Use of a forensic geochemical technique and a hydrogeological assessment to determine the source of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination at a foreshore site in Korea

Investigations undertaken in 2013 at a foreshore site that was historically used for ship repairs in Korea indicated that soil and groundwater were contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons over an area of 10,000 m². Groundwater investigations and modelling were undertaken to determine the characteristics of aquifers beneath the site, including the direction and rate of groundwater flow and the extent of dispersion of total petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. To identify petroleum products residing in contaminated soils, the hump of an unresolved complex mixture on the baseline found in the data of gas chromatography was used as a new method. Based on objective facts obtained from basic investigation, the current state of contamination, and discrimination of oil species, the polluter as specified in the Korean Soil Environment Conservation Act was identified.     

Weathering damage evaluation of rock properties in the Bunhwangsa temple stone pagoda,Gyeongju, Republic of Korea

The stone pagoda of the Bunhwangsa temple in Republic of Korea was made of piling small brick-shaped stones. The majority of stone bricks are andesitic rocks with variable geneses. Rock properties of the pagoda roof suffer partial significant deterioration, such as multiple peel-offs, exfoliation, onion-peel-like decomposition, cracks forming round lines and falling-off stone pieces. The stylobates and tabernacles at the four corners are composed of granitic rocks, which are heavily contaminated by lichens and mosses. Some of these contamination marks show dark black or yellowish brown colors by inorganic secondary hydrates. The four tabernacles and northern face of the pagoda body have been exposed to relatively high humidity, which causes light gray efflorescence as stalactites between the northern and western sides of the body. The efflorescences are composed of calcite, gypsum and clay minerals. The stone lion statues at the southeast and northeast corners are made of alkali granite, while the others are lithic tuff. Total rock properties of the pagoda consist of 9,708 stone bricks. Among them, 11.0% are fractured, 6.7% are fallen off, and 7.0% show considerable surface efflorescence, which shows that the pagoda has been highly deteriorated by physical, chemical and biological weathering. The authors strongly suggest long-term monitoring and comprehensive conservation researches.     

Aragonite undersaturation in Gwangyang Bay,South Korea: Effects of fresh water input

Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and alkalinity were precisely measured for surface and bottom waters in Gwangyang Bay, Korea, during the four seasons to assess seasonal variations of aragonite saturation state (Ω_arag). Both the surface and bottom waters were undersaturated with respect to aragonite during summer but were supersaturated during the other seasons. The summertime undersaturation of the surface waters with respect to aragonite may have been a result of the dilution effect caused by higher seasonal river runoff. In the bottom waters, the average DIC concentration increased by 40.6 μmol kg^?1 from spring to summer, while the average alkalinity decreased by 74.7 μeq kg^?1. As a result, the alkalinity/DIC ratio decreased from 1.07 in spring to 1.01 in summer and pH also decreased from 7.91 to 7.48, which resulted in the summertime undersaturation of the bottom waters.     

YSDP102钻孔有孔虫动物群与南黄海东南部古水文重建

所研究的YSDP1 0 2钻孔岩心 (33°49.496′N ,1 2 5°45.0 0 9′E)是由韩国能源研究所和中国国土资源部海洋地质研究所于 1 995年 8月联合取自南黄海东南部水深 62m的巨厚泥质沉积区内 ,岩心长 60 65m。通过对岩心沉积物中浮游和底栖有孔虫动物群的分析 ,结合相应的AMS1 4 C测年数据 ,对黄海暖流及与其相伴生的南黄海东南部冷水体的形成及演化进行了初步的探讨。结果表明 ,黄海暖流及与其相伴生的南黄海东南部冷水体形成于距今约640 0日历年前。形成伊始 ,冷水体处于明显的强势状态 ,而暖流的强度却相对较弱 ,这一过程约持续了 2 2 0 0年左右 ,是南黄海东南部巨厚泥质沉积区的主要堆积期。直到距今 42 0 0日历年前后 ,黄海暖流的影响强度开始加强 ,冷水体相对减弱 ,直至达到现代的水文状态。     

The role of temperature in drought projections over North America

The effects of future temperature and hence evapotranspiration increases on drought risk over North America, based on ten current (1970–1999) and ten corresponding future (2040–2069) Regional Climate Model (RCM) simulations from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program, are presented in this study. The ten pairs of simulations considered in this study are based on six RCMs and four driving Atmosphere Ocean Coupled Global Climate Models. The effects of temperature and evapotranspiration on drought risks are assessed by comparing characteristics of drought events identified on the basis of Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspration Index (SPEI). The former index uses only precipitation, while the latter uses the difference (DIF) between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET) as input variables. As short- and long-term droughts impact various sectors differently, multi-scale (ranging from 1- to 12-month) drought events are considered. The projected increase in mean temperature by more than 2 °C in the future period compared to the current period for most parts of North America results in large increases in PET and decreases in DIF for the future period, especially for low latitude regions of North America. These changes result in large increases in future drought risks for most parts of the USA and southern Canada. Though similar results are obtained with SPI, the projected increases in the drought characteristics such as severity and duration and the spatial extent of regions susceptible to drought risks in the future are considerably larger in the case of SPEI-based analysis. Both approaches suggest that long-term and extreme drought events are affected more by the future increases in temperature and PET than short-term and moderate drought events, particularly over the high drought risk regions of North America.     

Multiple deformations along the Honam shear zone in southwestern Korea constrained by Rb–Sr dating of synkinematic fabrics: Implications for the Mesozoic tectonic evolution of northeastern Asia

The Honam shear zone, dextrally running along the southern margin of the Ogcheon belt, Korea, has drawn much attention in reconstructing the Mesozoic tectonic framework of northeastern Asia. Here we present Rb–Sr data for the middle to southwestern part of the Honam shear zone, in an attempt to directly determine ages of deformation. In the middle part, the younger limit of deformation is constrained to be 162 ± 11 Ma by feldspar–biotite Rb–Sr dating of the deformed Sunchang granodiorite. On the other hand, an early Cretaceous deformation age is estimated for synkinematic fibers in ultramylonites from the southwestern part by two reproducible Rb–Sr errorchrons at 138 ± 4 and 139 ± 23 Ma. This deformational time scale is consistent with earlier interpretations based on field evidence, magnetic susceptibility data, and age data for Jurassic plutons within the shear zone. Our data demonstrate that the Honam shear zone is not a Permian to Triassic tectonic feature related to the Chinese continental collision.     

Parameter estimations of a storm surge model using a genetic algorithm

A genetic algorithm was used to optimize the parameters of the two-dimensional Storm Surge/Tide Operational Model (STORM) to improve sea level predictions of storm surges. The model was then tested using data from Typhoon Maemi, which landed on the Korean Peninsula in 2003. The following model parameters were used: the coefficients for bottom drag, background horizontal diffusivity, Smagorinsky’s horizontal viscosity, and sea level pressure scaling. The simulation results using the optimized parameters improved sea level predictions. This study demonstrates that parameter optimizations and their adequate applications are essential for improving model performance.