• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.1 s.47
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• pp.12-26
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• 2007

We have studied orientational characteristics of vertical rift and grain planes developing in 108 quarries for Mesozoic granites. Orientations of these planes vary in different localities. In general, orientations of these planes are predominantly NNE in South Korea. From the regional distribution chart, orientations of these planes show three dominant sets in terms of frequency orders: (1) $N2{\sim}10^{\circ}E(1st-order),\;(2)\;N15{\sim}25^{\circ}E(2nd-order),\;(3)\;N45{\sim}70^{\circ}E,\;N10{\sim}30^{\circ}W\;and\;N70{\sim}80^{\circ}W(3rd-order)$. These granite quarries are classified by the relative difference in the easiness of rock splitting between horizontal and vertical quarrying planes into: R-type, G-type, and H-type. The results showed that quarries for Triassic granites belong to R and G-types;those for Jurassic granites belong to R, G and H-types. In addition, quarries for Cretaceous granites belong mainly to R-type. Among these quarry types, the most diverse type was identified in the quarries for Jurassic granites. R-type (77.8%) shows a higher distribution ratio compared with G and H-types (22.2%). In general, anisotropy of physical properties is found in granitic rocks and there exists close correlation between orientations of granitic rock splitting planes and those of the open microcracks. Meanwhile, it has been reported that preferred orientations of open microcracks suggest maxinum principal stress orientations.