• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.4-29
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• 2011

Paleoenvironments of the shell deposit-bearing sequence in the Hasandong Formation at Daesong-ri area, Hadong-gun, Korea, are interpreted on the basis of sedimentary facies and taphonomy of the shell deposits, with a discussion of their stratigraphic implications. A shell deposit-bearing sequence without reddish beds is mostly grayish, and the bedding is laterally extensive. These deposits are interpreted to have been formed in sandflats, mudflats, and shallow lakes generated by flooding on an alluvial plain. The shell deposits are classified into three types according to the occurrence, and the concentration of a single species of Brotiopsis wakinoensis in the shell deposits is deemed to have been attributed to the exclusive inhabitation of the genus Brotiopsis. Type 1 and 2 shell deposits are interpreted to have been fossilized in sandflats and mudflats after death in their habitat of shallow lakes and subsequent transformation by sheetflooding and lake flooding. Type 3 shell deposits are interpreted to have been fossilized in their habitat of shallow lakes during a stabilized period of lake development. The development of the shell deposit-bearing lacustrine sequence in a few tens of meters in thickness in the Hasandong Formation of fluvial deposits is compared to the shift of depositional environments from the Hasandong Formation (fluvial deposits) through the Jinju Formation (lacustrine deposits) to the Chilgok Formation (alluvial plain deposits), which suggests that additional lithostratigraphic classification is needed in the Hasandong Formation. The shell deposits at the study area can provide valuable data to understanding the paleoenvironments during the Early Cretaceous Period of Korea, and should give basic data to evaluate the value of the Cretaceous mollusc deposits in Korea as a geological heritage.