Economic and Environmental Geology (자원환경지질)

The Korean Society of Economic and Environmental Geology (대한자원환경지질학회)
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Large-scale, Miocene Mud Intrusion into the Overlying Pleistocene Coastal Sediment, Pohang City, SE Korea: Deformation Mechanism, Trigger, and Paleo-seismological Implication for the 2017 Pohang Earthquakes

  • Gihm, Yong Sik (Department of Geology, School of Earth System Science, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Ko, Kyoungtae (Geology Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) ;
  • Choi, Jin-Hyuk (Geology Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) ;
  • Choi, Sung-ja (Geology Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources)
  • Received : 2020.09.03
  • Accepted : 2020.10.16
  • Published : 2020.10.28
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Abstract

The 2017 Pohang Earthquakes occurred near a drill site in the Pohang Enhanced Geothermal System. Water injected for well stimulation was believed to have reactivated the buried near-critically stressed Miocene faults by the accumulation of the Quaternary tectonic strain. However, surface expressions of the Quaternary tectonic activity had not been reported near the epicenter of the earthquakes before the site construction. Unusual, large-scale water-escaped structures were identified 4 km away from the epicenter during a post-seismic investigation. The water-escaped structures comprise Miocene mudstones injected into overlying Pleistocene coastal sediments that formed during Marine Isotope Stage 5. This indicates the vulnerable state of the mudstones long after deposition, resulted from the combined effects of rapid tectonic uplift (before significant diagenesis) and the development of an aquifer at their unconformable interface of the mudstone. Based on the detailed field analysis and consideration of all possible endogenic triggers, we interpreted the structures to have been formed by elevated pore pressures in the mudstones (thixotropy), triggered by cyclic ground motion during the earthquakes. This interpretation is strengthened by the presence of faults 400 m from the study area, which cut unconsolidated coastal sediment deposited after Marine Isotope Stage 5. Geological context, including high rates of tectonic uplift in SE Korea, paleo-seismological research on Quaternary faults near the study area, and historical records of paleoearthquakes in SE Korea, also support the interpretation. Thus, epicenter and surrounding areas of the 2017 Pohang Earthquake are considered as a paleoseismologically active area, and the causative fault of the 2017 Pohang Earthquakes was expected to be nearly critical state.

포항지진은 포항지열발전소의 수리자극에 의한 촉발지진으로 조사되었으며, 수리자극을 위해 주입된 유체가 임계상태에 도달한 지하단층을 재활성시킨것으로 알려져 있다. 하지만 포항지열발전소의 건설 이전, 포항지진 진앙지 인근에서 단층운동에 의한 제4기층 변형연구는 보고되지 않았다. 포항지진 이후 지표지질조사를 통해 진앙지로부터 약 4km 떨어진 지점에서 대규모 물빠짐구조를 확인하였다. 마이오세 이암에에서 발생한 이 물빠짐 구조는 MIS 5에 형성된 상부 해안퇴적층을 관입하고 있다. 이는 마이오세 퇴적층과 해안퇴적층의 부정합면을 따라 존재하는 지하수면과 마이오세 퇴적층이 속성작용 완료되기 전에 융기된 영향으로 인해, 마이오세 퇴적층이 충분히 고화되지 않아 연질퇴적변형구조를 형성할 수 있었음을 지시한다. 이 물빠짐구조는 미고화된 이암의 공극수압이 상부지층의 하중을 초과하여 발생한 구조로서 지진에 의해 발생한 것으로 해석된다. 이러한 해석은 물빠짐구조로부터 약 400m 떨어진 지점에서 확인된 제4기 단층의 존재, 한반도 남동부의 빠른 융기율, 포항인근 양산단층을 따라 보고된 제4기 단층과 역사지진 기록과도 잘 부합한다. 따라서, 포항지진의 진앙지 일원은 제4기 동안 지구조운동과 이와 관련된 지표변형이 발생한 지점으로서 포항지진을 일으킨 단층 또한 지진발생 이전에 임계상태에 도달했을 것으로 추정된다.

Keywords

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