• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.625-641
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• 2013

This study is analyzed the environmental ecological status of Suncheon Bay and its applicable possibility to the selection criteria of UNESCO World Natural Heritage (hereafter Criteria). The study shows that the formation process of the tidal-flats in Suncheon bay could apply to the Criteria VIII, "to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history." The landscape pattern of Suncheon Bay is deduced various patterns based on 5 biotope types: tidal-flat, rice-paddy, field area, coniferous natural forest, and broadleaf natural forest. Its landscape characteristic is a harmonized composition of various landscape including mountains, rivers, fields, and tidal-flats. It is judged that the unique landscape of Suncheon Bay falls under the criteria VII, "areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance." In addition, Suncheon Bay, the habitat of the Hooded Crane as internationally endangered species, comes under the criteria X, "the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of threatened species." The study shows, however, that any other designation for protected area including national park or biosphere reserve is a prerequisite for designation of World Nature Heritage. In particular, it could evaluate whether it is qualified of the Criteria after the integrated conservation and management to the Sucheon bay as well as the southwestern tidal-flat is preceded.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.85-97
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• 2011

The tidal flats of Korea today have reduced by 40% in size compared to 1964. To manage this important habitat properly, development of well-organized and nationwide-applicable grading systems is required. There have been several assessment systems proposed previously in Korea, but they are critically flawed in that selected biological indicators are not adequate and grading criteria are obscure and arbitrary. We reviewed the indicators used in these previous evaluation systems (e.g., diversity indices, quantity and quality of benthic macrofauna, halophytes, water birds, etc.) and subsequently proposed new indicators and an improved grading scheme. For the quantitative assessment of macrobenthic community, biomass reflecting production and ecosystem function is recommended over density, which is much less discriminatory among habitats. Of biodiversity indices used, within-, between-habitat and regional biodiversity indices that accurately reflect sampling efforts are suggested. In addition, we proposed to include species rarity, ecosystem engineers, and the ecological quality index ISEP (Inverse function of Shannon-Wiener Evenness Proportion). As for halophytes, their low spatial coverage on benthic habitat suggests that their presence can be used as an ecological indicator of benthic habitat, regardless of their protective status. We stress the need to introduce 1) quantile approach for quantitative indicators (e.g., diversity, biomass, etc.) in relation to grading, 2) presence-absence approach for spatial or aggregate indicators (e.g., boundaries of halophytes and feeding ground of water birds) and 3) benthic habitat mapping that combines all of these indicators.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.475-484
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• 2008

The word 'Saemangeum' indicates an estuarine tidal flat in the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula. The Saemangeum Reclamation Project was launched as a national project in 1991 to reclaim a large coastal area of $401\;km^2$ by constructing a 33-km long dyke. The final dyke enclosure in April 2006 has transformed the tidal flat into lake and land. An integrated oceanographic study has been conducted since 2002 as a part of the Government Action Plan to monitor and assess changes in the marine environment. Prior to the dyke enclosure, the coastal environment in the Saemangeum was a complex system governed by tidal motion, estuarine processes, and coastal circulation of the Yellow Sea. The dyke construction has radically changed not only the estuarine tidal system inside the dyke, but also the coastal marine environment outside the dyke. Post to the dyke enclosure, subsequent changes such as red tide, hypoxia, and coastal erosion/deposition occur successively. Red tides appear almost the year round in the inner area. Even under the condition that the sluice gates are fully open, the water quality does not improve as much as the developers would expect, mainly due to the critical reduction of the hydrodynamic stirring power. We will introduce details of our monitoring program and significant changes in the Saemangeum marine environment, based on observations and model results.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.323-349
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• 2013

The mud shrimp Upogebia major (Upogebiidae: Decapoda: Crustacea) is a common species on muddy and sandy mud tidal flats in the west coast of Korea. They reside in Y-shaped burrows that can extend up to more than 2 meters below the sediment surface. They feed on suspended detritus carried into their burrow by the beating of their pleopods and captured by their hairy first two pairs of thoracic legs. Mud shrimp burrows provide a habitat for a variety of small organisms such as crabs, shrimps, polychaetes, and mollusks. Ovigerous females are observed from December to May. Females deposit eggs only once per breeding season. They start hatching in March and the pelagic larvae of first zoea appear in March and April, followed by benthic settlement in May. Growth over the first year is rapid, and females deposit their first eggs in the third breeding season, 31 months after their settlement. Adult shrimps live for 4~5 years. Depth of the burrow increases with body length. The deep burrows provide refuge from predators and physical stress, allowing the shrimps to survive for a long time. The mud shrimps supply oxygen-rich water to their deep burrows, and exert a great influence on the structure and metabolism of the tidal flat benthic community. However, recently this type of mud shrimp has posed a serious threat to the Korean clam industry along the west coast of Korea. The extensive burrowing shrimp populations suddenly invaded the tidal flats from 2010 where the clams (Ruditapes philippinarum) are raised. As a consequence, clam production has decreased by about 10% over the past three years in some Korean clam beds. Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the biology of this mud shrimp in order to seek solutions to control the burrowing of these shrimps.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.183-187
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• 1994

The oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of the foraminiferal species, Elphidirm dtigoense and Ammonia beccarii tepida, of the tidal flat in the Gomso Bay of the western coast of Korea have been measured. This work was intended to study the relationship between oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of the foraminifera and present oceanographic environments, and also the difference between two foraminiferal species. The values of $\delta$/SUP 18/O and $\delta$/SUP 13/C of E. dtigoense varied from - 3.20% to + 0.58% and from - 5.26% to - 0.93%, respectively. The values of $\delta$/SUP 18/O and $\delta$/SUP 13/C of A. beccarii tepida varied from - 1.11% to + 0.61% and from - 2.04% to - 1.40%, respectively. Mo significant variations in these values occur from the samples among the upper, middle and lower tidal zones except for the one from the upper tidal zone that has extremely low value. The difference between the two foraminiferal species was 0.20% and 1.63% in the average values of $\delta$/SUP 18/O and $\delta$/SUP 13/C, respectively. The relationship between $\delta$/SUP 18/O and $\delta$/SUP 13/C values was positive in interspecies of two species.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.365-370
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• 2021

Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum is present at high rates of density in tidal flats in Cheonsu Bay on the west coast of Korea, where clams often exhibit mass mortalities in late summer. We monitored the pathologic condition of clams at Hwangdo tidal flat (HD) to understand the parasitic impacts on clam fitness. Manila clams were fully ripe in July and spawned during August and September, as the histology indicated. The histology revealed that clams in HD tidal flats were heavily infected by the protozoa parasite Perkinsus olseni, as the monthly prevalence ranged from 53% (September) to 93% (August). In addition, Manila clams were co-infected by the metazoan parasite Cercaria tapetis and Parvatrema duboisi with the prevalence of 0-33% and 0-14%, respectively. Massive hemocyte infiltration and subsequent inflammation were commonly observed from the gills of P. olseni infected clams. Clusters of P. olseni trophozoites and heavy hemocyte infiltration were also observed from the female gonad, suggesting that P. olseni interferes with host gonad maturation. The larval trematode occupied almost the entire host gonad, resulting in gonad castration. In addition, Metacercaria of P. duboisi were observed from the subsurface of the mantle. Ray's fluid thioglycollate medium assay (RFTM) indicated that clams collected in August and September contained approximately 4.0×106 P. olseni cells/g gills. Condition Index (CI) declined gradually from spring to early summer, and the decline in CI was interpreted as a consequence of the heavy parasitism, as the parasites drain the host's net energy to be used in somatic growth and gamete production.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.146-155
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• 1992

It has been conventional to treat the land boundary as a fixed one in numerical modeling of tidal flows, particularly in the finite element scheme. However conventional models using the fixed land boundary result in unrealistic tidal flows in inter-tidal zones which exist over wide coastal area in Korea. In this study, a 2-dimensional hydrodynamic model, using finite element method for moving boundary problems was developed. The performance of the model was tested in a rectangular channel with an open boundary at one end and a moving boundary at the other end. The model was applied to calculate the tidal currents in Maro Hae, located in the southwestern part of Korea where wide tidal flats develop. The behavior of tidal currents in the Udolmok and near the tidal flats in the study area was satisfactory when compared with the observed data. Variation of tidal currents due to the construction of Kochunam sea-dyke which barrages large area of tidal flat was presented. The results of this study confirm the efficiency of moving boundary treatment in coastal numerical models.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 1999

Three deep borings to obtain vertical continuous samples including weathered basement soils (KP-1, KP-2 and KP-3) were carried out in the reclaimed Kimpo tidal flat with purposes to establish late Quaternary stratigraphy. On the basis of detailed observations and descriptions on color, sedimentary structure and textural composition of cored sediments, four lithostratigraphic units are classified. From the stratigraphic top to bottom, they are Holocene tidal sand and muddy deposit (Unit I), early Holocene freshwater marsh muddy deposit (Unit II), late Pleistocene tidal sand and muddy deposit (Unit III) and late Pleistocene basal fluvial gravel deposit (Unit IV). In particular, Unit III is divided into two parts: the upper part-weathered and cryoturbated part during the Last Glacial Maximum (Unit III-a) and the lower part-unweathered tidal sand and muddy deposit (Unit III-b).

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.59-70
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• 1998

Two-dimensional trend-vector model of sediment transport is first tested in the tidal flat of Garolim Bay, mid-western coast of the Korean Peninsula. Three major parameters of surface sediment, i.e., mean grain size, sorting and skewness, are used for defining the best-fitting transport trend-vector on the sand ridge and muddy sand flat. These trend vectors are compared with the real transport directions determined from morphology, field observation and bedforms. The 15 possible cases of trend vectors are calculated from total sediments. In order to find the role of coarse sediments, trend vectors from sediments coarser than < 4.5 ${\phi}$, (sand size) are separately calculated from those of total sediments. As compared with the real directions, the best-fitting transport-vector model is the "case M" of coarse sediments which is the combined trend vectors of two cases: (1) finer, better sorted and more negatively skewed and (2) coarser, better sorted and more positively skewed. This indicates sand-size grains are formed by simpler hydrodynamic processes than total sediments. Transported sediment grains are better sorted than the source sediment grains. This indicates that consistent hydrodynamic energy can make sediment grains better sorted, regardless of complicated mechanisms of sediment transport. Consequently, both transported vector model and real transported direction show that the source of sediments are located outside of bay (offshore Yellow Sea) and in the baymouth. These source sediments are transported through the East Main Tidal Channel adjacent the baymouth. Some are transported from the subtidal zone to the upper tidal flat, but others are transported farther to the south, reaching the south tidal channel in the study area. Also, coarse sediment grains on the sand ridge are originally from the baymouth, and transported through the subtidal zone to the south tidal channel. These coarse sediments are moved to the northeast, but could not pass the small north tidal channel. It is interpreted that the great amount of coarse sediments is returned back to the outside of the bay (Yellow Sea) again through the baymouth during the ebb tide. The distribution of muddy sand in the northeastern part of study area may result from the mixing of two sediment transport mechanisms, i.e., suspension and bedload processes. The landward movement of sand ridge and the formation of the north tidal channel are formed either by the supply of coarse sediments originating from the baymouth and outside of the bay (subaqueous sand ridges including Jang-An-Tae) or by the recent relative sea-level rise.

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