• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.279-290
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• 2012

Plecoglossus altivelis (ayu) is an amphidromous fish widely distributed in Northeastern Asia from the East China Sea to the northern Japanese coastal waters, encompassing the Korean Peninsula within its range. The shore lines of northeastern region in Asia have severely fluctuated following glaciations in the Quaternary. In the present study, we investigate the population genetic structure and historical demographic change of P. altivelis at a population level in East Asia. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) based on 244 mitochondrial control region DNA sequences clearly showed that as the sampling scope extended to a larger geographic area, genetic differentiation began to become significant, particularly among Northeastern populations. A series of hierarchical AMOVA could detect the genetic relationship of three closely located islands between Korea and Japan that might have been tightly connected by the regional Tsushima current. Neutrality and mismatch distribution analyses revealed a strong signature of a recent population expansion of P. altivelis in East Asia, estimated at 126 to 391 thousand years ago during the late Pleistocene. Therefore it suggests that the present population of P. altivelis traces back to its approximate demographic change long before the last glacial maximum. This contrasts our a priori expectation that the most recent glacial event might have the most crucial effect on the present day demography of marine organisms through bottleneck and subsequent increase of effective population size in this region.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2006

Analyses of sedimentological and geochemical parameters from two radiocarbon-dated sediment cores (JM98-845-PC and JM98-818-PC) retrieved from the central part of Isfjorden, Svalbard, in the Arctic Sea, reveal detailed paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic histories over the last 15,000 radiocarbon years. The overconsolidated diamicton at the base of core JM98-845-PC is supposed to be a basal till deposited beneath pounding glacier that had advanced during the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum). Deglaciation of the fjord commenced after the glacial maximum, marked by the deposition of interlaminated sand and mud in the ice-proximal zone by subglacial meltwater discharge, and prevailed between 13,700 and 10,800 yr B.P. with enriched-terrigenous organic materials. A return to colder conditions occurred at around 10,800 yr B.P. with a drop in TOC content, which is probably coincident with the Younger Dryas event in the North Atlantic region. At this time, an abrupt decrease of TOC content as well as an increase in C/N ratio suggests enhanced terrigenous input due to the glacial readvance. A climatic optimum is recognized between 8,395 and 2,442 yr B.P., coinciding with 'a mid-Holocene climatic optimum' in Northern Hemisphere sites (e.g., the Laurentide Ice sheet). During this time, as the sea ice receded from the fjord, enhanced primary productivity occurred in open marine conditions, resulting in the deposition of organic-enriched pebbly mud with evidence of TOC maxima and C/N ratio minima in sediments. Fast ice also disappeared from the coast, providing the maximum of IRD (ice-rafted debris) input. Around 2,442 yr B.p. (the onset of Neoglacial), pebbly mud, characterized by a decrease in TOC content, reflects the formation of more extensive sea ice and fast ice, which might cause decreased primary productivity in the surface water, as evidenced by a decrease in TOC content. Our results provide evidence of climatic change on the Svalbard fjords that helps to refine the existence and timing of late Pleistocene and Holocene millennial-scale climatic events in the Northern Hemisphere.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.165-165
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• 2003

A borehole core ECSDP-102 (about 68.5 m long) has been investigated to get information on paleoenvironmental changes in response to the sea-level fluctuations during the period of late Quaternary. Several AMS $\^$14/C ages show that the core ECSDP-102 recorded the depositional environments of the northern East China Sea for approximately 60 ka. The Yangtze River discharged huge amounts of sediment into the northern East China Sea during the marine isotope stage (MIS) 3. In particular, $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values reveal that the sedimentary environments of the northern East China Sea, which is similar to the Holocene conditions, have taken place three times during the MIS 3. It is supported by the relatively enriched $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values of -23 to -21$\textperthousand$ during the marine settings of MIS 3 that are characterized by the predominance of marine organic matter akin to the Holocene. Furthermore, we investigated the three Holocene sediment cores, ECSDP-101, ECSDP-101 and YMGR-102, taken from the northern East China Sea off the mouth of the Yangtze River and from the southern Yellow Sea, respectively. Our study was focused primarily on the onset of the post-glacial marine transgression and the reconstructing of paleoenvironmental changes in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea during the Holocene. AMS $\^$14/C ages indicate that the northern East China Sea and the southern Yellow Sea began to have been flooded at about 13.2 ka BP which is in agreement with the initial marine transgression of the central Yellow Sea (core CC-02). $\delta$$\^$18/O and $\delta$$\^$13/C records of benthic foraminifera Ammonia ketienziensis and $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values provide information on paleoenvironmental changes from brackish (estuarine) to modem marine conditions caused by globally rapid sea-level rise since the last deglaciation. Termination 1 (T1) ended at about 9.0-8.7 ka BP in the southern and central Yellow Sea, whereas T1 lasted until about 6.8 ka BP in the northern East China Sea. This time lag between the two seas indicates that the timing of the post-glacial marine transgression seems to have been primarily influenced by the bathymetry. The present marine regimes in the northern East China Sea and the whole Yellow Sea have been contemporaneously established at about 6.0 ka BP. This is strongly supported by remarkably changes in occurrence of benthic foraminiferal assemblages, $\delta$$\^$18/O and $\delta$$\^$13/C compositions of A. ketienziensis, TOC content and $\delta$$\^$13/Corg values. The $\delta$$\^$18/O values of A. ketienziensis show a distinct shift to heavier values of about 1$\textperthousand$ from the northern East China Sea through the southern to central Yellow Sea. The northward shift of $\^$18/O enrichment may reflect gradually decrease of the bottom water temperature in the northern East China Sea and the Yellow Sea.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.493-511
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• 1995

Analysis of the Late Quaternary benthic foraminifera in the cores from the western part of the East Sea, Korea, indicates several distinct changes in the paleoenvironments during the deposition. The palecology of biofacies of Cores PC-1 from the upper slop and PC-2 from the rise shows several distinct changes in bottom water temperatures during the late Quaternary. The Core PC-4 from the Ulleung Basin generally consists of agglutinated genus, Muiliammina, and anaerobic calcareous genus, Bolivina, in biofacies, suggesting that the anoxic bottom condition was prevailed during the deposition. Benthic foraminiferal rare or barren zones in the Cores indicate the limits of water circulation caused by lower sea-level in the regions during the glacial period through the Late Quaternary. The changes of benthic foraminiferal biofacies reflect temporal and spacial variations in overall bottom environments, such as bottom water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and water circulation pattern. The benthic foraminiferal data can be used to interpret paleoclimatic conditions and predict global sea-level changes, and the results of these studies should be useful to understand the evolutional history of the East Sea through the Late Quaternary.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.271-281
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• 2002

Interpretation of high-resolution seismic profiles collected from the inner shetf of the Korea Strait reveals that the shelf sequence in this area consists of three sedimentary units (I, II, and III in a descending order) formed after the last glacial maximum. Lower two units (II and III) represent the transgressive systems tract formed during the Holocene transgression, Unit III above the sequence boundary is interpreted to be the transgressive estuarine deposit, whereas Unit ll above the ravinement surface forms a thin transgressive sand which consists of the sediment produced through shoreface erosion and winnowing during the transgression. Unit I above the maximum flooding surface is the highstand systems tract consisting mainly of recent muds derived from the Nakdong River.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2002

We measured the alkenone concentration of bulk sediments from a piston core collected from the Ulleung Basin in the East Sea in order to reconstruct past sea surface temperatures (SST). Sediment ages are well constrained by AMS $^{14}C$ dates of the planktonic foraminifera Globigerina bulloides. Coretop alkenone SST calibration with modern surface temperatures and sediment trap dat (Hong et al., 1996) indicate that the SST estimated from alkenones most likely represent the temperatures of late fall. Downcore variations in the alkenone saturation index indicate that between 19 and 15 kyr BP the surface waters were about $3^{\circ}C$ warmer than today. Between 15 and 11 kyr BP, the temperatures were about $3^{\circ}C$ lower than today. A rapid SST increase of about $3^{\circ}C$ occurred at approximately 10 kyr BP. After considering the factors which might influence the SST reconstruction from the $U^{k'}_{37}$ values, we conclude that the alkenone temperature estimates are reliable. The reason for glacial warming in the East Sea is not clear, although there is a possibility that it could be caused by shift in the season of maximum alkenone production from summer during the last glaciation to late fall during the Holocene. Cooling between 15 and 11 kyr BP may be due to inflow of cold water into the East Sea such as via the Oyashio Current or ice-melt water. Warming at the early Holocene could be due to inflow of the Tsushima Current into the East Sea through the Korea Strait.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 1989

This paper presents examples of the computer-aided zonation and correlation of pollen data from the Late-glacial to Holocene stratigraphic sequences at four sites in central Iowa, U.S.A. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient matrix and first four components of Principal components analysis plotted in a stratigraphic order are combined to provide an excellent zonation of the pollen data at each site. Correlation of the four pollen sequences are conducted by Principal components analysis of the data sets combined in one. The first and second principal components successfully provide correlation lines that match fairly closely the zone boundaries of each pollen sequence. The third and fourth components, in contrast, are greatly different from site to site, representing the unique pollen assemblages at each site.

• 한국석유지질학회:학술대회논문집
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• autumn
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• pp.57-72
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• 2000

The Murzuk Basin covers an area in excess of $350,000{\cal}km^2$, and is one of several intra-cratonic sag basins located on the Saharan Platform of North Africa. Compared with some of these basins, the Murzuk Basin has a relatively simple structure and stratigraphy, probably as a result of it's location on a the East Saharan Craton. The basin contains a sedimentary fill which reaches a thickness of about $4,000{\cal}m$ in the basin centre. This fill can be divided into a predominantly marine Paleozoic section, and a continental Mesozoic section. The principal hydrocarbon play consists of a glacial-marine sandstone reservoir of Cambro-Ordovician age, sourced and sealed by overlying Silurian shales. The present day borders of the basin are defined by tectonic uplifts, each of multi-phase generation, and the present day basin geometry bears little relation to the more extensive Early Palaeozoic sedimentary basin within which the reservoir and source rocks were deposited. The key to the understanding of the Cambro-Ordovician play is the relative timing of oil generation compared to the Cretaceous and Tertiary inversion tectonics which influenced source burial depth, reactivated faults and reorganised migration pathways. At the present day only a limited area of the basin centre remains within the oil generating window. Modelling of the timing and distribution of source rock maturity uses input data from AFTA and fluid inclusion studies to define palaeo temperatures, shale velocity work to estimate maximum burial depth and source rock geochemistry to define kinetics and pseudo-Ro. Migration pathways are investigated through structural analysis. The majority of the discovered fields and identified exploration prospects in the Murzuk Basin involve traps associated with high angle reverse faults. Extensional faulting occurred in the Cambro-Ordovician and this was followed by repeated compressional movements during Late Silurian, Late Carboniferous, Mid Cretaceous and Tertiary, each associated with regional uplift and erosion.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.171-177
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• 2002

Two piston-core sediments, obtained from the southwestern margin of the Ulleung Basin in East Sea, are analyzed to investigate the stratigraphy and sedimentary environment of the Late Quaternary. The cores consist mainly of cuddy sediments with silty sands, lapilli tephra and ash layers. The chronostratigraphic correlation with known eruption ages reveals that the core sediments contain the stratigraphic document over the past 46.1 kyr and the sedimentation rates during the last glacial period were relatively higher (12.1-14.9 cm/kyr) than those in pelagic ocean. Several sedimentary facies, mainly affected by turbidity currents, are commonly present in the core interval accumulated during the oxygen-isotope stage 2. Many of horizontal voids, which are thought to have formed by gas expansion, are observed in fore 00GHP-07. The total organic carbon (TOC) contents of the core sediments are noticeably high (average 1 .8%). Particularly, these TOC valuers increased during Termination I, suggesting that dering this time interval the sedimentary environment of the study area was changed to more anoxic.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.541-552
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• 2010

Geochemical and physical investigations such as ${\delta}^{13}C$ isotope ratio, carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and particle size analyses were carried out on the estuarine tidal flat sediments from the west coast of Korea in order to reconstruct the East Asian summer monsoon variability during the late Pleistocene and Holocene Our results indicated that the summer monsoon probably peaked around 7,700-7,800 yr BP and then started to decline about 7,400 yr BP in the Korean peninsular, and that the monsoon was relatively weak between 24,000-24,500 yr BP but relatively strong between 18,500-19,500 yr BP during the Last Glacial Maximum. Our estuarine geochemical data have proven to be valuable as a new proxy for detecting the shifts in monsoon strength. This new evidence will be helpful, especially for Korean paleoenvironmental studies with few proxy data archives.