxidation as an electron acceptor. Based on the results of the study, consequently, the photocatalytic oxidation of aqueous arsenite using goethite seems to be greatly feasible with the optimization of process.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.409-425
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• 2021

Carbon dioxide has been known to be a typical greenhouse gas causing global warming, and a number of efforts have been proposed to reduce its concentration in the atmosphere. Among them, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) has been taken into great account to accomplish the target reduction of carbon dioxide. In order to commercialize the CCS, its safety should be secured. In particular, if the stored carbon dioxide is leaked in the arable land, serious problems could come up in terms of crop growth. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of carbon dioxide leaked from storage sites on soil fertility. The leakage of carbon dioxide was simulated using the facility of its artificial injection into soils in the laboratory. Several soil chemical properties, such as pH, cation exchange capacity, electrical conductivity, the concentrations of exchangeable cations, nitrogen (N) (total-N, nitrate-N, and ammonia-N), phosphorus (P) (total-P and available-P), sulfur (S) (total-S and available-S), available-boron (B), and the contents of soil organic matter, were monitored as indicators of soil fertility during the period of artificial injection of carbon dioxide. Two kinds of soils, such as non-cultivated and cultivated soils, were compared in the artificial injection tests, and the latter included maize- and soybean-cultivated soils. The non-cultivated soil (NCS) was sandy soil of 42.6% porosity, the maize-cultivated soil (MCS) and soybean-cultivated soil (SCS) were loamy sand having 46.8% and 48.0% of porosities, respectively. The artificial injection facility had six columns: one was for the control without carbon dioxide injection, and the other five columns were used for the injections tests. Total injection periods for NCS and MCS/SCS were 60 and 70 days, respectively, and artificial rainfall events were simulated using one pore volume after the 12-day injection for the NCS and the 14-day injection for the MCS/SCS. After each rainfall event, the soil fertility indicators were measured for soil and leachate solution, and they were compared before and after the injection of carbon dioxide. The results indicate that the residual concentrations of exchangeable cations, total-N, total-P, the content of soil organic matter, and electrical conductivity were not likely to be affected by the injection of carbon dioxide. However, the residual concentrations of nitrate-N, ammonia-N, available-P, available-S, and available-B tended to decrease after the carbon dioxide injection, indicating that soil fertility might be reduced. Meanwhile, soil pH did not seem to be influenced due to the buffering capacity of soils, but it is speculated that a long-term leakage of carbon dioxide might bring about soil acidification.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.19 no.spc
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• pp.53-71
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• 1986

Detailed studies of regional geology and geochemistry of the tungsten mineralisation of Ogbang mine were carried out; in particular geochemical trends of major and trace elements of different lithological units, in comparison with those of the Sangdong area, together with igneous plutons in the area. The Ogbang deposit is in a pegmatitic association localised only in amphibolites whilst pegmatites in adjacent schists and gneisses are barren. The tungsten is geochemically accompanied by increase of $K_2O$, $Na_2O$ and Rb, and depletion of Sr. The trend of Rb/Sr ratio to the type of mineralisation, in commonly seen in the mineralised granites of the world, suggests that the tungsten in the Ogbang pegmatites was supplied by hydrothermal processes which at the same time caused Rb enrichment and Sr depletion. These trend could be of use in the search for new ore bodies in common with those of mineralised granitic or pegmatitic host rocks. There is no evidence that the granites in the area have any genetic influence spacially and temporarily on the initial scheelite formation.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.103-111
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• 2016

Li-bearing hectorite, one member of trioctahedral smectite, occurred large in quantity and confirmed in Turkey western sedimentary boron deposit. Li-bearing hectorite attracted a particular attention because it is one of potential lithium resources. There have been no consensus for the change of hectorite due to heat and acid treatment although it is very important to use in industrial application. In this study, we examined changes of hectorite after heat and acid treatment as well as acid treatement followed by heating. We used clay ores collected in Bigadic deposit, which contained the highest $Li_2O$ content in Turkey boron deposits. Hectorite showed a strong endothermic reaction at $84^{\circ}C$ due to dehydration of absorbed water and interlayer water and a weak endothermic reaction above $600^{\circ}C$ owing to dehydration of crystallization water. The first endothermic reaction accompanied a large weight loss about 6%. Hectorite decomposed into enstatite, cristobalite and amorphous Fe material at $762^{\circ}C$ with exothermic reaction. When hectorite reacted with 3 kinds of 0.1 M acid during 1 hours, it had a good dissolution efficiency with $H_2SO_4{\geq}HCl$ > $HNO_3$ in order.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2018

Aluminum silicates ($Al_2SiO_5$) undergo phase transitions among kyanite, andalusite, and sillimanite depending on temperature and pressure conditions. The minerals are often used as an important indicator of the degree of metamorphism for certain metamorphic rocks. In this study, we have applied classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and density functional theory (DFT) to the aluminum silicates. We examined the crystal structures as a function of applied pressure and the corresponding stabilities based on calculated enthalpies at each pressure. In terms of the lattice parameters, both methods showed that the volume decreases as the pressure increases as observed in the experiment. In particular, DFT results differed from experimental results by much less than 1%. As to the relative stability, however, both methods showed different levels of accuracy. In the MD simulations, a transition pressure at which the relative stability between two minerals reverse could not be determined because the enthalpies were insensitive to the applied pressure. On the other hand, in DFT calculations, the relative stability relation among the three minerals was consistent with experiment, although the transition pressure was strongly dependent on the choice of the electronic exchange-correlation functional.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.89-98
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• 1978

Mineralogy, beneficiation, and processes of titanium ores are reviewed from petrographic viewpoints. The most important titanium minerals are ilmenite ($FeTiO_3$) and rutile ($TiO_2$). Ilmenite will play major role :for raw material, because rutile are rapidly diminishing. Thus, there is a need to develope a successful process for producing high grade Ti02 from ilmenite. Commercial, as well as R and D processes to treat more abundant ilmenite ores fall in three general classess: 1. Iron in ilmenite is partially or completely reduced and separated either physically or chemically. 2. Iron is reduced to ferrous state and chemically leached away from the titanium. 3. Ore is treated to make chlorides either selectively or with subsequent separation and purification of $TiC_4$. Routes and efficiencies of these process technologies are primarily influenced by the particular ore deposit to be mined and secondly by environmental considerations. One deposit parameters which influence ilmenite process technologies are: 1. Complexity of microtextures of ilmenite intergrown with Fe-oxide minerals. 2. Composition of concentrates; ilmenites contain minor amounts of substituted Mg, Mn, and V. These elements plus iron and gangue minerals can cause difficulties to complete reactions, substantial acid consumption, difficulties of removing waste solids, and waste disposal problems. Major contributions to be made by petrologists for process optimization are: characterization and interpretation of compositional and physical changes of raw materials and solids derived from process streams. These informations can play significant role in selecting and improving process steps for titania production.