• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.603-603
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• 2007

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• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.1 s.176
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• pp.53-61
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• 2006

Geochemical and sedimentological analyses of sediment piston core were used to trace paleoceanographic environmental changes in the East China Sea. The analytical results revealed three lithostratigraphic units (I, II, and III) corresponding to a highstand stage, a transgressive stage, and a lowstand stage, respectively. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) $^{14}C$ dated the boundaries between the units as 7 ka and II ka. That is, Unit I extended from the present to 7 ka, Unit II occupied a transitional episode from 7 to 11 ka, and Unit III was older than 11 ka. The transitional episode was characterized by sudden fluctuations in various geochemical proxies. Most strikingly, there was a gradual upward increase in both carbonate and total organic carbon (TOe) contents post-7 ka, during which time the ${\delta}^{l3}C$ values of organic material increased to a constant value. The gradual upward increase in the TOC and $CaCO_3$ contents in Unit I were accompanied by slight variations in grain size that probably reflect a stable modern oceanographic environment. Within Unit II (7 to 11 ka), the geochemical signals were characterized by abrupt and steep fluctuations, typical of a transgressive stage. Vertical mixing may have provoked an increase in productivity during this interval, with large amounts of terrigenous organic matter and/or freshwater being supplied by neighboring rivers. The geochemical signals remained stable throughout Unit III but exhibited different patterns than signals in Unit I. The high terrigenous organic matter content of Unit III suggests correspondence to a lowstand stage.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.89-102
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• 2023

Climate and environmental changes in the Arctic Ocean due to global warming have been linked to extreme climate change in mid-latitude regions, including the Korean Peninsula, requiring a better understanding of the Arctic climate system based on the paleo-analog. This review introduces three paleoenvironmental research cases using neodymium isotopes (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd, ε_Nd) measured on two different fractions of marine sediments: silicate-bound 'detrital' and Fe-Mn oxide-dominated 'authigenic' fractions. In the first case, detrital ε_Nd in core HH17-1085-GC on the continental shelf off northern Svalbard was used for tracing changes in sediment provenance and associated glacier behavior over the last 16.3 ka. The second case showed the potential use of authigenic ε_Nd as a quasi-conservative water mass tracer. Three prominent ε_Nd peaks and troughs observed in core PS72/410-1 from the Mendeleev Ridge in the western Arctic Ocean over the past 76 ka suggested episodic meltwater discharge events during 51~46, 39~35 and 21~13 ka BP. The last case proposed the use of the difference between authigenic and detrital ε_Nd as a proxy for reconstructing glacier fluctuation. The idea is based on the assumption that enhanced glacial erosion during glacier advances can supply sufficient freshly-exposed rock substrate for incongruent weathering, potentially leading to greater isotopic decoupling between bedrock and dissolved weathering products as recorded in detrital and authigenic ε_Nd, respectively. Thus, it would be worthwhile to take advantage of sedimentary ε_Nd to improve our understanding of past environmental changes in polar regions.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.33 no.1-2
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• pp.8-17
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• 1998

Paleoceanographic history of the East Sea is reconstructed based on several environmental parameters (coarse fraction content, planktonic foraminifera/benthic foraminifera ratio, fragmentation and assemblages of planktonic foraminifera, and coiling ratio of Neogloboquadrina pa-chyderma, etc,) of the late Quaternary sediments obtained from the Ulleung Basin. N. pa-chydeyma and Globigerina bulloides are dominant species (greater than 90% in abundance)among the total planktonic foraminifera assemblages in the late Quaternary sediments. The benthic foraminifera rarely occurred throughout the cores. Sinistrally-coiled specimens of N. pa-chyderma representing cold water temperature are observed more abundantly than dextrally-coil-ed ones. In addition, the sinistrally-coiled N, pachydeyma showed more the amount at the lower part of the cores than at the upper part suggesting the restriction of the Tsushima Warm Current into the East Sea during glacial period. G. bulloides, a species representative of upwelling condition, shows more abundant occurrence in the sediments of Core 941013 than those of Core 941006. This implies that Core 941013 is more influenced by upwelling than Core 941006. The upper part of the two cores contain more fragmentation of planktonic foraminifera suggesting significant dissolution by corrosive bottom wafer. Ascending CCD also played an important role for the absence of planktonic foraminifera at the upper part of the cores.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.127-136
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• 1999

Radiolarian assemblages from KODOS area were analyzed in order to understand the biostratigraphy and paleoceanography of deep-sea sediment from the Northeast Equatorial Pacific. The sediment core was divided into two or three units on the basis of the chemical and physical properties. In the upper sediment, mixtures of Quaternary and Tertiary radiolarians are found indicating active reworking processes. Dissolution of radiolarians seem to increase with depth. Radiolarians are seldom in Unit III presumably due to dissolution and corrosion. The middle part of unit I appears to correspond to Collosphaera invaginata Zone (0.21 Ma). Unit II belongs to Collosphaera tuberosa Zone. Based on the absence of Stylatractus universus, we estimate its age to be younger than 0.42 Ma. Based on our analyses of radiolarians in Unit I and II, we estimated the age of unit III as Tertiary, particularly from Oligocene to Miocene. There may to be hiatuses of more than 3 My from late Miocene to Pliocene, which probably resulted from erosion and dissolution by the Antarctic Bottom Water Sedimentation rates during Quaternary range from 0.15 to 0.50 mm/ky with significant variabilities among stations. Radiolarians in the study area were mostly warm-water species.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

A series of long chain unsaturated ketone (alkenone) was identified in the particulate organic matter sampled from surface water of the eastern South Sea, Korea. The seawater temperature based on the $C_{37}$ alkenone was calculated by using several different equations of unsaturation index(${U^{K'}}_{37}$), compared with in situ CTD temperature. Among the previously reported equations, the equation(0.044T-0.204) which was proposed by Sawada et al.(1996) seems to be the most useful for the calculation of $C_{37}$ alkenone temperature, showing average $0.51^{\circ}C$ difference between ${U^{K'}}_{37}$ temperature and in situ CTD temperature. This result suggest that alkenone should be a useful molecular biomarker for reconstructing paleo-environmental change in the South and East Sea, Korea. However, it is required to establish more reliable equation for the calculation of $C_{37}$ alkenone temperature.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.249-261
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• 2020

This study details grain-size distributions (GSDs) of carbonate and biogenic opal fractions of the sediments retrieved from the South Korea Plateau in the East Sea and draws paleocanographic implications from them. The opal-fraction GSDs show fine modes of 10.3 ㎛ and coarse modes of 102.5 ㎛ on average. The fine-mode grains of opal fractions mainly consist of small diatoms and radiolarians including their broken frustules, while the coarse-mode grains are mostly comprised of large warm-water diatoms and radiolarians. Significant positive correlation between opal contents and abundances of the coarse-mode GSDs in the total GSDs suggests that the abundances of the coarse-mode GSDs were controlled by the increased surface productivity of warm-water diatoms during interglacial stages. The carbonate-fraction GSDs show fine modes of 2.4 ㎛ and coarse modes of 99.1 ㎛ on average. The fine-mode grains mainly consist of coccolithophores, while the coarse-mode grains are mostly comprised of intact or broken planktonic foraminifera. The abundances of coarse-mode and fine-mode GSDs were not correlated with carbonate contents, suggesting a complex control exerted by both the degree of carbonate dissolution and the productivity of coccolithophores on the carbonate-fraction GSDs.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.28-37
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• 1997

Two marine bivalve shells were collected from the eastern and western coastal regions of Korea, respectively. Stable oxygen and carbon isotope profiles are constructed using the incremental sampling along the axis of maximum growth to provide the continuous ${\delta}^{18}$O and ${\delta}^{13}$C records, which register the physical, biological and chemical properties of seawater where the organisms live. Cycles in the ${\delta}^{18}$O profiles are interpreted as annual along with the identification of annual growth bands; the maximum ${\delta}^{18}$O values correspond with the coldest temperature of seawater whereas the minimum ${\delta}^{18}$O values with the warmest temperature. The primary control on the amplitude of the ${\delta}^{18}$O profiles is seasonal variation of seawater temperature. The offset of the baseline between ${\delta}^{18}$O values of the two specimens is attributed to differences in both temperature and seawater ${\delta}^{18}$O values between two localities. The ${\delta}^{13}$C profiles show the similar seasonality of carbon cycling associated with phytoplankton productivity. The offset in the ${\delta}^{13}$C profiles between two specimens may be, as in the case of oxygen isotope profile, attributed to the different ${\delta}^{13}$C value of the seawater DIC (dissolved inorganic carbon) between the western coast and the eastern coast. Relationships between the shell isotopic composition and the coastal water properties of shell growth are readily interpreted from the ${\delta}^{18}$O-${\delta}^{13}$C pair diagram of the shell isotope data, similar to the use of salinity-${\delta}^{18}$O diagram for identifying water masses. The preliminary stable isotope results of this study suggest that mollusk shell isotope geochemistry may be useful to monitor the properties of water masses in the coastal and inner shelf setting around Korea and improve the interpretation of paleoceanography, provided the fossil mollusks are well preserved.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.91-98
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• 1999

The effect of the relative abundances of planktonic foraminifera juveniles on the climatic and oceanographic history interpretations is documented for the first time (as far as we know) by use of the year-long time-series sediment trap samples. Statistical correlation analysis suggests that many climatic and oceanographic variables such as sinking flux (total number) of planktonic foraminifera, relative abundance of some climatic indicator species G. bulloides and N. dutertrei, temperature, and salinity do not show any significant correlations with the relative abundance of planktonic foraminifera juveniles. However, planktonic foraminifera juveniles show moderate correlations with species diversity indices (species richness, Shannon-Wiener index, and Equitability). These indicate that the juveniles do not affect the relative abundances(%) of species compositions but affect the species diversity indices. Based on this one-year trap result, special care is required when we use species diversity indices for the interpretations of paleoceanography when the juveniles are excluded from total planktonic foraminiferal countings.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.175-185
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• 2004

To delineate Late Pleistocene paleoceanographic change of the West Pacific, we analyzed the oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios of two planktonic foraminifera species (G. sacculifer and N. dutertrei) from a piston core (KODOS-313) taken from the West equatorial Pacific, and they are compared with the published results of the East Pacific (ODP site 847 and RC 11-210), in terms of relative amounts and mass accumulation rates of $CaCO_3$ and eolian component, back to marine isotopic stage (MIS) 6. Differences in oxygen and carbon isotope values between two foraminifear species ($0.75%_{\circ}$ in ${\delta}^{18}O$, $0.05%_{\circ}$ in ${\delta}^{13}C$) are less than those of the East Pacific ($1.30%_{\circ}$ in ${\delta}^{18}O$, $0.14%_{\circ}$ in ${\delta}^{13}C$), which indicates smaller vertical contrasts in both temperature and nutrient between mixing-zone and thermocline in the West Pacific. Strong deviation in${\delta}^{18}O$ of G. sacculifer from SPECMAP suggests the carbonate fraction of KODOS-313 was subjected to partial dissolution by bottom water under lysocline. Lower accumulation rates of $CaCO_3$ and eolian component during glacial times are likely due to low sedimentation rate (ave. 0.75 cm/1000 yr) combined with carbonate dissolution in KODOS-313 site. However, the high $CaCO_3$ contents during the glacial periods clearly follow the general pattern of equatorial Pacific ocean.