• Proceedings of the KSEG Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.101-106
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• 2005

The three-dimensional Tomography developed by Kim and Bae(2004) was applied to 64,024 P and 64,618 S wave arrival times observed at 238 seismic stations for 4050 local earthquakes in the depth range from 0 to 300 km in and around Hokkaido, Japan. High and low velocity zones for Vp/Vs were clearly imaged in and around Hokkaido. The upper seismic planes of the double seismic zone (DSZ) were found in the subducted Pacific Plate beneath Hokkaido at depth of 40- 80 km, which produced high seismicity around Hokkaido. The findings of high Vp/Vs anomalies beneath the Moho discontinuity supports an evidence of a surface triple-collision hypothesis prepared by Moriya(1994) that the Kuril Arc(Okhotsk Plate or North American Plate) is colliding against the NE Japanese Arc(Amurian Plate or Eurasian Plate), along and beneath the Hidaka Mountain Range, and at the same time the Pacific Plate is subducting into these two plates, making an equilibrium of tectonic forces along the Hikada Mountain Range (HMR) corner and the central tectonic axis(142 ~ 143E) in Hokkaido. The low Vp and Vs were also found in east and west along the central tectonic axis in which the focal mechanism represents the extensional forces. These phenomena are also consistent with low Bouguer gravity anomalies in this region. It is understood why most of great earthquakes occurred outside Hokkaido where the balance of tectonic forces are breaking from the triple junction of three tectonic forces in Hokkaido.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.345-354
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• 2006

Korean Peninsula has been postulated to be on the Eurasian plate(EU). On the other hand, recent seismological works and GPS researches suggest that it is on a separate plate called the Amurian plate (AM). However, the GPS results we inconsistent with each other beyond the estimated statistical errors. Moreover, the estimated plate motion parameter, which we obtained from the velocity data of six Korean GPS stations, was not well agreeing with any existing results. Therefore, independent measurements are required to distinguish those results. In near future, we will have 4 VLBI stations in Korea. This compact Korean VLBI array is capable of achieving good determination of the plate motion parameters if it is located on stable sites. We estimated the precision of the AM motion parameters with the Korean VLBT array. The results showed that the Korean VLBI array would verify the existence of the AM, as far as the observation precision of 0.2-0.5mm/yr for station velocities is achieved. Therefore, new Korean geodetic VLBI array can contribute to crustal deformation studies in East Asia.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2007

The southeastern Korean Peninsula has experienced crustal multi-deformations according to changes of global tectonic setting during the Cenozoic. Characteristic features of the crustal deformations in relation to major Cenozoic tectonic events are summarized as follows. (1) Collision of Indian and Eurasian continents and abrupt change of movement direction of the Pacific plate (50${\sim}$43 Ma): The collision of Indian and Eurasian continents caused the eastward extrusion of East Asia block as a trench-rollback, and then the movement direction of the Pacific plate was abruptly changed from NNW to WNW. As a result, the strong suction-force along the plate boundary produced a tensional stress field trending EW or WNW-ESE in southeastern Korea, which resultantly induced the passive intrusion of NS or NNE trending mafic dike swarm. (2) Opening of the East Sea (25${\sim}$16 Ma): The NS or NNW-SSE trending opening of the East Sea generated a dextral shear stress regime trending NNW-SSE along the eastern coast line of the Korean Peninsula. As a result, pull-apart basins were developed in right bending and overstepping parts along major dextral strike slip faults trending NNW-SSE in southeastern Korea. The basins can be divided into two types on the basis of geometry and kinematics: Parallelogram-shaped basin (rhombochasm) and wedged-shaped basin (sphenochasm), respectively. In those times, the basins and adjacent basement blocks experienced clockwise rotation and northwestward tilting contemporaneously, and the basins often experienced a kind of propagating rifting from NE toward SE. At about 17Ma, the Yonil Tectonic Line, which is the westernmost border fault of the Miocene crustal deformation in southeastern Korea, began to move as a major dextral strike slip fault. (3) Clockwise rotation of southeastern Japan Island (about 15 Ma): The collision of the Izu-Bonin Arc and southeastern Japan Island, as a result of northward movement of the Philippine sea-plate, induced the clockwise rotation of southeastern Japan Island. The event caused the NW-SE compression in the Korea Strait as a tectonic inversion, which resultantly tenninated the basin extension and caused local counterclockwise rotation of blocks in southeastern Korea. (4) E-W compression in the East Asia (after about 5 Ma): Decreasing subduction angle of the Pacific plate and eastward movement of the Amurian plate have constructed the-top-to-west thrusts and become a major cause for earthquakes in southeastern Korea until the present time.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.328-346
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• 2012

This study provides quantitative constraints on Neogene uplift in the Korean peninsula using onshore paleo-shoreline records and seismic data. The eastern margin of Northeast Asia including Korea sits in the back-arc system behind the Western Pacific Subduction Zone, a complex trench triple junction of the Philippine Sea, Pacific, and Eurasian (Amurian) plates. An analysis of seismic data in the subduction zone shows that the pattern of uplift in the peninsula mirrors the extent of deep seismicity in subducting Pacific plate beneath. Combined with previous tomographic studies it is proposed that uplift is partly driven by asthenospheric upwelling caused by a sinking slab during the Neogene. In addition, the SHmax orientations of E-W and N-S trends in the peninsula are consistent with the prevailing in-situ stress fields in the eastern Eurasian continent generated by various plate boundary forces. The uplift in Korea during the Late Neogene is attributed, in part, to lithospheric failure relating to faulting movements, thus providing a link between dynamic effects of mantle upwelling at sinking slab edge and lithospheric responses driven by plate boundary forces.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2011

We acquired and interpreted more than 650 km of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles in the Hupo Basin, offshore east coast of Korea at $37^{\circ}N$ in the East Sea (Japan Sea) to image shallow and basement deformation. The seismic profiles reveal that the main depocenter of the Hupo Basin in the study area is bounded by the large offset Hupo Fault on the east and an antithetic fault on the west; however, the antithetic fault is much smaller both in horizontal extension and in vertical displacement than the Hupo Fault. Sediment infill in the Hupo Basin consists of syn-rift (late Oligocene. early Miocene) and post-rift (middle Miocene.Holocene) units. The Hupo Fault and other faults newly defined in the Hupo Basin strike dominantly north and show a sense of normal displacement. Considering that the East Sea has been subjected to compression since the middle Miocene, we interpret that these normal faults were created during continental rifting in late Oligocene to early Miocene times. We suggest that the current ENE direction of maximum principal compressive stress observed in and around the Korean peninsula associated with the motion of the Amurian Plate induces the faults in the Hupo Basin to have reverse and right-lateral, strike-slip motion, when reactivated. A recent earthquake positioned on the Hupo Fault indicates that in the study area and possibly further in the eastern Korean margin, earthquakes would occur on the faults created during continental rifting in the Tertiary.