• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.116-128
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• 2007

Detailed geological mapping, petrographic study, analyses of geochemistry and magnetic susceptibility, and K-Ar dating were carried out in order to determine the origin, age, and stratigraphic implications of granitic rock fragments in the pyroclastic rocks, SE Jinhae city, southern part of the Gyeongsang Basin. As a result, it was found that the area is composed of volcanics and tuffaceous sediments of the Yucheon Group, Bulguksa granites, pyroclastics bearing granitic rock fragments, $basalt{\sim}basaltic$ andesite, and rhyolite in ascending stratigraphic order. The granitic rock fragments in the pyroclastic rocks are divided into granodiorite and biotite granite, which have approximately the same characteristics as the granodiorite and the biotite granite of the Bulguksa granites, respectively, in and around the study area including color, grain size, mineral composition, texture (perthitic and micrographic textures), intensity of magnetic susceptibility (magnetite series), and geochemical features (calc-alkaline series and REE pattern). This leads to the conclusion that the rock fragments originated from the late Cretaceous Bulguksa granites abundantly distributed in and around the study area, but not from the basement rocks of the Yeongnam massif or the Jurassic granites. Based on relative and absolute ages of various rocks in the study area, the pyroclastics bearing granitic rock fragments are interpreted to have erupted between 52 and 16 Ma, i.e. during the Eocene and early Miocene. These results indicate that the various volcanisms, acidic to basic in composition, occurred after the intrusion of the Bulguksa granites, contrary to the general stratigraphy of the Gyeongsang Basin. Very detailed and cautious mapping together with relative and absolute age determinations are, thus, necessary in order to establish reliable stratigraphy of the Yucheon Group in other areas of the Gyeongsang Basin.