• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.473-490
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• 2007

Strata of the Kachi-1 well, Kunsan Basin, offshore western Korea, were analyzed by using integrated stratigraphy approach. As a result, five distinct unconformity-bounded units are recognized in the well: Triassic, Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, Early Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, and Middle Miocene units. Each unit represents a tectono-stratigraphic unit that provides time-sliced information on basin-forming tectonics, sedimentation, and basin-modifying tectonics of the Kunsan Basin. In the late Late Jurassic, development of second- or third-order wrench faults along the Tan-Lu fault system probably initiated a series of small-scale strike-slip extensional basins. Continued sinistral movement of these wrench faults until the Late Cretaceous caused a mega-shear in the basin, forming a large-scale pull-apart basin. However, in the Early Tertiary, the Indian Plate began to collide with the Eurasian Plate, forming a mega-suture zone. This orogenic event, namely the Himalayan Orogeny, continued by late Eocene and was probably responsible for initiation of right-lateral motion of the Tan-Lu fault system. The right-lateral strike-slip movement of the Tan-Lu fault caused the tectonic inversion of the Kunsan Basin. Thus, the late Eocene to Oligocene was the main period of severe tectonic modification of the basin. After the Oligocene, the Kunsan Basin has maintained thermal subsidence up to the present with short periods of marine transgressions extending into the land part of the present basin.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2013

Focal mechanism solutions in the southwestern region of the Korean Peninsula ($34^{\circ}N-36^{\circ}N$, $126^{\circ}E-128^{\circ}E$) were obtained from the analysis of the recent 22 earthquakes ($M{\geq}2.0$) occurred from January, 2005 to March, 2011. The spatial differences between the epicenters recalculated by this study and those by KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) and KIGAM (Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) are less than $0.05^{\circ}$, indicating a small deviation. However, they become a little bit larger in the coastal area due to a biased arrangement of seismic stations. Redetermined depths of hypocenters show a difference less than 12.7 km by comparison with the depth data announced by KIGAM. Most epicenters in inland area are located closely to the lineaments. Fault plane solutions were obtained from the analysis of P and SH wave polarities, and SH/P amplitude ratios. They show strike-slip faulting or strike-slip faulting with reverse components dominantly. The P-axes trends are mainly ENE-WSW or E-W directions. The direction of fault plane and auxiliary plane with 'NNE-SSW and WNW-ESE' or 'NE-SW and NW-SE' are dominant and almost parallel to the general trends of lineaments in the study area.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.615-627
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• 2021

The Baekildo fault, a dextral strike-slip fault developed in Baekil Island, Goheung-gun, controls the distribution of tuffaceous sandstone and lapilli tuff and shows a complex fracture system around it. In this study, we examined the spatial variation in the geometry and connectivity of the fracture system by using circular sampling and topological analysis based on a detailed fracture trace map. As a result, both intensity and connectivity of the fracture system are higher in tuffaceous sandstone than in lapilli tuff. Furthermore, the degree of the orientation dispersion, intensity, and average length of fracture sets vary depending on the along-strike variation in structural position in the tuffaceous sandstone. Notably, curved fractures abutting the fault at a high angle occur at a fault bend. Based on the detailed observation and analyses of the fracture system, we conclude as follows: (1) the high intensity of the fracture system in the tuffaceous sandstone is caused by the higher content of brittle minerals such as quartz and feldspar. (2) the connectivity of the fracture system gets higher with the increase in the diversity and average length of the fracture sets. Finally, (3) the fault bend with geometric irregularity is interpreted to concentrate and disturb the local stress leading to the curved fractures abutting the fault at a high angle. This contribution will provide important insight into various geologic and structural factors that control the development of fracture systems around faults.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.645-660
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• 2018

In the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula, huge fault valleys, including the Yangsan and Ulsan faults, are recognized. These NNE-SSW trending lineaments are called as a whole Yangsan Fault System. However, this fault system is relatively poorly studied except the Yangsan and Ulsan faults. This study deduced the paleostress history based on the mutual cross-cutting relationships between geologic structures developed in the granite body near the Ilgwang fault, which is compared with previous studies. In the study area, four lineaments parallel to the Ilgwang fault are recognized, and three of them show evidences of faulting. In each lineament, both slip-senses of left-lateral and right-lateral are recognized. It indicates that these faults consistently underwent multiple deformations of inversion along the faults. The inferred paleostress directions based on the mutual cross-cutting relationships of the geological structures are as follows: 1) Tensile fractures developed in the late Cretaceous under the ENE-WSW direction of compressive stress, 2) NW-SE trending maximum horizontal principal stress generated conjugate strike-slip faults, and 3) selective reactivations of some structures were derived under the compression by the NE-SW trending principal stress.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.78-84
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• 2008

Recent earthquakes near nuclear power plants in Korea have triggered public concerns about possible seismicity of the Ulsan Fault Zone in the south-eastern part of the Korean peninsula. To reveal subsurface structures of this fault zone, we conducted high-resolution seismic refraction and reflection surveys, and closely spaced gravity measurements in the Dongchon River valley north of Ulsan, Korea. Here alluvium covers the north-south trending fault zone in a 1-km wide valley. Both source points and receivers were spaced at 5-m intervals for the 24-channel seismic refraction and reflection methods, along two profiles of 835 m and 415 m length. Gravity data were also measured along these profiles at 131 stations using a 10-m interval. Synergetic interpretation of seismic refraction, high-resolution seismic reflection, and gravity surveys across the valley indicates that the Ulsan Fault Zone was formed by apparent north-south strike-slip motions during the Cretaceous, and that some faults may have been reactivated by east-west compressional or transpressional stresses during the Tertiary or Quaternary.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2011

We acquired and interpreted more than 650 km of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles in the Hupo Basin, offshore east coast of Korea at $37^{\circ}N$ in the East Sea (Japan Sea) to image shallow and basement deformation. The seismic profiles reveal that the main depocenter of the Hupo Basin in the study area is bounded by the large offset Hupo Fault on the east and an antithetic fault on the west; however, the antithetic fault is much smaller both in horizontal extension and in vertical displacement than the Hupo Fault. Sediment infill in the Hupo Basin consists of syn-rift (late Oligocene. early Miocene) and post-rift (middle Miocene.Holocene) units. The Hupo Fault and other faults newly defined in the Hupo Basin strike dominantly north and show a sense of normal displacement. Considering that the East Sea has been subjected to compression since the middle Miocene, we interpret that these normal faults were created during continental rifting in late Oligocene to early Miocene times. We suggest that the current ENE direction of maximum principal compressive stress observed in and around the Korean peninsula associated with the motion of the Amurian Plate induces the faults in the Hupo Basin to have reverse and right-lateral, strike-slip motion, when reactivated. A recent earthquake positioned on the Hupo Fault indicates that in the study area and possibly further in the eastern Korean margin, earthquakes would occur on the faults created during continental rifting in the Tertiary.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.16-22
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• 2003

The focal mechanisms of the earthquakes occurred in 2001 and 2002 are analyzed to understand the regional stress and tectonics in and around Korean Peninsula. The forty -three fault plane solutions are derived using the polarities of first arrival P-waves recorded at KIGAM, Bmh and KEPRI stations. The result suggest that thrust motion with significant amount of strike slip component is dominant mode of faulting. The larger population of mechanism is characterized by WNW-ESE striking nodal planes. NE-SW direction is interpreted as dominant compressional axis orientation of stress field. These solutions are similar to those of medium size earthquakes studied previously, which is known as typical regional tectonic stress orientation in and around Korean Peninsula.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2018

We analyze geological, petrophysical and geomechanical characteristics of a $CO_2$ sequestration test site, Pohang. The target reservoir exists at a depth of 750 m, where porous and permeable sandstones/conglomerates prevail. The reservoir is underlain by thick mudstone formations. We estimate in situ stress conditions using an exploratory wellbore drilled through the target reservoir. The in situ stress condition is characterized by a strike-slip faulting favored stress regime. We discuss various aspects of reservoir fracture pressures and fault reactivation pressures based on the stress magnitudes.

• 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.17 no.3
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• pp.215-230
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• 1984

Petrological, paleomagnetic, geomorphological and structural studies on the southern part of, so called, Chugaryeong rift valley, have been carried out in order to clarify the nature of the rift valley. Three stages of volcanic activities characterized by Jijangbong acidic volcanic rocks and tholeiitic and andesitic basalt of Cretaceous age(?), and Jongok Quaternary olivine basalt occurred along the Dongducheon fault line. Jijangbong acidic volcanic rocks distributed in the central part of the studied area consist of rhyodacite, acidic tuff and tuff breccia, which are bounded by Dongsong fault on the east and Daegwangri fault on the west. The Jongok basalt differs from those of Ulrung and Jeju islands in mineralogy, chemical composition and differentiation. Jongok basalt distributed along the Hantan river dilineates the vesicles curved toward downstream direction and increment of numbers and thickness of lava flow toward upstream direction. These facts suggest that lava flowed from upstream side of the river. Rectangular drainage patterns also support the presence of the Dongducheon, Pocheon, Wangsukcheon and Kyonggang faults which were previously known. LANDSAT image, however, does not show any lineaments which could be counted as a graben or rift valley. Displacement of Precambrian quartzite and Jurassic Daedong supergroup along the southwestern extension of the Dongducheon fault shows the right lateral movement. The Paleomagnetic study of the tholeiitic and andesitic basalts from Baegeuri, Jangtanri and Tonghyeonri located at 2. 3km east, 0km east, and 1.5km west of Dongducheon fault respectively shows that their VGP(Virtual Geomagnetic Pole) being to intermediate geomagnetic field of short duration which suggests that they formed in almost same period. Mean VGP of Jongok basalt is located 82.4N and 80.6E. This is in good coincidence with worldwide VGP of Plio-Pleistocene indicating that Jongok basalt was extruded during Plio-Pleistocene epoch, and suggesting that the studied area has been tectonically stable since then. From the present study, the tectonic episode of the region is concluded as following three stages. 1. The 1st period is worked by the Daebo orogeny of Jurassic during which granodiorite was intruded in Precambrian basement. 2. The 2nd period is the time when right lateral strike-slip fault of NNE-SSW direction was formed probably during late Cretaceous to Paleogene and the Jijangbong acidic volcanic rocks and the older basalts were extruded. 3. The 3rd period is the time when the fault was rejuvenated during Pliocene or Pleistocene accompanied by the eruption of Jongok basalt. As a conclusion, geologic structure of the studied area is rather fault line valley than graben or rift valley, which is formed by differential erosion along the Dongducheon fault suggesting a continuation of the Sikhote-Alin fault. The volcanic rocks including the Jijangbong acidic rocks, tholeiitic-andesitic basalt and olivine basalt are associated with this fault line.