• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.189-197
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• 2006

The Korea Plateau is a continental fragment rifted and partially segmented from the Korean Peninsulaat the initial stage of the opening of the East Sea (Japan Sea). We interpreted marine seismic profiles from the South Korea Plateau in conjunction with swath bathymetric to investigate processes of con-tjnental rifting and separation of the southwestern Japan Arc. The SouU-i Korea Plateau preserves funda-mental elements of rift architecture comprising a seaward succession of a rift basin and an uplifted rift flank passing into the slope, typical of a passive continental margin. Two distinguished rift basins (Onnuri and Bandal Basins) in the South Korea Plateau are bounded by major synthetic and smaller antithetic faults, creating wide and symmetric profiles. The large-offset border fault zones of these basins have convex dip slopes and demonstrate a zig-zag arrangement along strike. Rifting was primarily controlled by normal faulting resulting from extension orthogonal to the inferred line of breakup along the base ofthe slope rather U-ian strike-slip deformation. Two extension direcdons for rifdng are recog-nized; U-ie Onnuri Basin was rifted in U-ie EW direction; U-ie Bandal Basin in U-ie EW and NW-SE directions, suggesting two rift stages. We interpret that the E-W direction represents initial rifting at the inner margin; while the Japan Basin widened, rifting propagated repeatedly from the Japan Basin to the southeast toward the Korean margin but could not penetrate the strong continental lithosphere of the Korean Shield and changed direction to the south, resulting in E-W extension to create the rift basins at the Korean margin. The Hupo Basin to the south of the Korea Plateau is estimated to have formed in this process. The NW-SE direction probably represents the direction of rifting orthogonal to the inferred line of breakup along the base of the slope of the South Korea Plateau; after breakup the southwestern Japan Arc separated in the SE direction, indicating a response to tensional tectonics associated with the subduction of the Pacific Plate in the NE direction. We suggest that structural evolution of the eastern Korean margin can be explained by the processes occurring at the passive continental margin.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2 s.40
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• pp.93-107
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• 2005

We determined $^{40}Ar/^{39}Ar$ ages of the Tertiary dike swarms and volcanic rocks distributed in the SE Korea where the most prevalent crustal-deformation and volcanism occurred during the period. In previous study, it was disclosed that the mafic dike swarms on both sides (east and west) of the Yeonil Tectonic Line (YTL) were originated from a same magma although they are consistently aligned with different intrusion directions of NS and NE, respectively. Ages of the mafic dike swarms of this study are $47.3\pm0.8Ma$ and $48.0\pm1.3Ma$, respectively and confirm such conclusion. These facts clarify that the YTL acted as a westernmost limit of the crustal deformation, especially clockwise crust-rotation, during the Miocene. Frequent occurrence of basic dikes indicate strongly that the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula was under E-W extensional stress field at about 48 Ma, intimately related to the India-Asia collision and subsequent sudden change of the Pacific Plate motion. The ages of the uncommonly appearing intermediate and felsic dikes were determined as $55.9\pm1.5Ma$ and $53.0\pm1.0Ma$, respectively. Ages of the andesitic lava of the Hyodongri Volcanics, the dacitic lava of the Yongdongri Tuff, and dacitic rocks intruding and covering the Churyeong Breccia were determined as $24.0\pm0.5Ma,\;21.6\pm0.4Ma$, $21.8\pm0.1Ma,\;and\;22.0\pm0.5Ma$ respectively. The ages from the volcanics agrees well with the stratigraphy established by the latest field survey, which confirms that the $andesitic\~dacitic$ volcanism was followed by the basaltic volcanism during the Early Miocene.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.215-225
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• 1999

To study the vertical variations of major elements, trace elements and rare earth elements(REEs) contents in deep-sea sediments, six cores from Korea Deep-sea Environmental Study area(KODES) were analyzed. Topmost sediment layers of KODES area are divided into two Units; brown-colored and peneliquid Unit I and pale brown-colored and relatively solidified Unit II. Contents of major elements, REEs, Cu, Sr and Rb in each Unit are almost same, while contents of Mn, Ni and Co in Unit I are two or three times higher than those in Unit II. R-mode factor analysis represents that surface sediments are composed of alumino-silicate phase (AI-Ti-K-Mg-Fe-Rb-Ce), apatite phase (Ca-P-Cu-Sr-Trivalent Rare Earth Elements) and Mn-oxide phase(Mn-Ni-Co). Factor scores in silicate and apatite phases in each Unit are nearly same, whereas those in Mn-oxide phase in Unit I is higher than those in Unit II. While NilCu ratio in Unit I is two times higher than that in Unit II. We interprete the geochemical fractionation of Ni and Cu as a result that Ni can be remobilized in oxygen-depleted micro-environment in Units I and II and then easily reprecipitated in Unit I, while most of Cu supplied together with organic material is decomposed mostly in Unit I and sorbed into apatite.