• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.5 no.1_2 s.6
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• pp.27-35
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• 1997

The Gorae II area is located in the southwestern margin of the Ulleung Basin, East Sea and corresponds to the Ulleung Trough. The survey of 3D seismic data in this area was performed to delineate the structural leads confirmed by the previous 2D seismic data. As a part of 3D interpretation, basement related structural movements and their relationship with the stratigraphy were studied. The study shows that eight sequences were identified which are genetically related to the tectonics and sediment supply in this area. The geologic structures characterizing the study area consist of : (1) block faults developed in the early stage of basin opening, (2) late Miocene thrusts, and (3) Pliocene wrench faults. The eight sequences consist of pre-rift (acoustic basement), syn-rift (Sequence $A_1, A_2$), post-rift (Sequence $B_1{\~}B_3$), syn-compressional sequence (Sequence C), and post-compressional sequence(Sequence D) from oldest to youngest. The time structure and isochron maps were constructed for each sequence and also used in seismic facies analysis and interpretation of sedimentary environment. The interpretation results reveal that the relative sea level changes caused by several stages of tectonic movements and sediment supply control the stratal and structural geometry of Ulleung basin.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.267-278
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• 2013

The East African Rift System(EARS) is known to be hosted epithermal Au-Ag deposits, and the best-known example is Main Ethiopian Rift Valley(MER) related to Quaternary bimodal volcanism. Large horst-graben system during rifting provides open space for emplacement of bimodal magmas and flow channel of geothermal fluids. In recent, large hydrothermally altered zones(Shala, Langano, and Allalobeda) and hot spring related to deeply circulating geothermal water have been increasing their importance due to new discoveries in MER and Danakil depression. The hot springs in Shala and Allalobeda occur as boiling pool and geyser on the surface, whereas some areas didn't observe them due to decreasing ground water table. The host rocks are altered to quartz, kaolinite, illite, smectite, and chlorite due to interaction with rising geothermal water. The hot springs in MER are neutral to slightly alkaline pH(7.88~8.83) and mostly classified into $HCO_3{^-}$ type geothermal water. They are strongly depleted in Au, and Ag, but show a higher Se concentration of up to 26.7 ppm. In contrast, siliceous altered rocks around hot springs are strongly enriched in Pb(up to 33 ppm, Shala), Zn(up to 313 ppm, Shala), Cu(up to 53.1 ppm, Demaegona), and Mn(up to 0.18 wt%t, Shala). In conclusion, anomalous Se in hot spring water, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Mn in siliceous altered rocks, and new discoveries in MER have been increasing potential for epithermal gold mineralization.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.155-169
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• 2003

In the northwest Okcheon metamorphic belt, the metaigneous rocks in the Gyemyeongsan Formation have wider chemical ranges for major, trace and REE elements compared with metaigneous rocks in the Munjuri Formation and do not represent bimodal igneous activity which is characteristic for a continental rifting. The metaigneous rocks in the Munjuri Formation are regarded as products of single magmatic evolution, whereas those in the Gyemyeongsan Formation may be formed through multiple magmatic episodes. The felsic metavolcanic rocks in the Gyemyeongsan Formation show weaker Eu negative anomalies compared with those in the Munjuri Formation but those in both formations show similar degrees of enrichment from LREE to HREE. The metabasites in the Munjuri Formation do not show Eu anomalies but those in the Gyemyeongsan Formation show both positive and negative Eu anomalies(0.59

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.367-383
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• 2012

The Gyeongsang Arc is the most notable of the Korea Arc that is composed of several volcanic arcs trending to NE-SW direction in the Korean peninsula. The Hayang Group has many volcanogenic interbeds of lava flows by alkaline or calc-alkaline basaltic volcanisms during early Cretaceous. Late Cretaceous calc-alkaline andesitic and rhyolitic volcanisms reconstructed the Gyeongsang Arc that consist of thick volcanic strata on the Hayang Group in The Gyeongsang Basin. The volcanisms characterize first eruptions of basaltic and andesitic lavas with small pyroclastics, and continue later eruptions of dacitic and rhyolitic ash-fall and voluminous ash-flow with some calderas and then domes and dykes. During the Early Cretaceous (about 120 Ma), oblique subduction of the Izanagi plate to NNW from N direction results in sinistral strike-slip faults to open a pull-apart basin in back-arc area of the Gyeongsang Arc, in which erupted lava flows from generation of magma by a decrease in lithostatic pressure. Therefore the Gyeongsang Basin is interpreted into back-arc basin reconstructed by a continental rifting. Arc volcanism began in about 100 Ma with exaggeration of the back-arc basin in the Gyeongsang, and then changed violently to construct volcanic arcs. During the Late Cretaceous (about 90 Ma), orthogonal subduction of the Izanagi plate to NW from NNW direction ceased development of the basin to prolong violent volcanisms.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.620-642
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• 2006

The Moho structure and its deformation in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula were estimated using gravity and topography data. Gravity signals from the upper and lower crust were separated using a filter that was computed from isostacy and elastic thickness. The result of this study shows three characteristic features of the Moho deformation. First, the Moho folding structure is parallel to SKTL (the South Korean Tectonic Line), which indicates positive association with the collision of the Yeongnam and Gyeonggi Massifs and repeated compression afterwards. In contrast, noticeable deformation of the Moho was not observed along the Imjingang Belt, which is interpreted as another continental collisional belt in the Korean Peninsula. Second, the Moho beneath the Gyeongsang Basin has remarkably risen; this seems to be the result from both the collisional compression and buoyancy caused by magmatic underplating. Third, the Moho deformation is shallowest in the east of the Taebaek Mountains and deepens toward the west, consistent with the topographic characteristic of the Korean Peninsula of "high east and low west". It can be interpreted as the results of the opening of the East Sea and Ulleung Basin. A tectonic explanation for this could be the ascent of the mantle induced by continental rifting and horizontal extension at the early stage of the opening of the East Sea. The Moho deformation model computed in this study correlates well with the earthquake distribution and crustal movement measured by GPS. We suggest that the compression along the SKTL is still exerted, consequently, the Moho deformation is active, although it may be weak.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.447-463
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• 1991

Petrological and chemical studies of Precambrian dikes in the southern Lake Superior region were conducted with the objects of evaluating magma source and constraining models for the paleo-tectonic environment. Forty-six samples were analyzed for major, trace, and rare earth elements. Chemical data of the studied dikes are typical of continental tholeiites and showing iron-enrichment fractionation trend. With wallrock contamination carefully evaluated, a series of tectonic discriminating methods utilizing immobile trace elements indicate that the source magma was a high-Ti tholeiitic basalt similar to present-day T-type MORB. Effect of chemical contamination from wallrock assimilation accmulates with increasing differentiation. Evolved rocks show LREE enriched patterns and have enhanced levels of LIL elements (e.g., Rb, K, Ba, Th), but low levels of high field strength elements (e.g., Nb, P, Ti) with respect to their neighboring elements. It is suggested from this study that this enrichment possibly due to a combination of a feature inherited from the subcontinental lithosphere and crustal contamination. Geochemical signatures of these rocks are distinctively different from those of arc-related volcanics. Comparisons with chemistries of modern magmas show a pattern of overlap between Within-plate and ocean-floor characteristics, and chemical signatures of these rocks favor a model of intrusion into a crustal environment undergoing lithospheric attenuation.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.385-398
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• 2017

Jiri Mountain lies in the southwestern portion of the Yeongnam massif, which is one of the Precambrian basement massifs of the Korean Peninsular, consisting essentially of high-grade metamorphic rocks. The geology of the area mainly consists of Paleoproterozoic metasedimentary migmatitic gneisses, granitic gneisses which are classified into granitic gneiss, (K-feldspar porphyroblastic) granitic gneiss and quartzo-feldspathic gneiss, charnockite and anorthosite based on their occurrence and petrographic characteristics. The ages obtained from these rocks mainly span a narrow range between ca. 1,876 and 1,856 Ma although inherited cores of zircons from massive granite gneiss yielded much older age spectrum (>2,029 Ma). The age of major metamorphism is ca. 1850-1840 Ma and the metamorphic condition obtained from mineral assemblages and geothermobarometers is about 4-6 kb and up to $700-750^{\circ}C$. These results indicate that in the area intense granitic magmatism and metamorphism occurred in the deep crust during Paleoproterozoic orogeny. Some younger age of charnockite (1,856-1,865 Ma) and anorthosite (1,861-1,862 Ma) might indicate the beginning of intraplate rifting leading to felsic and mafic magmatism just after the orogeny. In conclusion, the rocks in the Jiri Mountain area which formed at a mid to deep crustal zone provide us windows into the deep crust.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2008

Seismic interpretation was carried out based on biostratigraphy of Fukue-1 well in Japan side of the Domi Basin and compared with the Cheju Basin and Tertiary basins in north-west Kyushu. East China Sea Basin including Domi Basin began to develope in the latest Cretaceous$\sim$Paleocene related to rifting. The basin was filled with a thick package of syn-rift sediments during Paleocene to Oligocene and was under post-rift stage effected by transtenssion during Miocene. Previous studies suggest that the basin had been mostly filled with Miocene formation (>3 km), but the Miocene formation is interpreted to be comparatively thin in this study. The thickness of the Miocene formation varies from tens of meters to hundreds of meters and become thicker to the south-west of Cheju Basin. The index taxa of the Oligocene$\sim$Eocene nannofossils and dinoflagellates found in the Cheju Basin and Tertiary basins in north-west Kyushu also corroborate the result of this study.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.565-583
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• 2020

In recent years, various social issues related to the natural radioactive elements detected in household goods and building materials are addressed, and should be solved promptly. In Korea, for more than 20 years, the Ministry of Environment has investigated the natural radioactive materials such as heavy metals, uranium, and radon in soil or groundwater. The origins of natural radioactive materials in them may have a close correlation with the geological factors including classification of rocks, petrogenetic origins, and deformation characteristics, but the exact geological correlations are not clarified because of the absence of the government policy preserved in the basement rocks, soils as well as groundwater in fault-related reservoirs. This study aims to perform a research on the correlation between the petrogeneses of the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks and natural radioactive concentrations in rocks (radon, uranium, thorium, potassium etc.) in Korea. Among the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks, alkaline plutonic rocks (syenite, monzonite and monzodiorite and alkali granite) show high U and Th concentrations by high solubilities of U, Th, Zr, REE, and Nb until the most extreme stages of magmatic fractionation (viz. crystal fractionation) due to high magma temperature and high alkalinity tendency. The highly fractionated high-K calalkaline and peraluminous granitic rocks (leucogranite, two-mica granite and leucocratic pegmatite are also U and Th concentrations compared with other less or medium fractionated granitic rocks (diorite, granodiorite and granite). The alkaline plutonic rocks are associated with intracontinental rifting and extensional environment after crustal thickening by collisional and subductional processes. In contrast, the dominant calc-alkaline granitic rocks in Korea are related to the arc environment of the subduction zone. In summary, the trends of the U, Th and K concentration from the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks in Korea are closely linked to the petrogenesis of the rocks in tectonic environment. The preliminary data for gamma-spectrometric mesurments of natural radionuclide contents (²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K) in the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks show high values in the alkaline and highly fractionated granitic rocks.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2007

The southeastern Korean Peninsula has experienced crustal multi-deformations according to changes of global tectonic setting during the Cenozoic. Characteristic features of the crustal deformations in relation to major Cenozoic tectonic events are summarized as follows. (1) Collision of Indian and Eurasian continents and abrupt change of movement direction of the Pacific plate (50${\sim}$43 Ma): The collision of Indian and Eurasian continents caused the eastward extrusion of East Asia block as a trench-rollback, and then the movement direction of the Pacific plate was abruptly changed from NNW to WNW. As a result, the strong suction-force along the plate boundary produced a tensional stress field trending EW or WNW-ESE in southeastern Korea, which resultantly induced the passive intrusion of NS or NNE trending mafic dike swarm. (2) Opening of the East Sea (25${\sim}$16 Ma): The NS or NNW-SSE trending opening of the East Sea generated a dextral shear stress regime trending NNW-SSE along the eastern coast line of the Korean Peninsula. As a result, pull-apart basins were developed in right bending and overstepping parts along major dextral strike slip faults trending NNW-SSE in southeastern Korea. The basins can be divided into two types on the basis of geometry and kinematics: Parallelogram-shaped basin (rhombochasm) and wedged-shaped basin (sphenochasm), respectively. In those times, the basins and adjacent basement blocks experienced clockwise rotation and northwestward tilting contemporaneously, and the basins often experienced a kind of propagating rifting from NE toward SE. At about 17Ma, the Yonil Tectonic Line, which is the westernmost border fault of the Miocene crustal deformation in southeastern Korea, began to move as a major dextral strike slip fault. (3) Clockwise rotation of southeastern Japan Island (about 15 Ma): The collision of the Izu-Bonin Arc and southeastern Japan Island, as a result of northward movement of the Philippine sea-plate, induced the clockwise rotation of southeastern Japan Island. The event caused the NW-SE compression in the Korea Strait as a tectonic inversion, which resultantly tenninated the basin extension and caused local counterclockwise rotation of blocks in southeastern Korea. (4) E-W compression in the East Asia (after about 5 Ma): Decreasing subduction angle of the Pacific plate and eastward movement of the Amurian plate have constructed the-top-to-west thrusts and become a major cause for earthquakes in southeastern Korea until the present time.