A large mid-channel sand bar in the macrotidal seaway of outer Asan Bay, Korea: 30 years of morphologic response to anthropogenic impacts

Over the past three decades, dike constructions along the shores and dredging activities for navigation purposes have caused significant sedimentologic/morphologic modifications of a mid-channel bar situated in the tidal seaway of outer Asan Bay, Korea, as shown by a comparison of two sediment datasets collected in the channel and over the bar in 1977 and 2008. In addition, three hydrographic charts published in 1976, 1989, and 2006 were analyzed using GIS to estimate sand volume budgets and any bar migration. The bar is currently about 15 km long and 2–5 km wide, with a relief of 15 m. It is elongated in the tidal flow direction, but asymmetric in cross section. Chart analyses reveal a dramatic reduction in size and volume over the study period. An approximate 19% net loss in total sediment volume was calculated between 1976 and 1989. Since then, a net gain of about 7% has been estimated. The surface areas between selected depth contours reveal a similar pattern, i.e., substantial shrinking until 1989, followed by slight expansion up to 2006. Comparing selected textural parameters (mean grain size, sorting) of a 2008 sediment sampling campaign with those of a 1977 survey, it was found that mean grain sizes have decreased by as much as 1-phi interval, and that the sediments have become more poorly sorted in the vicinity of the bar over the 30-year study period, probably due to a sudden decrease in tidal energy flux after completion of the adjacent dikes. A particular feature is the temporary response of the bar to man-made impacts, characterized by substantial shrinking along its southwestern flank, and slight expansion along its northeastern flank. The observed changes in bar morphology can plausibly be explained by a sudden decrease in sediment supply resulting from a reduction in tidal prism in the wake of diking. The bar initially shrunk, but since 1989 has begun to gradually recover. To compensate the deficit, the bar has lowered its base level by scouring troughs along both flanks.     

Vertebrate burrows in late Pleistocene paleosols at Korean Palaeolithic sites and their significance as a stratigraphic marker

A vertebrate burrow-bearing layer of late Pleistocene age is commonly found at many Paleolithic archaeological sites in Korea. The burrows are straight to slightly curved in horizontal (plan) view and gently inclined in lateral (sectional) view. They are interpreted as having been produced by rodent-like mammals based on their size and architecture. The significance of such burrow-bearing layers as a characteristic stratigraphic marker unit is demonstrated by high burrow abundance, consistent stratigraphic position, lack of stratigraphic recurrence at these sites, and widespread geographic extent. Three dating methods, tephrochronology, radiocarbon, and OSL dating, were used to infer the age of these burrow-bearing layers. The dating results indicate that they were formed between ca. 40,000 and 25,000 yr (MIS 3−2), and this suggests that this layer can be used as a stratigraphic time-marker in late Pleistocene paleosol sequences for this region.     

Characteristics of tephra in Holocene lake sediments on King George Island, West Antarctica: implications for deglaciation and paleoenvironment

Several reworked tephra layers in gravity-flow deposits are present in lacustrine core sediments collected from Hotel and Rudy Lakes on King George Island, South Shetland Islands, maritime sub-Antarctica. This study tests the values of tephra for establishing regional tephrochronologies for lakes in ice-covered landscapes in the vicinity of volcanoes. The tephra record is more abundant in a long Hotel Lake core (515 cm long). This study uses volcanic glass samples from five tephra layers of Hotel Lake and from one tephra layer of Rudy Lake. Morphologically, tephras are mixtures of basaltic and pumice shards, both having various degrees of vesicularity. Major element analyses of glass shards reveal that the majority of the glass fragments belong to basic glass (<60 wt% SiO₂), compositionally ranging from basalt to low-silica andesite and subalkaline series medium-K tholeiites, probably sourced from Deception Island located 130 km southwest of King George Island. Less than 20% of tephra belongs to silicic glass and occurs in three tephra horizons E of Hotel Lake. However, source volcano(es) for about 10% of basic tephra and silicic tephra are not readily identified from nearby volcanic centers. Except for the studied tephra in Rudy Lake, all tephra samples in Hotel Lake are not ashfall deposits but reworked and redeposited pyroclasts derived from retreating ice sheet, resulting in the occurrence of geochemically equivalent tephra samples in different tephra horizons. The dating of the studied tephra horizons represents the timing of deglaciation rather than that of volcanic eruptions. The result of this study implies that combined with sedimentological information more chemical criterion is necessary to study tephrochronology and regional correlation and to understand paleoenvironmental changes using tephra.     

Estimating evapotranspiration from small watersheds using a water and energy balance approach

Meteorological and environmental data measured in semiarid watersheds during the summer monsoon and winter periods were used to study the interrelationships among flux, meteorological and soil water variables, and to evaluate the effects of these variables on the daily estimation of actual evapotranspiration (AET). The relationship between AET and potential evapotranspiration (PET) as a function of soil water content, as suggested by Thornthwaite–Mather and by Morton, was studied to determine its applicability to the study area. Furthermore, multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was employed to evaluate the order of importance of the meteorological and soil water factors involved. The results of MLR analysis showed that the combined effects of available energy, soil water content and wind speed were responsible for more than 70% of the observed variations in AET during the summer monsoon period. The analyses also indicate that the combined effects of available energy, vapour pressure deficit and wind speed were responsible for more than 70% of the observed variations in AET during the winter period. However, the test results of two different approaches, using the relationships between AET and PET as a function of soil water content, indicated some inadequacy. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of prescribed initial cloud droplet spectra on convective cloud and precipitation developments under different thermodynamic conditions: A modeling and observational study

A two-dimensional cloud model with bin microphysics was used to investigate the effects of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations and thermodynamic conditions on convective cloud and precipitation developments. Two different initial cloud droplet spectra were prescribed based on the total CCN concentrations of maritime (300 cm^− 3) and continental (1000 cm^− 3) air masses, and the model was run on eight thermodynamic conditions obtained from observational soundings. Six-hourly sounding data and 1-hourly precipitation data from two nearby weather stations in Korea were analyzed for the year 2002 to provide some observational support for the model results.For one small Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) ( 300 J kg^− 1) sounding, the maritime and continental differences were incomparably large. The crucial difference was the production of ice phase hydrometeors in the maritime cloud and only water drops in the continental cloud. Ice phase hydrometeors and intrinsically large cloud drops of the maritime cloud eventually lead to significant precipitation. Meanwhile negligible precipitation developed from the continental cloud. For the three other small CAPE soundings, generally weak convective clouds developed but the maritime and continental clouds were of the same phases (both warm or both cold) and their differences were relatively small.Model runs with the four large CAPE ( 3000 J kg^− 1) soundings demonstrated that the depth between the freezing level (FL) and the lifting condensation level (LCL) was crucial to determine whether a cloud becomes a cold cloud or not, which in turn was found to be a crucial factor to enhance cloud invigoration with the additional supply of freezing latent heat. For two large CAPE soundings, FL–LCL was so deep that penetration of FL was prohibitive, and precipitation was only mild in the maritime clouds and negligible in the continental clouds. Two other soundings of similarly large CAPE had small FL–LCL, and both the maritime and continental clouds became cold clouds. Precipitation was strong for both but much more so in the maritime clouds, while the maximum updraft velocity and the cloud top were slightly higher in continental clouds. Although limited to small CAPE cases, more precipitation for smaller FL–LCL for a selected group of precipitation and thermodynamic sounding data from Korea was in support of these model results in its tendency.These results clearly demonstrated that the CCN effects on cloud and precipitation developments critically depended on the given thermodynamic conditions and not just the CAPE but the entire structure of the thermodynamic profiles had to be taken into account.     

Effects of natural and calcined oyster shells on Cd and Pb immobilization in contaminated soils

In Korea, soils adjacent to abandoned mines are commonly contaminated by heavy metals present in mine tailings. Further, the disposal of oyster shell waste by oyster farm industries has been associated with serious environmental problems. In this study, we attempted to remediate cadmium (Cd)- and lead (Pb)-contaminated soils typical of those commonly found adjacent to abandoned mines using oyster shell waste as a soil stabilizer. Natural oyster shell powder (NOSP) and calcined oyster shell powder (COSP) were applied as soil amendments to immobilize Cd and Pb. The primary components of NOSP and COSP are calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) and calcium oxide (CaO), respectively. X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscope analyses conducted in this study revealed that the calcination of NOSP at 770°C converted the less reactive CaCO₃ to the more reactive CaO. The calcination process also decreased the sodium content in COSP, indicating that it was advantageous to use COSP as a liming material in agricultural soil. After 30 days of incubation, we found that the 0.1 N HCl-extractable Cd and Pb contents in soil decreased significantly as a result of an increase in the soil pH and the formation of metal hydroxides. COSP was more effective in immobilizing Cd and Pb in the contaminated soil than NOSP. Overall, the results of this study suggest that oyster shell waste can be recycled into an effective soil ameliorant.     

Discharge prediction using hydraulic characteristics of mean velocity equation

Discharge is an important factor in river design for water utilization, water control and hydraulic structures; therefore, an accurate estimation of the discharge is required. At present, a rating curve depicting the relationship between a stage and discharge is used to calculate the discharge from river systems. Although the rating curve has an advantage in that it can predict and use the discharge during the flood season in which the measurement is difficult, there is room for improvement as it does not reflect the hydraulic characteristics of rivers. Therefore, in this study, discharge was predicted using the convenient calculation method with empirical mediating variables of the Manning and Chezy equations which were proposed by the author’s previous research as a new methodology for estimating discharge in an open channel. This was proven, based on the data measured in a meandering open channel system in a lab at the Mississippi River in the US and at the Columbia Del Dique Canal, and an accuracy level at a coefficient of 0.8 was demonstrated. Thus, this method, which reflects the hydraulic characteristics and predicts the discharge in a simple manner, is expected to be convenient in practice.     

Effects of biochar, cow bone, and eggshell on Pb availability to maize in contaminated soil irrigated with saline water

Toxicity of heavy metals adversely affects environment and human health. Organic materials derived from natural matters or wastes have been applied to soils to reduce the mobility of contaminants such as heavy metals. However, the application of cow bone powder (CB), biochar (BC), and eggshell powder (ES) is rarely investigated for the reduction of Pb bioavailability in soils irrigated with saline water. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of CB, BC, and ES additions as immobilizing substances on Pb bioavailability in shooting range soil irrigated with deionized and saline water. Each additive of CB, BC, and ES at 5 % (w/w) was mixed with soils and then the deionized and saline water were irrigated for 21 days. With deionized water irrigation, the soils treated with CB, BC, and ES exhibited higher pH when compared with saline water irrigation. With saline water irrigation, the electrical conductivity, water-soluble anions, and cations were significantly increased in soils treated with CB, BC, and ES. The water-soluble Pb in soils treated with CB, BC, and ES was significantly decreased with saline water irrigation. On the other hand, the water-soluble Pb in soil treated with CB was increased with deionized water irrigation. Only BC with saline water irrigation decreased the Pb concentration in maize shoots.     

A steepness index unit volume flood hydrograph approach for sub‐daily flow disaggregation

The estimation of sub‐daily flows from daily flood flows is important for many hydrological and hydraulic applications. Flows during flood events often vary significantly within sub‐daily time‐scales, and failure to capture the sub‐daily flood characteristic can result in an underestimation of the instantaneous flood peaks, with possible risk of design failure. It is more common to find a longer record of daily flow series (observed or modelled using daily rainfall series) than sub‐daily flow data. This paper describes a novel approach, known as the steepness index unit volume flood hydrograph approach, for disaggregating daily flood flows into sub‐daily flows that takes advantage of the strong relationship between the standardized instantaneous flood peak and the standardized daily flood hydrograph rising‐limb steepness index. The strength of this relationship, which is considerably stronger than the relationship between the standardized flood peak and the event flood volume, is shown using data from six rivers flowing into the Gippsland Lakes in southeast Australia. The results indicate that the steepness index unit volume flood hydrograph approach can be used to disaggregate modelled daily flood flows satisfactorily, but its reliability is dependent on a model's ability to simulate the standardized daily flood hydrograph rising‐limb steepness index and the event flood volume. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.