Sedimentological Study of the Nakdong Formation to analyse the Forming and Evolving Tectonics of the Cretaceous Gyeongsang Basin, I: Depositional Setting, Source, and Paleocurrent Analyses of the Nakdong Formation in the Southwestern Gyeongsang Basin

백악기 경상분지의 생성 및 진화에 관여한 지구조운동의 분석과 최하부 낙동층에 대한 퇴적학적 연구 I: 경상분지 서남단 낙동층의 퇴적환경과 기원암, 고수류 분석

The lowest formation of the Cretaceous Gyeongsang Supergroup, the Nakdong Formation, unconformably overlies the gneiss complex basement in Hadong, Gyeongsangnam-do and Gwangyang, Chullanam-do. The Nakdong Formation of the study area is 500-600 m thick and occurs as a belt shape. Based upon lithology, sedimentary structure, and bedding geometry the formation consists of three conglomerate facies (Gd, Gn, Gic), five sandstone facies (Sh-n, Sh-i, Sp, Sr, Sm), and four mudstone facies (Mf, Mfn, Mc, Mv). Sandstone facies are the most prominent in the study area. The twelve facies can be grouped into five facies associations. The depositional settings are elucidated from analyses of 12 facies and five facies associations of the formation. The lower part of the Nakdong Formation was deposited in alluvial plain, and the middle and upper parts were in a riverine system. The lithologies of the Nakdong Formation of the Gyeongsang Basin have been considered to consist of generally conglomerates and pebbly sandstones that were accumulated in alluvial fans. But the common lithology of the study area is sandstone which was formed in lower part of alluvial fan or fluvial setting. It is supposed that the coarser sedimentary sequence distributed west to the study area should be eroded out after deposition and early uplift, and the finer sandstone sequence in the east remains behind. The mineral composition of sandstones and the clast composition of conglomerates indicate that the Nakdong Formation was derived mainly from the metamorphic source rocks. Some reworked intraclasts were also supplied from the intrabasinal sedimentary layers. Paleocurrent data collected from cross-beddings, ripple marks, asymmetric sand dune suggest that most sediments were transported from north to south during the Nakdong Formation time.