Panoramic View of Gomsoman Bay at Sunset [2013]Taken in 2013, this photo is the sunset view at Gomsoman Bay.
Gomsoman Bay (Julpoman Bay) viewed from Julpo-riThis photo shows Gomsoman Bay (Julpoman Bay) viewed from Julpo-ri, Julpo-myeon, Buan-gun. The bay covers the areas of Julpo-myeon, Boan-myeon, Jinseo-myeon, and Byeonsan-myeon in the southern part of Buan-gun and areas of Buan-myeon, Simwon-myeon, and Haeri-myeon in the northern part of Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do.
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LocationJulpo-myeon, Boan-myeon, Jinseo-myeon, Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- CategoryTour/ Natural Environment
- Korean곰소만
- Chinese-灣
- Nickname줄포만
- FieldGeography / Natural Geography
- Contents TypePlace Name / Name of Natural Place
- AreaBuan-gun, Jeollabuk-do ~ Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Local LocationJulpo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Local LocationBoan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Local LocationJinseo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Local LocationByeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Definition
- A bay that extends across Julpo-myeon, Boan-myeon, Jinseo-myeon, and Byeonsan-myeon in Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do.
- Origin of the Name
- The name “Gomso”, a composite of two Korean words (‘gom’ and ‘so’), originates from the island of Ungyeondo’s supposed resemblance to the shape of a bear (gom) and that there is a deep sea pond (so) just off the island.
- Natural Environment
- Gomsoman Bay is located between Byeonsanbando National Park, which was formed by volcanic rock in the Cretaceous period, in the north (in Buan-gun) and Seonunsan Provincial Park in the south (in Gochang-gun). From the administrative perspective, it is bordered by Buan-gun and Gochang-gun in Jeollabuk-do. The tideland is mainly situated in Gochang-gun, south of Gomsoman Bay, while the tidal creek where seawater flows in and out is in Buan-gun. Thus, the area’s main ports including Julpo Port, Gomso Port, and Gyeokpo Port are situated in the area of Buan, to the north of Gomsoman Bay, along the tidal creek.
The annual average temperature in the bay area is 12.8°C; annual precipitation is 1,150mm; with a relatively large amount of snowfall in winter. There are two tides per day: the rising tide flows at a rate of 111.5㎝/sec, the ebb tide at 150㎝/sec. As the ebb tide is superior, the flow is faster at low tide. The mean sea level is highest from July to August and lowest from January to February, with a difference of about 40 centimeters. Because the water is shallow, the vast tideland appears at low tide, and the water in the main waterway and the entrance to the bay is only 2 to 3 meters deep. Although Gomsoman Bay lacks a tidal observation station (to measure the rise and fall of the sea level caused by tidal ebb and flow, judging from the tidal differences of the nearby outer port of Gunsan and Anmado Island in Yeonggwang-gun to the south of the bay, the difference between the tides is about 6 meters. The average tidal difference is 4.338 meters, while the maximum is 7.174 meters.
A number of rivers and streams flow into Gomsoman Bay including the Galgokcheon Stream from Heungdeok-myeon, Gochang-gun in the east; the Incheongang River (Jujincheon Stream in Asan-myeon, Gochang-gun) from the area of Seonunsan Mountain, Gochang-gun and the Haericheon Stream (Haeri-myeon, Gochang-gun) in the south; and small streams such as the Sinchangcheon (Boan-myeon, Buan-gun) and the Seokpocheon (Jinseo-myeon, Buan-gun) from the north. Jukdo Island (Buan-myeon, Gochang-gun) is located inside Gomsoman Bay, while Daejukdo Island and Sojukdo Island (Simwon-myeon, Gochang-gun) are located on the western boundary of the bay.
The tideland sediments of the bay consist of a clay tideland, a mixed tideland, and an arenaceous tideland. The clay tideland is distributed around the high-water line, which is the sea level at high tide; and the arenaceous tideland is distributed around the low-water line, which is the sea level at ebb tide; while the mixed tideland lies between the other two tidelands. The land inside the bay mostly consists of muddy sand and silt composed of small particles. The tideland in the bay is composed of a tideland where the tidal creeks are distributed between mud flat and sand flat whose average undulation is within 10 cm, and a mixed tideland.
The bay’s intertidal zone is a level area with a mean slope of just 0.1° and extends from 3 to 5 kilometers towards the sea. There are sandbanks in both the upper and middle intertidal zones, and, notably, there are cheniers, i.e. sediments in the form of sandbars, in the coastal area of Mandol-ri, Simwon-myeon, Gochang-gun to the south of Gomsoman Bay. In addition, tidal flat sandbanks of various sizes are distributed near the entrance to Gomsoman Bay, the largest of which is about 1,300 meters long and 400 meters wide, and stretches from the northwest to the southeast of the main waterway. This sandbank is almost perpendicular to the direction of entry of waves and currents from the open sea, and is more than one meter higher than the surrounding area. The surface deposit of the sandbar is composed of sandy sediment in the west and muddy sediment in the east.
- Formation Process of Gomsoman Bay
- It is assumed that Gomsoman Bay was originally formed as a narrow east-west valley with the confluence of the Galgokcheon Stream (starting from the Sillim Reservoir in Sillim-myeon, Gochang-gun, and flowing into the bay, forming the boundary between Heungdeok-myeon and Buan-myeon) in the east and the Jujincheon Stream (flowing into the bay via Asan-myeon, forming the boundary between Buan-myeon and Simwon-myeon, Gochang-gun, and flowing north from Seonunsan Mountain in Gochang-gun) in the south about 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age, when the sea level was about 120 meters lower than it is at present. After that, the sea level began to rise rapidly until it reached roughly the current level about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. It is also thought that seawater entered the valley formed by the Galgokcheon and Jujincheon Streams, resulting in the current form of the bay, around that time.
In the early days, sediments flowed out of the bay due to river erosion and wave and tidal action in the sea. However, as the sea level rose, sedimentation began to occur in Gomsoman Bay. In addition, it is assumed that from about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, when the sea level stabilized, a large amount of sediment was carried in from the surrounding areas due to the large tidal difference and the streams in the west coast area, resulting in the current form of the tideland. At present, sedimentation is more active than erosion in the bay.
- Current Status
- Gomsoman Bay is also known as Julpoman Bay as its two ports are Julpo and Gomso. It is a tideland with an average water depth of less than 10 meters and a total surface area of about 77km2 (of which about 14km2 or 18% is reclaimed). It extends for between 2 to 9 kilometers in the north-south direction and about 20 kilometers in the east-west direction, across Julpo-myeon, Boan-myeon, Jinseo-myeon, and Byeonsan-myeon in southern Buan-gun, and across Buan-myeon, Simwon-myeon, and Haeri-myeon in northern Gochang-gun.
As most of the tideland has been preserved in a natural unspoiled state, the tidelands in Gochang and Buan, which cover 41.09km2, were designated as a Ramsar Wetland Site on February 1, 2010. Furthermore, a 4.9km2 site located at 516-1, Upo-ri (170, Saengtaegongwon-ro), Julpo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do was designated as the Julpo Wetland Conservation Zone on December 15, 2006, and the Julpoman Tideland Ecological Park (Buan Eco Park) has since been established there.
The tideland in Gomsoman Bay yields an abundance of freshly-caught ocean quahogs and clams. The bay has numerous fishing ports and villages including Sapo, Hupo, Julpo, Gomso, Songpo, Jijipo, Nanpo, Gosapo, Gyeokpo, and Seokpo, and has plentiful stocks of fish and seafood including shrimps and croakers.
A local aquiculture industry, including ocean quahogs and clams, has also been developed around the bay, and high-quality sun-dried salt products are produced at the Samyang Salt Field (present-day a golf course) in Gochang-gun and the Gomso Salt Field in Buan-gun. As the tideland is surrounded by mountains and there are no industrial complexes or factories in the vicinity, it is exceptionally clean and unspoiled; and, due to the low inflow of river water and high salinity, the area produces high-quality salt that is rich in nutrients. Moreover, the Gomso area is actively producing and selling many fermented seafood products made with locally caught fresh fish and local salt.
Due to sedimentation in Gomsoman Bay, Sapo Port (Sapo-ri, Heungdeok-myeon, Gochang-gun) and Hupo Port (Hupo-ri, Heungdeok-myeon, Gochang-gun) were no longer able to function as ports, while the main port at Julpo ceased functioning due to the shallow depth of water caused by the accumulation of sediment in the tidelands, which led to the establishment of Gomso Port in 1938. The new port was built by constructing an embankment connecting Beomseom and Kkachiseom Islands, centered on Gomseom Island in the sea in front of Jinseo-ri. In 1958, when the local fishermen’s union and the stevedore union moved to Gomso from Julpo, Gomso Port became the main fishing port in the area. However, Gomso Port also fell into a gradual decline due to tideland sedimentation and the depletion of fish stocks along the coast, resulting in the relocation of the local fishing industry to Gyeokpo, located at the entrance to Gomsoman Bay, and to Gyeokpo Port’s reclassification as a Type 1 Port in 1987. Thus, the main port was moved from the inside (east) of Gomsoman Bay towards the sea (west).
Since 2002, an environmental debate has continued over the Buchangdaegyo Bridge (Noseuldaegyo Bridge), which connects with the entrance to Gomsoman Bay in the north-south direction. This 7.48- kilometer-long bridge links to national road no. 77, connecting Docheong-ri, Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun in the north, crossing Daejukdo Island, and continuing to Dongho-ri, Haeri-myeon, Gochang-gun in the south. Environmental groups are worried that the bridge may damage the tideland of Gomsoman Bay, which has been designated as a Ramsar Wetland Site. Although Gomsoman Bay largely consists of un-reclaimed land, it has been used at one time or another as a paddy field, a fish farm, and a salt field by building embankments or reclaiming the tideland along the coast. In fact, there are quite a lot of artificial coastlines around the bay.
Between 1996 and 1999, the Julpoman detention pond and breakwaters were built to prevent sea flooding in downtown Julpo, and a reed forest and salt plant colony were also established there. The project to build the Julpoman Tideland Ecological Park, which started in 2003, also included the development of a reed forest covering an area of 330,000㎡ and the planting of many native plants to help purify sewage waste in Julpo. In addition, an ecological park covering about 33,000m2 was built there after implementing salinity removal work.
The Julpoman Tideland Ecological Park (808,000m2) was finally opened in 2014 in Upo-ri, Julpo-myeon, Buan-gun. Its diverse facilities include the Julpoman Tideland Eco Center and Eco Park, various experience sites, accommodation and campsite facilities, exhibition and education spaces, eco trails and sports facilities, and also runs a tideland eco tour and a facility rental service too.