• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.209-218
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• 2013

This study was to characterize the minerals in fractured and bedrock zone, and determine quantitatively sorption for radioactive cesium ($^{137}Cs$) at the Korean nuclear facility site. The rock samples were granite group that mainly consists of quartz and feldspar with 10~20% mica minerals. Chlorite was observed as secondary mineral for the rock samples collected from fractured zone, but not for bedrock samples. The $^{137}Cs$ sorption distribution coefficients increased to $K_d$ = 880~960 mL/g in the fractured zone because of the presence of secondary minerals formed by weathering processes, compared to the bedrock zone ($K_d$ = 820~840 mL/g). These results suggest that the released $^{137}Cs$ to groundwater environment could be significantly retarded in the fractured zone in the case of severe nuclear accident at the study site.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.331-344
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• 2009

Large landslides occurred since 1990 on natural terrain, Korea were reviewed with the existing data to characterize them in terms of the condition of rainfall, geology and geometry. Ten landslide areas over the nationwide are selected for this study. Among them, five areas consist of granite basement, four areas of granite and metamorphic rocks and the remaining an area of gabbro. The basement lithology on which landslides most dominantly occurred is granite, on which 58% of landslides among the total 3,435 are taken place, the next dominant one is metamorphic rocks where 24% of landslides are occurred, and the remaining 18% are on the areas of volcanic and sedimentary rocks which are partly distributed in some areas. The landslide occurrences may depend on the rainfall intensities rather than durations. We applied the theories of Caine's threshold and Olivier's final response coefficient to the Korean cases. The rainfall conditions at the landslide areas were all satisfied enough with the landslide triggering conditions suggested by Caine and Olivier. The triggering mechanism and type of landslides may largely depend on the weathering and geomorphic characteristics of basement lithology. The granite areas are characterized by being relatively shallow but consistent weathering profiles and almost no outcrop, and therefore, shallow translational slides are dominant. Whereas metamorphic areas are characterized by consisting of steep slope, weathered outcrops on ridges and partly on flanks and irregular weathering profiles, and relatively large debris flows are dominant.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.271-278
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• 1995

A study of heavy mineral sands in terms of heavy mineral group and concentration has been carried out by analyzing 88 grab samples from the continental shelf off the southeast coast of Korea. Heavy mineral groups seem to be outlined and classified into four regions in the study area: 1) the western region; high concentrations of stable minerals, such as opaque mineral, magnetite, garnet and ZTR, 2) Korean Trough region; moderate concentrations of stable minerals, 3) the eastern region; abundant altered mineral and amphibole with minor of pyroxene concentration, and 4) the northeastern shelf-break region; low concentration of stable minerals with abundant altered minerals. The sedimentologic natures of four major heavy mineral regions (groupings) seem to be influenced by physical, dynamic and hydraulic milieu and also aerial and/or subaqueous weathering processes. It seems to be, further, plausible that shallow marine waves and currents associated with neritic dynamic condition of transgressive sea might be very effective on the concentration and groupings (sorting) of heavy min-erals in the surficial sediments of the continental shelf. The pyroxene-abundant heavy mineral suite (group), in fact, seems to suggest a sediment source from Japanese Islands.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.63-77
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• 1979

Six kinds of weathered granite soils whose degree of weathering and mineral compo- sitions are different, were tested in order to improve the soil-cement. by performing compression test, durability (freezing-thawing) test and mesurement of shrinkage are made. From result of the tests as mentioned above, the following conclusions are drawn. The unconfined compressive strength of seondary additives containing soil-cement mixtures and their resistance against freezeing-thawing are more increased and shrinkage is more decreased than soil-cement mixtures only in case opitimun quantity of additives are added to soil-cement mixtures, and according as types of soils.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.285-289
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• 2005

The Cenozoic Era consists of two period , the Tertiary and the Quaternary Period. Weak rock types may include areas containing: 1) poorly cemented or uncemented sediments, 2) highly weathered rock, or 3) fault lines. Especially this paper deal with poorly cemented or uncemented sedimentary rocks in slope. Mechanical weathering is caused by physical processes such as absorption and release of water, and changes in temperature and stress at or near the exposed rock surface. It results in the opening of discontinuities, the formation of new discontinuities by rock fracture, the opening of grain boundaries, and the fracture or cleavage of individual mineral grains. Decomposition causes some silicate minerals such as feldspars to change to clay minerals. There was a strong negative correlation between water absorption and important engineering properties such as strength and durability.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.196-206
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• 2003

The geochemical and mineralogical investigation on the rocks and repair material comprising of the Sungryemun (The 1st National Treasure) has been made. Rock of the Sungryemun is highly weathered coarse-grained calc-alkali granite. The rock consists mainly of quartz, perthite, plagioclase and biotite with small amounts of orthoclase, muscovite, chlorite and sericite, which are major weathering products from perthite. For obtaining informations about degree of weathering, mineral composition of the original rock calculated by CIPW norm and weathered rock composition determined by XRD quantitative analysis were plotted on a ternary diagram of quartz-potash feldspar-plagioclase. Original rock compositions are plotted on the central granite area. whereas weathered ones are plotted on the granite area close to quartz. The result means that quartz is more abundant in weathered rock, due to selective chemical weathering of potash feldspar and plagioclase over quartz. On the whole, surface of the rocks were black-coated, exfoliated and highly fractured due to the physical and chemical weathering and heavy load has made the cracks in the lower parts of the stone construction. Also, cement and nails, which was used as repair material, during the repair work in the early 1960's, has accelerated the weathering process. Furthermore, weathered conditions of repair materials are very severe. Therefore, it is very urgent to establish of the conservation plan for the Sungryemun.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.141-152
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• 1973

The mineralogical studies of the eleven sub-soil samples derived from granite, granodiorite, diorite and arkose sandstone, taken from apple orchards in the province of Kyungsangbukdo, Korea are made to investigate the relationships between the mineral weathering, soil forming processes and mineralogical composition. The fine sand fraction (less than 0.2mm) and the clay fraction (less than 2 micron) are dispersed with the shaker after hydrogen peroxide treatment for the removal of organic matter, and separated from each suspension by gravity sedimentation. The fine sand are observed by mineral microscope and the clay are observed by X-ray diffraction patterns, differential thermal analysis curves and infrared spectrum. The outline of the results are as follows. 1. The primary minerals ; Quartz, changed-feldspar, plagioclase, alkali-feldspar are dominant in almost all samples, and some samples contain an appreciable amount of hornblende, biotite, muscovite and plant opal. There are also those samples which contain very small quantity of pyroxene group, tourmaline, epidote, cyanite, magnetite, volcanic glass and zircon. They are mainly derived from weathering products of granite, granodiorite, diorite, arkose or its mixtures. 2. All samples contain expanding or nonexpanding $14{\AA}$ minerals, illite and kaolin minerals, and some samples contain chlorite, cristobalite, gibbsite, and those primary minerals as quartz and feldspar, but the quantities vary according to the parent matrials. 3. Non-expanding $14{\AA}$ minerals may be dioctahadral vermiculite which sandwiches gibbsite layer or chlorite in between layer lattices. 4. As for clay minerals, montmorillonite was principal component in the samples derived from weathering products of arkose sandstone and tertiary. Minerals which are derived from weathering products of arkose have kaolin minerals and vermiculite as their principal component, and minerals derived from weathering products of acidic rock group are generally classified into two groups, the kaolin mineral group, and the kaolin minerals and vermiculite group.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.640-644
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• 2008

A type and origin of Buyeo and Jecheon mine as the domestic leading feldspar mines are classified by using the petrological characteristics. Jecheon mine is a weathered residual mine formed by the weathering of K-feldspar megacryst bearing porphyritic granite of which forming P-T is 840-5 Kb with the igneous origin of megacryst. On the other hand, Buyeo mine is made by the metasomatic alteration of hydrothermal solution from the biotite granite intrusion. Pure albite as a main ore mineral and garnet and sericite as accessaries are observed in this mine. In addition, the mine is typically characterized by the well recrystallized mineral texture.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.125-139
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• 2010

Behavior of heavy metals and arsenic in the tailings of Songcheon Au-Ag mine was characterized via both mineralogical and geochemical methods. Mineral composition of the tailings was investigated by X-ray diffractometry, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) and total concentrations of heavy metals and arsenic and their chemical forms were analyzed by total digestion of aqua regia and sequential extraction method, respectively. The results of mineralogical study indicate that the tailings included mineral particles of resinous shape mainly consisting of galena, sphalerite, pyrite, quartz, and scorodite, and specifically socordite was identified in the form of matrix. EPMA quantitative analyses were performed to evaluate the weatherability of each mineral, and the results suggest that it decreased in the sequence of arsenopyrite > galena > sphalerite > pyrite. The weathering pattern of galena was observed to show distinctive zonal structure consisting of secondary minerals such as anglesite and beudantite. In addition, almost all of arsenopyrite has been altered to scorodite existing asmatrix and galena, sphalerite, and pyrite which have lower weatherability than arsenopyrite were identified within the matrix of scorodite. During the process of alteration of arsenopyrite into scorodite, it is likely that a portion of arsenic was lixiviated and caused a great deal of detrimental effects to surrounding environment. The results of EPMA quantitative analyses verify that the stability of scorodite was relatively high and this stable scorodite has restrained the weathering of other primary minerals within tailings as a result of its coating of mineral surfaces. For this reason, Songcheon tailings show the characteristics of the first weathering stage, although they have been exposed to the surface environment for a long time. Based on the overall results of mineralogical and geochemical studies undertaken in this research, if the tailings are kept to be exposed to the surface environment and the weathering process is continuous, not only hazardous heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic seem to be significantly leached out because their larger portions are being partitioned in weakly-bound (highly-mobile) fractions, but the potential of arsenic leaching is likely to be high as the stability of scorodite is gradually decreased. Consequently, it is speculated that the environmental hazard of Songcheon mine is significantly high.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 1994

The weathering of the Namsan granite was studied in terms of sorption process. The Namsan granite consists mainly of quartz, alkali feldspar, plagioclase (${Ab_{85}An_{15}}-Ab_{100}$ and biotite with small amounts of sericite, magnetite and ilmenite. The kinetic factors for altering the granite body are the proton and hydroxyl ions derived from the reaction of water and mineral. There are two different types of pH variation curves for rocks of different mineral assemblages. when powdered granite was dispersed in distilled water under ambient condition. The sorption-process proceeds by three steps for fresh granite; (1) the initial rapid pH-rise to 10 by the uptake of proton by negatively charged mineral surfaces, (2) the gradual pH-down, and (3) the stable pH tail between 7.1-7.5. For somewhat weathered granites, the sorption proceeds; (1) the initial rapid pH-down to 4.8, (2) the slight pH-rise and slow ph-down, and (3) the stable pH tail between 5.0-5.3. The reaction rate is controlled by the density of adsorbable sites, the solubility of the mineral, pH of the system and formation of amorphous gel and gibbsite. Amorphous gel floates on the surface of the solution while stirring the powdered granite and then is transformed into gibbsite in an hour or so. The pH saturation values for -325 mesh fresh granite from 5 m depth is about pH 10 when rock/water ratio is over 10g/200 ml.