• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.330-337
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• 2006

Resistivity cone penetrometer test (RCPT) can be employed at a relatively low cost for delineation of subsurface contamination in situ, and then be supplemented with a minimum confirmatory sampling and laboratory testing program. While the resistivity measurement have potential to investigate the subsurface contamination, resistivity measurements alone will lead to some degree of ambiguity in the results. In this study, capacitance measurement was incorporated into the RCPT to overcome the ambiguity inherent in electrical resistivity measurements for delineating the subsurface contamination. This study is focused on verifying the applicability of resistivity and capacitance measurements on CPT module to provide information on contaminated subsurface by heavy metal and petroleum hydrocarbon. Laboratory model tests were performed to evaluate the sensitivity of the measured resistivity and relative capacitance on the water content and different types of contaminants. Test results show that simultaneous measurement of electrical resistivity and capacitance can give more reliable information on subsurface contamination.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.45-54
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• 2006

Resistivity cone penetrometer test (RCPT) can be employed at a relatively low cost for in-situ delineation of subsurface contamination. While the resistivity measurement has a potential to investigate the subsurface contamination, resistivity measurements alone will lead to some degree of ambiguity in the results. In this study, capacitance measurement was incorporated into the RCPT to overcome the ambiguity inherent in electrical resistivity measurements. This study is focused on verifying the applicability of resistivity and capacitance measurements of CPT module to provide information on subsurface contaminated by heavy metal and petroleum hydrocarbon. Laboratory model tests were performed to evaluate the sensitivity of the measured resistivity and relative capacitance on the water content and different types of contaminants. Test results show that simultaneous measurement of electrical resistivity and capacitance can give more reliable information on subsurface contamination. Electrical measurements of the CPT module showed high applicability to be used in detecting saturated soils contaminated by heavy metal and diesel plume floating above the groundwater table.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.87-97
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• 2007

The aim of this study was to compare crop contamination between two irrigation methods using microbial-contaminated water. The effect of relative humidity on microbial survival of the three indicator microorganisms was also investigated. Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Clostridium perfringens ATCC 3624, and coliphage PRD1 were applied to irrigation water to grow cantaloupe, lettuce, and bell pepper. Half of the sixteen plots were subsurface drip irrigated (SDI) and the other half were furrow irrigated (FI). Two relative humidity levels were controlled at 15-65 % and 55-80 % for the dry and humid condition experiments, respectively. Samples of produce, surface soil, and subsurface soil at a depth of 10 cm were collected over a two-week period following the application of the study microorganisms. Overall, greater contamination of both produce and soil occurred in the FI plots. For the SDI plots, preferential water paths and resulting water appearance on the seed beds seemed to be responsible for produce contamination. Relative humidity levels did not appear to affect microbial survival in soil. PRD 1 showed lower inactivation rates than 5. coli in both dry and humid conditions. C. perfringens did not experience significant inactivation over the experimental period, suggesting this microorganism can be an effective indicator of fecal contamination.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.501-514
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• 2023

Forest fires can generate numerous pollutants through the combustion of vegetation and cause serious environmental problems. The global warming and climate change will increase the frequency and scale of forest fires across the world. In Korea, many nuclear power plants (NPPs) are located in the East Coast where large-scale forest fires frequently occur. Therefore, understanding the sorption and transport characteristics of radionuclides in the forest fire areas is required against the severe accidents in NPPs. This article reviewed the physiochemical changes and contamination of groundwater and soil environments after forest fires, and discussed sorption and transport of radionuclides in the subsurface environment of burned forest area. We considered the geochemical factors of subsurface environment changed by forest fire. Moreover, we highlighted the need for studies on changes and contamination of subsurface environments caused by forest fires to understand more specific mechanisms.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.2_spc
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• pp.1-15
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• 2020

Monitoring and assessing terminal electron accepting processes (TEAPs) are one of the most important steps to remediate contaminated sites via various in-situ techniques. TEAPs are a part of the microbial respiration reactions. Microorganisms gain energy from these reactions and reduces pollutants. Monitoring TEAPs enables us to predict degradability of contaminants and degradation rates. In many countries, TEAPs have been used for characterization of field sites and management of groundwater wells. For instance, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided strategies for groundwater quality and well management by applying TEAPs monitoring. Denmark has also constructed TEAPs map of local unit area to develop effective groundwater managing system, particularly to predict and assess nitrogen contamination. In case of Korea, although detailed soil survey and groundwater contamination assessment have been employed, site investigation guidelines using TEAPs have not been established yet. To better define TEAPs in subsurface environments, multiple indicators including ion concentrations, isotope compositions and contaminant degradation byproducts must be assessed. Furthermore, dissolved hydrogen concentrations are regarded as significant evidence of TEAPs occurring in subsurface environment. This review study introduces optimal sampling techniques of groundwater and dissolved hydrogen, and further discuss how to assess TEAPs in contaminated subsurface environments according to several contamination scenarios.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.6007-6014
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• 1995

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.632-638
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• 2006

There are numerous approaches available to cleanup a contaminated surface and subsurface ground currently in use, however, these methods all classify the decontamination after the contamination has penetrated into the soil masses and is costly. Unlike these approaches, in this study, utilization of soil's self-decontamination ability by rearranging and preplanning of the topographical features and surface and subsurface drainage systems for the potential contamination sites before or during contamination process has been considered as an another cleanup method. Step by step explanations on why and how to develop the self-decontamination procedure is proposed in detail. Two examples are presented including contaminated saltwater intrusion along a coastal region and control or prevention of radioactive toxic radon gas ($^{222}Rn$) in residential areas. The effectiveness of the proposed systems to these two examples using the soil's self-decontamination ability is well illustrated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1372-1377
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• 2009

For the remediation of the subsurface contaminated by nonaqueous phase liquids(NAPLs), it is important to characterize the NAPL zone properly. Conventional characterization methods provide data at discrete points. To overcome the weak points of conventional characterization methods, the partitioning tracer method has been developed and studied. The average saturation of NAPL($S_n$), which is the representative and continuous saturation value within contaminated site, can be calculated by comparing the transport of the partitioning tracers to that of the conservative tracer in the partitioning tracer method. In this study, the application of the partitioning tracer method in heterogeneous media was investigated. To represent the heterogeneous condition of subsurface, a two-dimensional soil box was divided into four layers and each layer contained different sized soils. Soils in the soil box were contaminated by the mixture of kerosene and diesel, and partitioning tracer tests were conducted before and after the contamination using methanol as conservative tracer and 4-methyl-2-pentanol, 2-ethyl-1-butanol, and hexanol as partitioning tracers. The response curves of partitioning tracers from contaminated soils were separated and retarded in comparison with those from non-contaminated soils. The contamination of soils by NAPLs, therefore, can be detected by partitioning tracer method considering these retardations of tracers. From our experiment condition, the average saturation of NAPLs calculated by partitioning tracer method using the methanol as conservative tracer and hexanol as partitioning tracer showed the highest accuracy, though all results were underestimated. Further studies, therefore, were needed for improving the accuracy using the partitioning tracer test in heterogeneous media.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.spc
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• pp.64-74
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• 2022

The conceptual site model (CSM) is used as a key tool to support decision making in risk based management of contaminated sites. In this work, CSM was applied in Jeonju Industrial Complex where site investigation for groundwater contamination was conducted. Site background information including facility types, physical conditions, contaminants spill history, receptor exposure, and ecological information were collected and cross-checked with tabulated checklist necessary for CSM application. The CSM for contaminants migration utilized DNAPL transport model and narrative CSMs were constructed for source to receptor pathway, ecological exposure route, and contaminants fate and transport in the form of a diagram or flowchart. The component and uncertainty of preliminary CSM were reviewed using the data gap analysis while taking into account the purpose of the survey and the site management stage at the time of the survey. Through this approach, the potential utility of CSM was demonstrated in the site management process, such as assessing site conditions and planning follow-up survey work.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.1321-1326
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• 2002

A numerical model is investigated to predict a behavior of the gaseous volatile organic compounds and a subsurface contamination caused by them in the unsaturated zone. Two dimensional advective-dispersion equation caused by a density difference and two dimensional diffusion equation are computed by a finite difference method in the numerical model. A laboratory experiment is also carried out to compare the results of the numerical model. The dimensions of the experimental plume are 1.2m in length, 0.5m in height, and 0.05m in thickness. In comparing the result of 2 methods used in the numerical model with the one of the experiment respectively, the one of the advective-dispersion equation shows better than the one the diffusion equation.