• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.131-151
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• 2011

The electrical conductivity of a soil-water system is related to its engineering properties. By measuring the soil electrical conductivity, one may obtain quantitative, semi-quantitative, or qualitative information to estimate the in-situ soil behavior for site characterization. This paper presents the results of electrical conductivity measured on compacted kaolin clay samples using a circular two-electrode cell in conjunction with a specially designed compaction apparatus, which has the advantage of reducing errors due to sample handling and increasing measurement accuracy. The experimental results are analyzed to observe the effects of various parameters on soil electrical conductivity, i.e. porosity, unit weight, water content and pore water salinity. The performance of existing analytical models for predicting the electrical conductivity of saturated and unsaturated soils is evaluated by calculating empirical constants in these models. It is found that the Rhoades model gives the best fit for the kaolin clay investigated. Two general relationships between the formation factor and soil porosity are established based on the experimental data reported in the literature and measured from this study for saturated soils, which may provide insight for understanding electrical conduction characteristics of soils over a wide range of porosity.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.127-133
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• 1988

This study was performed to obtain the basic data analyzing salt movement and desalinization effects, and two different desalinization experiments through leaching and rinsing were carried out, using samples of silt loam soil and silty clay loam soil collected in reclaimed tidelands. The relationships between the electrical conductivity of saturation extract and the electrical conductivity at various dilutions, and the correlations between electrical conductivity, total salt concentration, exchangeable sodium percentage and pH during the desalinization of reclaimed tidelands, were analyzed by the statistical method. The results obtained from this study were summarized as follows: 1.The sample soils used in this study were saline-sodic soils in accordance with the USDA classi- fication system of salt affected soils. 2.The electrical conductivity of saturation extract could be estimated conveniently, using the electrical conductivity of extract from various different soil-water suspensions. 3.The total salt concentration could be expressed in the electrical conductivity, but there was a little difference by soil textures. 4.The regression analysis showed that the relationship between the electrical conductivity of saturation extract and the exchangeable sodium percentage during the desalinization of reclaimed lands could be described by a linear regression equation. 5.The value of pH showed a tendency to increase according as the exchangeable sodium percentage decreased during the desalinization of reclaimed tidelands.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.47-55
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• 2007

In this study, applicability of electrical conductivity monitoring technique for containment barrier such as soil-bentonite wall was evaluated. Laboratory tests including permeability tests and column tests were performed to understand variations in electrical conductivity at different bentonite contents, hydraulic conductivities, and heavy metal concentrations. The electrical conductivity of compacted soil-bentonite mixtures was found to increase proportionally with bentonite content. Accordingly, the hydraulic conductivity of compacted soil-bentonite mixtures which decreases linearly with increasing bentonite content was found to have an inversely proportional relationship with the electrical conductivity. In column tests, electrical conductivity breakthrough curves and concentration breakthrough curves were simultaneously obtained. These results indicated that electrical conductivity measurement can be an effective means of detecting heavy metal transport at the desired locations within barriers and verifying possible contaminant leakage. Experimental results obtained from this study showed that the electrical conductivity measurement can be a promising tool for monitoring of containment barrier.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2002

This research was conducted to investigate the influences caused by solifluction soil on the physicochemistry of stream water quality at the riparian area four points in the northeastern part of the Bughansan National Park from March to May of 2001. The average pH of stream water was higher than those in the caused by solifluction soil. The average electrical conductivity of upstream water was about 0.8~1.7 times lower than those in the caused by solifluction soil, but the average electrical conductivity of downstream water was about 1.6~3.8 times higher than those in the caused by solifluction soil. Therefore, these results showed that the water quality of downstream was worse than that of upstream. Twelve factors including the physicochemistry on the stream water and caused by solifluction soil were analyzed by spss/pc+ for the data collected from during March to May of 2001. pH of stream water was very significantly correlated with pH and electrical conductivity at the caused by solifluction soil. And the electrical conductivity of stream water was very significantly correlated with electrical conductivity and the amount of cation($Na^+$, ${NH_4}^+$, $Mg^{2+}$) at the caused by solifluction soil.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.317-324
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• 2001

Short-term effect of phosphogypsum on soil properties including acidification, salinity and metal availability were investigated under laboratory and field conditions. Phosphogypsum and mixtures of phosphogypsum and compost were added to soil and incubated in a laboratory condition with 15% moisture content. Phosphogypsum treatments were 2.5 and 5.0 g/kg soil and in the treatments of phosphogypsum and compost mixture 10 g of compost was added additionally. After the 30 days of incubation, an additional phosphogypsum and/or compost were added to the remaining soils at the same rates of the first treatments. pH, electrical conductivity, and available hazardous elements were measured periodically during the incubation. Field experiment was conducted in a plastic film house of mellon with four treatments of phosphogypsum and compost mixtures - 25+125, 50+125, 50+250 and 100+250 kg/165 $m^2$. pH, electrical conductivity, and hazardous elements in soil and total hazardous elements in leaf were measured. In the laboratory experiment, after 30 days of the first phosphogypsum application, soil pHs were lowered by 0.7-0.8 units. After the second treatment of phosphogypsum 0.2 units of additional acidification occurred. However, acidification was not observed in the soils treated with mixtures of phosphogypsum and compost. In the laboratory experiment, phosphogypsum treatments increased electrical conductivity very significantly. In field experiment, pH and electrical conductivity of soils treated with phosphogypsum were nearly the same as those of soil not treated with phosphogypsum. Since soil condition in the field study was an open system, the free acids and salts derived from phosphogypsum could be diffused down with water leaching through the soil profile and then any significant acidification or salt accumulation in the topsoil could not be observed. In both laboratory and field experiments, levels of available hazardous elements in soils treated with phosphogypsum were quite low and not different from the levels found in the control soil. Results obtained from this study suggest that application of phosphogypsum at appropriate rates on agricultural land appears of no concern in terms of acidity, salinity and hazardous element content of soil.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.85-93
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• 1988

This laboratory study was carried out in order to produce fundamental data for analyzing salt movement and desalinization effects, using samples of silt loam soil collected in Gyehwado and Daeho reclaimed tidelans, and samples of silty clay loam soil collected in Kimie tideland. Desalinization experiments with gypsum treatment were performed to analyze changes of the hydraulicc conductivity with changes of the soil property and the salt concentration during the desalinization of reclaimed tideland soils by leaching through the subsufface drainage, and correlations between factors infl uencing the reclamation of salt affected soils were analyzed by the statistical method. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The reclaimed tideland soils used in this study were saline-sodic soils with the high exchangeable sodium percentage and the high electrical conductivity. 2. Changes of the hydraulic conductivity with the amount of leaching water and the leaching time elapsed were affected by the amount of gypsum except exchangeable sodium and clay contents. The regression equation between the depth of water leached per unit depth of soil (Dw / Ds : X) or the square root of the leaching time elapsed (T $^1$ $^2$ : X) and the relative hydraulic conductivity (HCr:Y) could be expressed in Y=a . bx. 3. The more exchangeable sodium and clay contents regardless of the amount of gypsum, the more the leaching time was required until a given volume of water was leached through the soil profile. The regression analysis showed that the relationship between the depth of water leached per unit depth of soil(Dw /Ds:X) and the square root of the leaching time elapsed(T$^1$$^2$ :Y) could be described by Y=a . Xb. 4. The hydraulic conductivity was influenced to a major degree by the salt concentration provided that the electrical conductivity was below 10 mmhos / cm during the desalinization of reclaimed tideland soils. The regression equation between the relative electrical conductivity ( ECr : X) and the relative hydraulic conductivity (HCr:Y) could be expressed in Y=a + b . X-$^1$. 5. In conclusion, the hydraulic conductivity, leaching requirements and the leaching time elapsed can be estimated when the salt concentration decreases to a certain level during the desalinization of reclaimed tidelands, and the results may be applied to the analysis of salt movement and desalinization effects.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.206-207
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• 2001

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.39-46
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• 2014

Hydraulic conductivity is an important parameter, representing permeable property of the groundwater in aquifers, in the issues of groundwater development, groundwater contamination, and groundwater flow, etc. We estimated a relationship between hydraulic conductivity and electrical properties (formation factor, chargeability, and time constant) of silty sand in the laboratory. For this study, we conducted grain size analysis, constant head permeameter test, and measured electrical resistivity and spectral induced polarization of silty sand samples collected from the riverside alluvium of the Nakdong River in Nogok-ri area, Dasan-myeon, Goryeong-gun in Gyeongbook Province, Korea. In the laboratory test, we used soil samples of approximately uniform porosity with 0.5% error range, and kept the electrical resistivity of pore water with 100 ohm-m. As a result, the relationship between effective particle size and hydraulic conductivity agrees fairly well with the existing empirical formulas. Hydraulic conductivity was correlated with formation factor, chargeability, and time constant: hydraulic conductivity increased with increasing formation factor and time constant as well as with decreasing chargeability.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.241-248
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• 1995

This experiment was conducted to obtain basic information for the management of soil and fertilization for plastic-house soil cultivated Khwari green pepper in Dang Jin area of Chung Nam Province. The range of pH with highest frequency for 36 sites investigated was 6.1~6.5, OM 1.6~2.5%, available phosphorous 601~800mg/kg, CEC 12.1~14.0 c mol/kg, clay 16.1~18.0% and below 2.0ds/m for electical conductivity of soil. Fesh fruit weight of green pepper showed very high significant positive correlation with organic matter, clay content and cation exchange capacity, while negaive correlation with electrical conductivity. Electrical conductivity showed highly significant negative correlation with CEC, clay content and organic matter in soil, respectively. To decrease below 2.0 dS/m of electrical conductivity in plastic-house soil, the content of clay and organic matter could be maintained at above 1.8% and 2.3%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.21-32
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• 2006

Factors affecting the electrical properties of bentonite slurry were identified and electric conduction mechanism in slurry was examined. Electrical conductivity of bentonite and soil-bentonite slurry linearly increases with the bentonite content. Test result indicated that the change In electrical conductivity of slurry was mainly caused by dissolved cations from bentonite particles. The relationship between electrical conductivity and bentonite content was affected by the initial electrical conductivity of slurry solution and fine content in soil-bentonite mixture. Such influences were evaluated and the calibrated relationships were suggested. Based on the suggested relationship between electrical conductivity and bentonite content, bentonite content in various bentonite and soil-bentonite slurry can be quantitatively evaluated by using electrical conductivity measurement method.