Evolution of the eastern margin of Korea: constraints on the opening of the East Sea (Japan Sea)

We interpreted marine seismic profiles in conjunction with swath bathymetric and magnetic data to investigate rifting to breakup processes at the eastern Korean margin that led to the separation of the southwestern Japan Arc. Analysis of rift fault patterns suggests that rifting at the Korean margin was primarily controlled by normal faulting resulting from extension rather than strike-slip deformation. Two extension directions of E-W and NW-SE for rifting are recognized. We interpret that the E-W direction represents initial rifting at the inner margin and the NW-SE direction probably represents the extension in response to tensional tectonics associated with the subduction of the Pacific Plate in the NW direction. No significant volcanism was involved in rifting. In contrast, the inception of sea floor spreading documents a pronounced volcanic phase which appears to reflect asthenospheric upwelling as well as rift-induced convection particularly in the narrow southern margin. We suggest that structural and igneous evolution of the Korean margin, although it is in a back-arc setting, can be explained by the processes occurring at the passive continental margin with magmatism influenced by asthenospheric upwelling.