• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.361-368
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• 2006

The Saemangeum tidal flat with an area of approxirnately $233km^2$ is one of the biggest estuarine tidal flats on the west coast of Korea. Because of its location in the estuary of Mangyeong and Dongjin Rivers, the tidal flat receives large amount of sediments. A 33-km long sea dyke, enclosing a coastal zone of $401km^2$, was constructed to reclaim tidal flat in the Saemangeum area. The dyke construction radically changes the local tidal current regime and estuarine circulation. These have an effect on sedimentary environments in the tidal flat. On the tidal flats of the study area net deposition occurred, but net erosion occurred near tidal channel in 2004. The comparison of topography and surface sediments in summer 2004 with those in summer 1988 before the dyke construction showed that elevation increased with maximum 80cm and mean grain sizes were fining at Gwanghwal tidal flats. Sedimentary facies of two cores from Gwanghwal tidal flat revealed homogeneous layers in the upper part suggesting rapid deposition after the dyke construction. The sedimentation rate in Gwanghwal tidal flat(GW 6) using $^{210}Pb$ analysis was about 5.4cm/yr which is well matched with the sedimentation pattern revealed by change in topography.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.257-267
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• 2003

Deep-sea bottom photographs acquired in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone of the northeast equatorial Pacific were analyzed to reveal the controlling processes for the spatial variation of manganese nodule. The results show that regional-scale occurrence variations of manganese nodule are mainly controlled by primary productivity of surface water, sedimentation rate, and water depth (or carbonate compensation depth). As a result, the diagenetic accretion on nodules increases toward southwest while hydrogenetic accretion increases toward northeast. Considering the northwestward movement of Pacific Plate, this regional-scale variation of manganese nodule occurrence seems to be affected by oceanic environment during the active growth period (Oligocene-Miocene) of Pacific Plate.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.81-92
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• 2011

High resolution seismic profiles (chirp and sparker system) were analyzed for the interpretation of nearshore sedimentary environments of Suyeong Bay, Busan. The sedimentary sequence is classified into three seismic units (SU1a, SU1b, and SU2), overlying acoustic basement, and each units can be defined as erosional and disconformable strata. The lowermost SU1a is characterized by the acoustically parallel and prolonged inner reflections, compared with the upper SU1b displays irregular internal reflectors. The uppermost unit, SU2, is acoustically transparent. The acoustic basement is incised with channels, probably due to the active erosion during the early period of transgression. The acoustic basement deepens eastward in the study area, suggesting primary association with the Suyeong River. The upper SU1a and SU1b units constitute lowland-fill strata. SU2 is widely distributed over the study area. High resolution seismic profiles of Suyeong Bay provide significant information crucial to the interpretation of sedimentary environmental history, which is closely related to the sea level change, estuarine environment and influx of terrestrial sediments from the adjacent rivers.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.59-78
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• 2011

In this study, the tidal flat research history of South Korea was organized by type and period. South Korea's tidal flat research history was largely divided into four fields: sediment research of tidal flat, research using satellite imagery, research on the Quaternary environment change and tidal flats, and ecological research on tidal flats. The comprehensive review of the South Korean tidal flat research history showed that tidal flats had been researched on since the period of Japanese colonial period, but most of the past studies were related to fisheries. Then, in the 1960s, the studies started to focus on the reclaimed land created through reclamation projects. The research on tidal flats from a geomorphological perspective fundamentally started in the 1970s, and the importance of tidal flats became more widely known in the 1980s. Most of the studies then were about the sedimentary environment and the form of landform, the ecosystem, and morphological changes. Since the 2000s, research has been carried out on satellite imagery data together with field survey, to continuously monitor the changes in the sedimentary facies of tidal flats, and in the sedimentary environment. There have been many academic studies on the geographic field of tidal flats, but the research performance on tidal flats in terms of geomorphology is still a blue ocean that has been touched by only a few. Therefore, it is hoped that various studies on Korean tidal flats will be conducted by geomorphologists in the future, and that such area will be established as an important field of study in geomorphology.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.31-50
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• 2009

The demarcation of Maritime Boundary is directly related to the expansion of jurisdiction and the securing of resources. Resource diplomacies of the three countries Korea, China and Japan represent a major task for the national administrations : to secure resources as well as to stablize and sustain resources for future national economies. At the sea area around Korea as well, countries are fiercely competing to secure resources and to expand jurisdiction. This is evidenced by the fact that various principles and logics which are beneficial to each own country are presented through international precedents, agreement between countries and the theories of the international law scholars. They say that the conclusion of demarcation of maritime boundary for the Yellow Sea would be easy from the point that there is no dispute related to island dominion in the waters of the Korean Peninsula especially the Yellow Sea, but still we need to have a strategic approach to this issue from the point that the factors used for claiming maritime boundaries may expand the waters of a country over much. For example, the continental shelf boundary in consideration of the distribution of sedimentary deposits in the Yellow Sea which is being raised by China began from the hypothesis that the inflow of sedimentary deposits to the Yellow Sea through the rivers of China represents absolute majority, but the results of the latest studies raised questions on the hypothesis. Especially, the studies done by Martin and Yang revealed that the inflow of sedimentary deposits to the Yellow Sea from the Yellow River is approximately less than 1% of total sedimentary deposits in the Yellow Sea, and also the result of analysis on the causes and counter policy measures on the environment of Bohai, China supports the reliability of the results of such studies. From a legal aspect, the sedimentary deposits of rivers which are claimed by China represent extremely weak ground for the claim for the title of the continental shelf. The siltline claimed by China seems to be based on the Article 76-4-(a)(i) of UNCLOS. This is, however, not the definition on the title of the continental shelf but it is only a technical formula to utilize in a case where a country desires to expand the continental shelf to over 200 nautical miles. Scientific and Technical Guidelines of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf also confirm this point through the Article 2.1.2 of the Guideline. The only case in which sedimentary deposits of rivers were referred to as concrete demarcation of maritime boundary was in the which was concluded in 1986 between India and Myanmar at the Andaman Sea. In the said case, India acknowledged the boundary up to the isobath of 200m which Myanmar claimed based on the sedimentary deposits of the Irrawaddy River. It has limits as a case for acknowledging the sedimentary deposits, however, because in fact India's acknowledgment was made in exchange for the condition that Myanmar gave up the dominion of two islands which they had been claiming from India up until that time.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.16-27
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• 2001

We have studied the phosphorus geochemistry in sediments from anoxic environments of Lake Shihwa. The dominant sedimentary phosphorus forms were detrital apatite P and Al-bound p, whereas the amount of Fe-bound P was low because of anoxic condition. Based on the correlation between TP(Total Phosphorus) and OC(Organic Carbon), the behavior of sedimentary phosphorus was influenced by organic matters. It shows that dissolved and solid phosphorus concentrations, the flux of phosphate and the correlation coefficients between sedimentary phosphorus and organic matter In St. Cl were higher than those in St. C2. The results indicate that the concentrations and distributions of phosphorus In sediments were controlled by organic matters.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.481-496
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• 1996

The last Sea is a typical bark-arc basin consisting of basins, plateaus, ridges, and seamounts. The Ulleng Basin, located in the southwestern corner of the last Sea, contains thick Neogene sedimentary sequence. Analysis of over 2,500 km of single-channel seismic reflection data suggests that hemipelagic sedimentation prevailed over much of the basin during the late Miocene and pelagic sedimentation became more dominant during the Pliocene. During the Pleistocene terrigeneous sediments transported by turbidity currents and other gravity flows, together with continuous hemipelagic settling, resulted in well-stratified sedimentary layers. Influx of terrigenous sediments during the Pleistocene formed depocenters in the western and southern parts of the basins. In the Ulleung Interplain Gap, where the Ulleung Basin joins the deeper Japan Basin, sediment waves suggesting bottom current activities are seen.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.33-41
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• 1999

A new sedimentary basin is reported from the marine multi-channel seismic data which were acquired for the hydrocarbon exploration on the southwestern Korean continental shelf in 1970. Along the southeastern part of Line 1192, the about 60-km-long basin with the thickness of 0.55~1.1 s is observed on the near-trace gather. However, both new and previous 24-fold stack sections fail to show the basin image probably due to its rugged top beneath the shallow water. The boundary contact between the basement with the velocity of about 5200m/s and the basin filling with the velocities of 4300~4700 m/s is unclear. These velocites are calculated from the corresponding shot gathers. Compared with the Haenam Basin, a neighbouring onshore Cretaceous sedimentary basin, we interpret that the new basin includes the volcanics and volcaniclastic sequences deposited in the lacustrine environment. This nonmarine basin was possibly formed as the result of the tectonic movement during the Cretaceous, implying the wide occurrence of the Cretaceous basins over the southern Korean Peninsula as well as its southwestern continental shelf.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.13-24
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• 1988

The deposit (named Kanweoldo deposit) unconformably overlain by the Holocene tidal deposit is mainly exposed along the tidal channel of the Sajangpo tidal flat of Cheonsu Bay, west coast of Korea. The Kanweoldo deposit's sedimentary textures, sedimentary structures and erosion surfaces of the stratigraphic events have been investigated. The Kanweoldo deposit is mainly composed of mud, silt and sandy mud. The sedimentary criteria indicating intertidal deposit i.e. lenticular bedding, thinly and coarsely interlayered bedding, wavy lamination and flaser bedding are positively found in the Kanweoldo deposit. The deposit is semi-consolidated and brown in color, and has erosional contact (stratigraphic boundary) with the overlying Holocene tidal deposit. Considering such Kanweoldo deposit's sedimentary characteristics and stratigraphic relation with the Holocene tidal deposit, the Kanweoldo deposit seems to be deposited under intertidal environment during Riss-Wurm interglacial period and subaerially exposed and eroded during the last glacial period.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.139-150
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• 2006

A study has been made of the Schmidt hammer rebound test for the estimation of engineering and physical characteristics of sedimentary rocks. As there is no universal formular for the estimation of rock strength due to geological conditions, in this study only sedimentary rocks are adopted to testing. The aim of study is to make the information more meaningful and useful for engineers and contractors by providing rapid, cheap and easy method. The obtained parameters were correlated and regression equations were established among Schmidt hammer rebound number, uniaxial compressive strength, tangent Young's modulus, indirect tensile stress, water absorption and porosity of rocks with high coefficients of correlation with each other.