• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.55 no.5
• /
• pp.541-550
• /
• 2022

A pre-existing landform is created by weathering and erosion along the bedrock fault and the weak zone. A neotectonic landform is formed by neotectonic movements such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and Quaternary faults. It is difficult to clearly distinguish the landform in the actual field because the influence of the tectonic activity in the Korean Peninsula is relatively small, and the magnitude of surface processes (e.g., erosion and weathering) is intense. Thus, to better understand the impact of tectonic activity and distinguish between pre-existing landforms and neotectonic landforms, it is necessary to understand the development process of pre-existing landforms depending on the bedrock characteristics. This study used a two-dimensional numerical landscape evolution model (LEM) to study the spatio-temporal development of landscape according to the different erodibility under the same factors of climate and the uplift rate. We used hill-slope indices (i.e., relief, mean elevation, and slope) and channels (i.e., longitudinal profile, normalized channel steepness index, and stream order) to distinguish the difference according to different bedrocks. As a result of the analysis, the terrain with high erosion potential shows low mean elevation, gentle slope, low stream order, and channel steepness index. However, the value of the landscape with low erosion potential differs from that with high erodibility. In addition, a knickpoint came out at the boundary of the bedrock. When researching the actual topography, the location around the border of difference in bedrock has only been considered a pre-existing factor. This study suggested that differences in bedrock and various topographic indices should be comprehensively considered to classify pre-existing and active tectonic topography.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.91-102
• /
• 1989

The gravity measurement has been conducted at 61 stations with an interval of about 500 to 1,000 m along two survey lines of about 47 Km between $Chungju-Jech{\check{o}}n$ and $Salmi-D{\check{o}}cksanmy{\check{o}}n$ in order to study on the subsurface geologic structure and structural relation between $Okch{\check{o}}n$ Group and Great Limestone Group of $Chos{\check{o}}n$ Supergroup. The Bouger gravity anomalies were obtained from the reduction of the field observations, and the distribution patterns of the basement and subsurface geologic structure were interpreted by means of the Fourier-Series and Talwani method for two-dimensional body. The depth of Conrad discontinuity varies from 12.7 Km to 15.7 Km, and vertical displacements along the Osanri and Bonghwajae faults are 1.0 Km and 1.5 Km, respectively between Chungju and $Jech{\check{o}}n$. The depth of Conrad discontinuity varies from 13.8 Km to 15.4 Km, and vertical displacement along the Bonghwajae fault is 0.5 Km between Salmi and $D{\check{o}}cksanmyon$. The basement is widely exposed at several places between Chungju and $Jech{\check{o}}n$. In the unexposed area between Osanri and $W{\check{o}}lgulri$, its depth is from 1.5 Km to 2.1 Km. It is displaced downward along the Osanri and Bonghwajae faults by 0.8 Km and 0.6 Km, respectively, and is displaced upward along the Dangdusan fault by 1.6 Km. On the other hand, the depth of the basement varies abruptly by the Sindangri, Jungwon, Kounri, and Bonghwajae faults between Salmi and $D{\check{o}}cksanmy{\check{o}}n$, and it is from 2.8 Km to 3.2 Km around $Salmimy{\check{o}}n$, from 1.6 Km to 2.5 Km between the Sindangri and Bonghwajae faults, 3.0 Km near Koburangjae, and 2.5 Km at $Doj{\check{o}}nri$. The high Bouguer gravity anomalies are due to the accumulation of $Okch{\check{o}}n$ Group and $Jangs{\check{o}}nri$ Metamorphic Complex whose density is higher than the basement exposed between Sondong and Osanri, and imply the existance of Bonghwajae Metabasite or hornblende gabbro of high density distributed along the Bonghwajae fault in the vicinity of Koburangjae. The low Bouguer gravity anomalies resulted form the fracture zone associated with fault or rock of low density imply the existance of the Osanri, Bonghwajae, Dangdusan faults and $Daed{\check{o}}cksan$ thrust between Chungju and $Jech{\check{o}}n$, the uplift of the basement by the Sindangri, Jungwon, Kounri, and Bonghwajae faults, and extensive distribution of Cretaceous biotite granites between Salmi and $Docksanmy{\check{o}}n$. The thickness of $Okch{\check{o}}n$ metasediments varies from 1.5 Km to 3.2 Km, and that of Great Limestone Group of $Chos{\check{o}}n$ Supergroup from 200 m to 700 m. It is interpreted that $Okch{\check{o}}n$ Group is in contact with Great Limestone Group of $Chos{\check{o}}n$ Supergroup by the fault zones of the Bonghwajae and $Daed{\check{o}}cksan$ faults, and the Bongwhajae fault is a thrust of high angle, by which the east of the basement is displaced downward 0.5 Km between Chungju and lechon, and 1.0 Km between Salmi and $D{\check{o}}cksanmy{\check{o}}n$.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.335-365
• /
• 2012

Fission-track (FT) thermochronological records from SE Korean Cretaceous-Paleogene granitic plutons in different fault-bounded blocks reveal contrasting cooling and later thermal histories. Overall cooling patterns are represented by a monotonous (J-shaped) curve in most plutons except some Cretaceous granites retaining a complicated (N-shaped) path due to post-reset re-cooling. Discriminative cooling rates over different temperature ranges can be explained for individual plutons with respect to relative pluton sizes, differences in initial heat loss depending on country rocks, and the presence and proximity of later igneous activity. Even within a single batholith, cooling times for different isotherms were roughly contemporaneous with respect to positions. Insignificant deviations in cooling ages from two different plutons in succession across the Yangsan fault may suggest their contemporaneity before major horizontal fault movement. The extent of later thermal rise recorded locally along the Yangsan and Dongnae fault zones were reached the Apatite Partial Stability Zone ($70-125^{\circ}C$), but did not exceed $200^{\circ}C$. Thermal alteration from fractured zones in the Yangsan-Ulsan fault junction may suggest a thermal reset above $290^{\circ}C$ resulting a complete reset in FT sphene age (31 Ma), caused by a tectonic subsidence in Early Oligocene. A consistency in FT zircon/apatite ages (24 Ma) may imply a sudden rapid cooling over $200-105^{\circ}C$, plausibly related to the abrupt tectonic uplift of the Pohang-Gampo Block including the fault junction in Late Oligocene. A remarkable trend of lower cooling ages for $300-200-100^{\circ}C$ isotherms (i.e., 19% for FT sphene and K-Ar biotite; 20% for FT zircon; 27% for FT apatite) from the east of the Ulsan fault (Pohang-Gampo Block) comparing to the west of the fault may be attributed to retarded cooling times from the Paleogene granites and also reflected by their partially-reduced apatite ages due to later thermal effects.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
• /
• v.8 no.1_2 s.9
• /
• pp.1-43
• /
• 2000

A comparison study for understanding a stratigraphic response to tectonic evolution of sedimentary basins in the Yellow Sea and adjacent areas was carried out by using an integrated stratigraphic technology. As an interim result, we propose a stratigraphic framework that allows temporal and spatial correlation of the sedimentary successions in the basins. This stratigraphic framework will use as a new stratigraphic paradigm for hydrocarbon exploration in the Yellow Sea and adjacent areas. Integrated stratigraphic analysis in conjunction with sequence-keyed biostratigraphy allows us to define nine stratigraphic units in the basins: Cambro-Ordovician, Carboniferous-Triassic, early to middle Jurassic, late Jurassic-early Cretaceous, late Cretaceous, Paleocene-Eocene, Oligocene, early Miocene, and middle Miocene-Pliocene. They are tectono-stratigraphic units that provide time-sliced information on basin-forming tectonics, sedimentation, and basin-modifying tectonics of sedimentary basins in the Yellow Sea and adjacent area. In the Paleozoic, the South Yellow Sea basin was initiated as a marginal sag basin in the northern margin of the South China Block. Siliciclastic and carbonate sediments were deposited in the basin, showing cyclic fashions due to relative sea-level fluctuations. During the Devonian, however, the basin was once uplifted and deformed due to the Caledonian Orogeny, which resulted in an unconformity between the Cambro-Ordovician and the Carboniferous-Triassic units. The second orogenic event, Indosinian Orogeny, occurred in the late Permian-late Triassic, when the North China block began to collide with the South China block. Collision of the North and South China blocks produced the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu-Imjin foldbelts and led to the uplift and deformation of the Paleozoic strata. Subsequent rapid subsidence of the foreland parallel to the foldbelts formed the Bohai and the West Korean Bay basins where infilled with the early to middle Jurassic molasse sediments. Also Piggyback basins locally developed along the thrust. The later intensive Yanshanian (first) Orogeny modified these foreland and Piggyback basins in the late Jurassic. The South Yellow Sea basin, however, was likely to be a continental interior sag basin during the early to middle Jurassic. The early to middle Jurassic unit in the South Yellow Sea basin is characterized by fluvial to lacustrine sandstone and shale with a thick basal quartz conglomerate that contains well-sorted and well-rounded gravels. Meanwhile, the Tan-Lu fault system underwent a sinistrai strike-slip wrench movement in the late Triassic and continued into the Jurassic and Cretaceous until the early Tertiary. In the 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 the Tan-Lu fault until the late Eocene caused a megashear in the South Yellow Sea basin, forming a large-scale pull-apart basin. However, the Bohai basin was uplifted and severely modified during this period. h pronounced Yanshanian Orogeny (second and third) was marked by the unconformity between the early Cretaceous and late Eocene in the Bohai basin. In the late Eocene, the Indian Plate began to collide with the Eurasian Plate, forming a megasuture zone. This orogenic event, namely the Himalayan Orogeny, was probably responsible for the change of motion of the Tan-Lu fault system from left-lateral to right-lateral. The right-lateral strike-slip movement of the Tan-Lu fault caused the tectonic inversion of the South Yellow Sea basin and the pull-apart opening of the Bohai basin. Thus, the Oligocene was the main period of sedimentation in the Bohai basin as well as severe tectonic modification of the South Yellow Sea basin. After the Oligocene, the Yellow Sea and Bohai basins have maintained thermal subsidence up to the present with short periods of marine transgressions extending into the land part of the present basins.