• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2010

Seongnyu Cave have developed along the NE-SW direction in carbonate rocks of the Joseon Supergroup. The cave mostly shows horizontal passages and contains three lakes. The main passage is about 330 m long with 540 m-long branches, thus the total length of the cave is about 870 m. Through cave diving, about 85 m-long new passages were discovered. Numerous speleothems such as soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites, columns, flowstones, rimstones, cave shields, cave corals, curtains (and bacon sheets), cave pearls, cave flowers, helictites and calcite rafts can be found in the cave. Especially, some speleothems which were believed to have grown in the past were discovered in the submerged passage, and a few stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones and columns were eroded (or corroded) by the cave stream that flowed on the floor. Because these speleothems only grow in subaerial environments within limestone caves, it appears that they grew when there was no lake in the cave and became submerged as the lake level rose in the cave. The presence of these speleothems in the lakes indicate that they only grew during glacial periods when sea-level was lower. Therefore, detailed investigation of these speleothems will provide invaluable information on paleoclimatic evolution around the Korean peninsula in the future.