• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.169-193
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• 2016

In order to characterize the Neotectonic crustal deformation and current stress field in and around the Korean Peninsula and to interpret their tectonic implications, this paper synthetically analyzes the previous Quaternary fault and focal mechanism solution data and recent geotechnical in-situ stress data and examines the characteristics of crustal deformations and tectonic settings in and around East Asia after the Miocene. Most of the Quaternary fault outcrops in SE Korea occur along major inherited fault zones and show a NS-striking top-to-the-west thrust geometry, indicating that the faults were produced by local reactivation of appropriately oriented preexisting weaknesses under EW-trending pure compressional stress field. The focal mechanism solutions in and around the Korean Peninsula disclose that strike-slip faulting containing some reverse-slip component and reverse-slip faulting are significantly dominant on land and in sea area, respectively. The P-axes are horizontally clustered in ENE-WSW direction, whereas the T-axes are girdle-distributed in NNW direction. The geotechnical in-situ stress data in South Korea also indicate the ENE-trending maximum horizontal stress. The current crustal deformation in the Korean Peninsula is thus characterized by crustal contraction under regional ENE-WSW or E-W compression stress field. Based on the regional stress trajectories in and around East Asia, the current stress regime is interpreted to have resulted from the cooperation of westward shallow subduction of the Pacific Plate and collision of Indian and Eurasian continents, whereas the Philippine Sea plate have not a decisive effect on the stress-regime in the Korean Peninsula due to its high-angle subduction that resulted in dominant crust extension of the back-arc region. It is also interpreted that the Neotectonic crustal deformation and present-day tectonic setting of East Asia commenced with the change of the Pacific Plate motion during 5~3.2 Ma.