In the case of the Pohang earthquake, which had a magnitude of 5.4 in 2017, geotechnical damages such as liquefaction and ground settlement occurred. The need for countermeasures has emerged, and experimental research in the Pohang area has continued. This study collected undisturbed samples from damaged fine-grained soil areas where ground settlement occurred in Pohang. Cyclic tri-axial tests for identifying the dynamic characteristics of soils were performed on the undisturbed samples, and the results were analyzed to determine the cause of ground settlement. As a result of the study, it was determined that in the case of fine-grained soils, ground settlement occurred because the seismic load as an external force was relatively more significant than the shear resistance of the very soft fine-grained soils, rather than due to an increase in excess pore water pressure.

In a mercury leaching test for waste using the Korean Standard Method (ES 06404.1), the pre-treatment process of an eluate is very complicated with a high possibility of contamination and low mercury recovery rate. It is also difficult to analyze multiple samples in a short time and the process generates experimental wastes. Accordingly, a direct mercury analyzer (DMA) applying thermal decomposition gold-amalgamation analysis has been recently used. The method shows a relatively high recovery rate for solid samples without complicated pre-treatment and it can be applied to both liquid and solid samples as the EPA method 7473 does. In order to use the auto-sampler in DMA for analyzing many elution samples from waste, this study checked recovery rates depending on acid solutions and additives during continuous analysis. The result showed a significant drop in recovery and precision except for an L-cysteine added sample. Considering commonly used acid-treatment of wastes, three types of acid solutions (nitrate, hydrochloric acid and sulfate) were chosen for analysis, and precision and accuracy were relatively high in nitric acid solution. It has been determined that accuracy and precision improved when 0.01% L-cysteine was added as an additive and this reduced the impact of continuous measurement. Therefore, during analysis of liquid samples or eluted samples using DMA continuously, introducing suitable additives is necessary depending on pre-treatment method in order to improve accuracy and precision in the analysis of mercury.