A systematic methodology is developed for the electrofacies determination from wireline log data using multivariate statistical analysis. To consider corresponding contribution of each log and reduce the computational dimension, multivariate logs are transformed into a single variable through principal components analysis. Resultant principal components logs are segmented using the statistical zonation method to enhance the efficiency and quality of the interpreted results. Hierarchical cluster analysis is then used to group the segments into electrofacies. Optimal number of groups is determined on the basis of the ratio of within-group variance to total variance and core data. This technique is applied to the wells in the Korea Continental Shelf. The results of field application demonstrate that the prediction of lithology based on the electrofacies classification matches well to the core and the cutting data with high reliability This methodology for electrofacies classification can be used to define the reservoir characteristics which are helpful to the reservoir management.

Sparker profiles and sediment cores collected from the Korea Strait show a distinct pattern of stacked prograding wedges consisting of three distinct units. These wedges are interpreted as the lowstand deposits formed during glacioeustatic sea-level lowstands. Repeated sea-level falls during late Pleistocene with high sediment discharge from the paleo-Nakdong River system resulted in the formation of thick lowstand wedges.

Twenty species of calcareous nannofossils belonging to 11 genera are identified from the Seoguipo Formation in Cheju island, Korea. On the basis of the marker species, the Seoguipo Formation is biostratigraphically assigned to the Pseudoemiliania lacunosa Zone (NNl9), which corresponds to the combined zones of Emiliania annula - Emiliania ovata (CN13a-CN14a) of latest Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. Generally, cold-water species is dominant in the lower part, whereas warm-water one in the upper part. This is interpreted the palaeoceanographic condition has changed from cooling to warm phase. The change in floral composition and abundance of specific species allows the recognition of 4 ecostaratigraphic units in the Seoguipo Formation and the migration of oceanographic frontal boundary. According to nannofossil distribution in the study area, the position of an oceanographic boundary between warmer water and cooler water appeared to have oscillated north-south over the Korea Strait and Cheju island in response to glacial and interglacial cycles. The geologic time of the interpreted paleoceanographical changes determined by nannofossil biochronology is well agreed with the results obtained from the Japan Sea (East Sea) and Japan-Sea side of Japan.

The sedimentary succession on the northern coast of Jindo and the adjacent area comprises the thinly bedded, fine-grained deposits of an epiclastic sandstone, siltstone, black shale/mudstone, and cherty mudstone (ca. 200m in vertical thickness), which are interpreted as the finely stratified turbidites mainly by density underflow-induced currents. Most deposits can be divided into eight facies: thin-bedded, ash-rich massive sandstone layer (mS), graded and laminated mudstone layer (glM), graded mudstone layer with ripple lamination (rM), laminated and graded siltstone layer (lgZ), finely laminated black shale layer (IBS), structureless mudstone layer (mM), thin-bedded cherty mudstone layer (lCM), and contorted and laminated mudstone layer (dlM), The thin-bedded, ash-rich sandstone facies is interpreted to be deposited from high-density turbid underflows during a relatively large flooding. Most thinly bedded mudstone facies would be deposited from low-density turbid underflows (turbidity currents) with some different hydrodynamic condition and sediment concentration during the high discharge of river water. Whereas the structureless mudstone facies may result from raining down of suspended sediment intermittently supplied by overflows and interflows. From the entire succession, graded and laminated mudstone layers interbedded with thin-bedded, ash-rich massive sandstone are dominant in the lower part of the succession, and graded mudstone layers with ripple lamination ripple lamination occur mainly in the middle part of it. On the other hand, iaminated/raded siltstone and contorted/laminated mudstone layers prevail in the upper part. The transition of facies association is suggestive of the continuous change of main depositional setting from basin plain to lower slope, which could be due to the movement of depocenter by the increase of sediment supply (volcanic activity).

The Pohang Basin is located in Pohang City and adjacent coastal areas in the southeastern Korea. It has a sequence of 900 meters of Neogene marine sediments (Yeonil Group) while offshore basins in the East Sea, e.g., the Ulleng basin, is over 10 Km in thickness. An understanding of the marine Yeonil Group in the Pohang Basin may provide insights into the hydrocarbon potential of the offshore East Sea regions. Heulandite, smectite, dolomite, kaolinite and opal-CT are commonly found as diagenetic minerals in the Yeonil Group. Among these minerals, heulandite occurs as a main cement only in sandstones consisting of volcanic matrix, Smectite composition and diagenetic mineral facies such as heulandite and opal-CT may reflect that the Yeonil Group has undergone shallow burial, temperatures below about 60 degrees. This suggest that sandstones have experiened weak diagenetic alteration. In order to reconstruct the thermal history of the basin, apatite fission-track analysis was carried out. Aapparent apatite fission-track ages (AFTAs) exhibit a broader range of ages from 238 Ma to 27 Ma with mean track lengths in the range of $15.24\pm8.0$ micrometers, indicating that these samples had undergone significant predepositional thermal alteration. The Triassic to Cretaceous AFTAs seem In represent the timing of cooling of their sedimentary sources. Late Cretaceous mean AFTA $(79.0\pm8.0 Ma)$ on the Neogene Yeonil Group indicates that the Yeonil Group had not been buried deeper than 2km since its deposition. The organic matters of. the Pohang Basin remain in the immature stage of thermal evolution because burial depth and temperature were not sufficient enough for maturation even in the deep section of the basin.

Methane hydrate is ice-like solid compound consisting of mainly methane and water, and is stable under specific low temperature and high pressure conditions (HSZ : methane hydrate stability zone) that occurs in permafrost regions and in the ocean floor sediments. Geophysical survey was implemented in the southern area of the East Sea, and the HSZ of the study area is determined by the temperature, pressure and local heat flow obtained from the survey and well data. In the study area, methane hydrates could exist in the sediments below the water depths of about $300{\cal}m$, and the base of HSZ is about 600m beneath the seafloor. The acoustically blanking zones in the sediment and phenomena of gas seepage were detected from the seismic section. These sediments have the sufficient physical condition for the formation of methane hydrate. The temperature and pressure conditions were experimentally measured for the dissociation of methane and propane hydrates in Pure water. Equilibrium conditions of methane and propane hydrates were obtained in the pressure range up to 19050Kpa and 401.3Kpa. Under same temperature condition, propane hydrate was dissociated at lower pressure than that of methane hydrate.