• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.491-499
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• 2003

The Okinawa Trough is a rift basin formed by extension. Analysis of multichannel seismic reflection profiles from the northwestern margin of the northern Okinawa Trough reveal that the trough is characterized by a series of tilted fault blocks bounded by listric normal faults and half-grabens developed between blocks, showing typical rifted structures. The trough display three kinds of sedimentary sequences with different seismic reflection characteristics: prerift, synrift and postrift sediments. The prerift sequence develops parallel to the dip direction of tilted fault blocks. The synrift sediments, mostly deposited in the half-grabens between tilted fault blocks, are generally well characterized by divergence of the reflectors towards the blocks indicating contemporaneous deposition during tilting. The postrift sediments are featured by continuous and parallel reflectors. The width of the half-graben and the throw-displacement rate of the basin bounding fault are closely connected. The throw-displacement rate is the maximum when the rifting event is the most active and the width of the half-graben is proportional to the rate.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.141-152
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• 2000

In the vicinity of the Antarctic-Scotia plate boundary off Elephant Island(EI), geophysical data(multichannel seismic and gravity data) reveal rapid structural variation of the Shackleton Fracture Zone(SFZ) along its strike. The SFZ ridge terminates in front of the Antarctic Peninsula margin, whereas the transform fault of the SFZ continues farther southeast near EI and the width of the SFZ broadens toward the southeast. Accordingly, the SFZ transform fault changes its morphology along its strike as (1) a graben structure along the high Shackleton ridge in Drake Passage, (2) a half-graben structure in oceanic crust just southeast of the Antarctic-Scotia plate boundary, and (3) splay faults deforming the margin of EI. Two phases of tectonic deformation are clearly observed along the transform fault. Major extensional deformation had formed a large-scale half-graben during roughly about $10{\sim}20$ Ma when Drake Passage had opened. And then, the Shackleton fault has been reactivated with reverse sense, which has been caused by recent convergence between Antarctic and Scotia plates due to westward movement of the Scotia plate since 6 Ma.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.9 no.1_2 s.10
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• pp.16-23
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• 2001

The study area in the East Sea is located on the northeastern margins of the Ulleung Basin near the Kita-Yamato Bank. The research area provides the important clue to the development of Miocene basins which are characterized by the normal faults and volcanic activities related to rifting in the continental crust. Kita-Yamato Bank is a small sediment-filled graben which was formed by failed rifting in the Early Miocene. The basins rapidly vary the bathymetry, depth of acoustic basement and thickness of sedimentary layer. The tension in the study area caused the extensional lithospheric deformation before/during the Early Miocene. In consequence, tectonic forces resulted in the depression or subsidence of basement from continental rifting in the Kita-Yamato Bank followed by the opening of the Ulleung Basin, and caused the onset of graben or half-graben structure bounded by large blocked syn-rift faults. Afterward no significant tectonic deformation exists, with the consequence that post-rift normal faults with small heave were formed and reactivated by the resultant forces such as tectonic subsidence, sediment loading and volcanic activity. The Cenozoic sediment layer has a maximum thickness of 1.0 s along the center of the graben or half-graben, which overlies the consolidated acoustic basement. Seismic units V and IV supposed to be syn-rift sedimentary rocks are deformed by both the volcanic activities and numerous basement-involved normal faults induced from extension. In the uppermost layer, slump scars resulted from the slope failure are recognized.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 2000

Subsurface structure of the Bomun basin was studied along three survey tracks of Line-1, Line-2, and Line-3 using geomagnetic, radioactive, and seismic refraction methods. Abrupt changes found at 2.55 km west and 1.6 km east in the profile of magnetic anomaly along Line-1 are correlated with geologic boundary of the basin. Profiles of radioactive intensity also represent abrupt changes at 2.55 km west of Line-1 and at 1.9 km of Line-2. Cretaceous basement rock has relatively high magnetic anomaly of $200\;{\sim}\;500\;nT$ while sedimentary rocks of the Bomun basin have relatively low magnetic anomaly of $-100\;{\sim}\;+100\;nT$. Radioactive intensity also represents charateristic differences between Cretaceous basement and sedimentary rocks of the Bomun basin. Rocks of Cretaceous basement have lower radioactive intensity than the rocks of the Bomun basin. Magnetic anomaly of of the Bomun basin represents lowest anomaly in western part and increases gradullay toward east. This phenomenon is interpreted as a half graben structure dipping westward. Black shale known by previous studies near the western boundary has high magnetic anomalies and low radioactive intensity. This phenomenon provide a possibility of volcanic rock rather than black shale near the western boundary of the basin along Line-1. Sedimentary layers having velocities of 455 m/s, 1904 m/s, and 2662 m/s are developed to have westward dipping of $2.3^{\circ}$ in the central area of the Bomun basin. The result is consistent with a half-graben model dipping westward which were derieved from magnetic anomaly data.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2004

To investigate the depositional environment and the geological structure of the Jeju Basin in the South Sea of Korea, we acquired 54-channel seismic data of about 1,980 line-km. The study area lies at the northeastern part of the East China Sea Trough, a Tertiary back-arc basin. The sedimentary basin formed by rifted activities resulted in the formation of graben and/or half-graben structures. The basin is composed of pre-rift, syn-rift and post-rift sediments bounded by regional unconformity. The pre-rift and syn-rift sediments consist of Oligocene, Early and Middle Miocene sequence, whereas the post-rift sediments consist of Late Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene sequences. Seismic and well data from the Jeju Basin indicate that Oligocene-Miocene sediments were deposited under fluvial and lacustrine depositional conditions. Following compressional tectonic movements in the Late Miocene time and a subsequent period of erosion, regional subsidence during the Pliocene time brought the Jeju Basin under marine conditions, resulting in the deposition of dominantly marine sediments.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.235-258
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• 2022

We interpreted the evolutionary history of the southwestern part of the Pohang Basin, the largest Miocene basin in the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula, based on the detailed geological mapping and analysis of the geological structures. The southwestern part of the Pohang Basin can be divided into the Bomun Domain in the west and Ocheon Domain in the east by an NNE-trending horst-in-graben. These two domains have different geometries and deformation histories. The Bomun Domain was rarely deformed after the incipient extension of the basin, whereas the Ocheon Domain is an area where continued and overlapped deformations occurred after the basin fill deposition. Therefore, the Bomun Domain provides critical information on the initial extension mode of the Pohang Basin. The subsidence of the Bomun Domain was led by the zigzag-shaped western border fault that consists of NNE-striking normal and NNW-striking dextral strike-slip fault segments. This border fault is connected to the Yeonil Tectonic Line (YTL), a regional dextral principal displacement zone and the westernmost limit of Miocene crustal deformation in SE Korea. Therefore, it is interpreted that the Pohang Basin was initially extended in WNW-ESE direction as a transtensional fault-termination basin resulting from the movement of NNE-striking normal and/or oblique-slip faults formed as right-stepover in the northern termination of the YTL activated since approximately 17-16.5 Ma. As a result, an NNE-trending asymmetric graben or half-graben exhibiting an westward deepening of basin depth was formed in the Bomun Domain. Afterward, crustal extension and deformation were migrated to the east, including the Ocheon Domain.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.511-525
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• 2003

The Okcheon Group in the southwestern part of the Okcheon Metamorphic Belt is subdivided into two distinct tectonostratigraphic units: the Boeun unit in the south and the Pibanryeong unit in the north. The Boeun unit consists of petites, psammites, carbonaceous petites, limestones and pebble-bearing quartzites. The Pibanryeong unit is composed of petites, well-sorted fine-grained psammites, carbonaceous psammites and quartzites. In order to outlining stratigraphy and depositional environments of the Okcheon Group, detailed stratigraphic sections were measured in three locations; one section(Gosan section) of the Boeun unit and two sections(Sorungjae and Hwangryeongzae sections) of the Pibanryeong unit. The Gosan section of the Boeun unit is interpreted to be deposited in the shallow marine environments, whereas the Sorungjae and Hwangryeonaiae sections of the Pibanryeong unit appear to be deposited in slope and deep basin environments. This result indicates rapid subsidence between deposition of the Boeun and Pibanryeong units in sedimentary environment. The trace of sedimentological environments in the Hwasan area was investigated by geochemical analysis of 109 metapelitic and psammitic rock samples. Distinct chemical variations of politic and psammitic rocks from the Boeun and Pibanryeong units in the study area are evident from plots of major elements and $A1_2O_3$/$SiO_2$ versus Basicity Index($Fe_2O_3{＋}MgO$)/($SiO_2{＋}K_2O{＋}Na_2O$). The rocks show a progressive chemical trend from the Boeun unit to the Pibanryeong unit on these diagrams. They in the southern sector of the Boeun unit display lower values and a comparatively wide range of $A1_2O_3$/$SiO_2$ and Basicity Index, as compared with those from the northern sector of the Boeun and Pibanryeong units. The southern sector of the Pibanryeong unit including narrow staurolite-bearing zone is characterized by values that are transitional between the Boeun and Pibanryeong units. These data, combined with depositional environment progressively deepened towards the northwest, support a half-graben model for the Okcheon basin, as proposed by Cluzel et al.(1990)

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.15-27
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• 1993

Seismic reflection profiles from the eastern continental margin of Korea delineate three major Neogene sedimentary basins perched on the shelf and slope regions: Pohang-Youngduk, Mukho and Hupo basins. The stratigraphic and structural analyses demonstrate that the formation and filling of these basins were intimately controlled by two phases of regional tectonism: transtensional and subsequent contractional deformations. In the Oligocene to Early Miocene, back-arc opening of the East Sea induced extensional shear deformation with dextral strike-slip movement along right-stepping Hupo and Yangsan faults. During the transtensional deformation, the Pohang-Youngduk Basin was formed by pull-apart opening between two strike-slip faults; in the northern part, block faulting caused to form the Mukho Basin between basement highs. As a result of the back-arc closure, the stress field was inverted into compression at the end of the Middle Miocene. Under the compressive regime, two episodes (Late Miocene and Early Pliocene) of regional deformation led to the destruction and partial uplift of the basin-filling sequences. In particular, during the second episode of compressive deformation, the Hupo fault was reactivated with an oblique-slip sense, which resulted in an opening of the Hupo Basin as a half-graben on the downthrown fault block.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.65-80
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• 1994

The Tertiary $Ch{\check{o}}ngja$ basin is located in the southeastern coastal area of the Korean Peninsula. It is a lozenge shaped fault-bounded basin with circa $5{\times}5km$ areal extent, isolated from other Tertiary basins by the Cretaceous Ulsan Formation in-between. The northwestern boundary of the basin is a domino/listric type normal fault trending $N30^{\circ}E$, whereas its southwestern boundary is a dextral strike-slip fault (trending $N20^{\circ}W$) with a lateral offset of more than 1 km. The basin is bounded by the East Sea on the eastern margin. Basin-fills consist of extrusive volcanic rock (Tangsa Andesites) of Early Miocene (16~22 Ma in radiometric age), unconsolidated fluviatile conglomerate (Kangdong Formation) and shallow brackish-water sandstone ($Sinhy{\check{o}}n$ Formation). The latter yields abundant Vicarya-Anadara molluscan fossils of early Middle Miocene age. The Tertiary strata become younger toward the northwestern boundary-fault of the basin, showing a zonal distribution pattern parallel to the fault: the younger sedimentary formations occupy a narrow zone of 2 km width along the northwestern boundary-fault, whereas the older Tangsa Andesites underlie them unconformably in the eastern and southeastern portions of the basin. The strata in the basin, including the Tangsa Andesites, are tilted (about $20^{\circ}$) toward the northwestern boundary-fault Sedimentary strata thicken toward the boundary-fault, forming a wedge shaped half-graben structure. A number of small-scale syndepositional normal growth faults and graben structures are observed in the sedimentary strata. These extensional structures have the same trend as the normal northwestern boundary-fault which we interpret as a pull-apart detachment fault. These characteristics imply persistent extension during the basin evolution, caused by a NW-SE directed tensional force. The $Ch{\check{o}}ngja$ basin is, thus, a kind of syndepositional tectonic basin evolved in a strike-slip (pull-apart) regime. The latter was caused by a dextral simple shear associated with the NNW-SSE opening of the East Sea. In view of the fact that the normal growth faults do not cut through the uppermost portion of the youngest $Sinhy{\check{o}}n$ Formation, it is inferred that the tensional force came to be inactive in the early Middle Miocene. This is coincident in timing with the termination of the East Sea opening (15 Ma).

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 1997

Seismic data from Lake Tanganyika indicate a complex tectonic, structural, and stratigraphic history. The Lake Tanganyika rift consists of half grabens which tend to alternate dip-direction along the strike of the rift. Adjacent half-grabens are separated by distinct accommodation zones of strike-slip motion. These are areas of relatively high basement, and are classified into two distinct forms which depend on the map-view geometry of the border faults on either side of the accommodation zone. One type is the high-relief accommodation zone which is a fault bounded area of high basement with little subsidence or sediment accumulation. These high-relief areas probably formed very early in the rifting process. The second type is the low-relief accommodation zone which is a large, faulted anticlinal warp with considerable rift sediment accumulated over its axis. These low-relief features continue to develop as rifting processes. This structural configuration profoundly influences depositional processes in Lake Tanganyika. Not only does structures dictate where discrete basins and depocenters can exist, it also controls the distribution of sedimentary facies within basins, both in space and time. This is because rift shoulder topography controls regional drainage patterns and sediment access into the lake. Large fluvial and deltaic systems tend to enter the rift from the up-dip side of half-grabens or along the rift axis, while fans tend to enter from the border fault side.