Stratigraphical Research of the Quaternary Deposits in the Korean Peninsula

韓半島 第四紀 地層의 層序的 考察

With regard to the Quaternary formations in the Korean Peninsula, very few studies have been done specially from a stratigraphic viewpoint. The alluvial sediments filling in the valleys have often been considered as the only formation of Quaternary age (more precisely of the Holocone) and so the Pleistocene was regarded as an erosional or nondepositional episode. This is apparently evident from a quick look at the general geological maps of the Peninsula, which show a lithological sequence of Mesozoic or Paleozoic substrata immediately overlain by Holocene alluvium. Likewise, the Pleistocene period was described in terms of unconformity in most local or regional stratigraphical successions of the Peninsula. Recently several different types of Quaternary formation, besides the so-called Holocene alluvium in the valley plain have been found around the Peninsula. They consist of coastal deposits, marine or fluviatile terrace deposits, ancient valley fill deposits or slope deposits. Some parts of the volcanic sediments in Jeju Is. are also known as the Quaternary sequence. Thus the Quaternary deposits in the Peninsula are far more developed than previously known to gelolgists. Moreover the importance of Quaternary research became recently apparent in Korea due to the shortage of raw materials and to the policy of an optimum land-use. Advanced constructions and land reclamation have required more precise engineering parameters of loose materials and an estimation of land stability. This does not imply only the engineering, or the structural properties of the loose material, but at the same time the basic study of the sediments from the stratigraphical and environmental viewpoints has been necessary. In this connection, Quaternary outcrops specially along the coastal fringe of the Peninsula have been mapped, profiled and sampled for sedimentological, clay-mineralogical and palaeomagnetic studies. All these results are compiled for the core of the Quaternary stratigraphy of the Peninsula.

韓半島에 분포하는 第四紀 地層들에 대한 기존의 지질학적 연구는 극히 미소한 편이였으며 계곡이나 평야등지에 분포하는 沖積層들이 第四紀 동안의 유일한 地層으로 대표되어 왔다. 따라서 韓半島의 第四紀 地質時代는 그 대부분이 堆積보다는 浸蝕이 우세하였던 시대로 認識되었으며 기존의 지질도들에 의하면 沖積層의 형성시기를 제외한 第四紀는 不整合으로 표시되었다. 이는 韓半島의 지질과 지형이 第四紀 地層이 형성되어 현재까지 殘存해 있을 수 있는 커다란 堆積盆地를 이루지 못한데 있다. 이와 반면에 現 地形의 산록이나 해안주변등에서는 서로 堆積 환경과 時代를 달리하는 第四紀 地層들이 소규모적이나 수직적으로는 良好한 분포를 보이는 지역들을 발견할 수 있다. 그 대표적인 예로서 동해안의 3개지역(북평, 울진, 포항)과 서해안의 고창지역에서는 砂礫이나 砂質粘土등으로 구성되어 있는 第四紀 地層들이 발달하여 있다. 本 地層들의 분포위치, 堆積相 및 古地磁氣 연구로서 地質時代를 규명하였으며 堆積構造와 粘土광물 분석등을 통하여 이들의 古環境을 해석하여 第四紀 동안 韓半島의 地質史를 규명하였다.