• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2011

A multi-channel seismic reflection (MCS) survey was conducted in 2009 to explore the deep crustal structure of the Pacific Plate south of Hokkaido. The survey line happened to traverse a 250-km-wide Warm Core Ring (WCR), a current eddy that had been generated by the Kuroshio Extension. We attempted to use these MCS data to delineate the WCR fine structure. The survey line consists of two profiles: one with a shot interval of 200m and the other with a shot interval of 50 m. Records from the denser shot point line show much higher background noise than the records from the sparser shot point line. We identified the origin of this noise as acoustic reverberations between the sea surface, seafloor and subsurface discontinuities, from previous shots. Results showed that a prestack migration technique could enhance the signal buried in this background noise efficiently, if the sound speed information acquired from concurrent temperature measurements is available. The WCR is acoustically an assemblage of concave reflectors dipping inward, with steeper slopes (${\sim}2^{\circ}$) on th ocean side and gentler slopes (${\sim}1^{\circ}$) on the coastal side. Within the WCR, we recognised a 30-km-wide lens-shaped structure with reflectors on the perimeter.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.148-152
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• 2008

Multichannel seismic profiles reveal a strong bottom simulating reflector (BSR) occurring below the seafloor in the plain of the Ulleung Basin, East Sea (Japan Sea). The essential characteristics of the BSR include its cross-cutting relationship to strata, strong amplitude, and reverse polarity with respect to the seafloor reflection, representing the base of the gas hydrate stability zone (BHSZ). The BSR reflection coefficient ranging from -0.23 to -0.26 is 1.5${\sim}$1.7 times that of the seafloor reflection and interval velocities decrease to less than 700 m/s below the BSR. These features indicate the existence of free gas beneath the GHSZ. Heat flow, estimated from the BSR depth as $95{\sim}98mW/m^2$, is in good agreement with measured values. Therefore, the BSR can be efficiently used to estimate regional distribution of heat flow in the Ulleung Basin.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.3 s.178
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• pp.235-253
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• 2006

We interpreted marine seismic profiles in conjunction with swath bathymetric and magnetic data to investigate rifting to breakup processes at the Korean margin leading to the separation of the Japan Arc. The Korean margin is rimmed by fundamental elements of rift architecture comprizing a seaward succession of a rift basin and an uplifted rift flank passing into the slope, typical of a passive continental margin. In the northern part, rifting occurred in the Korea Plateau, a continental fragment extended and partially segmented from the Korean Peninsula, that provided a relatively broader zone of extension resulting in a number of rifts. Two distinguished rift basins (Onnuri and Bandal Basins) in the Korea Plateau we bounded by major synthetic and smaller antithetic faults, creating wide and symmetric profiles. The large-offset border fault zones of these basins have convex dip slopes and demonstrate a zig-zag arrangement along strike. In contrast, the southern margin is engraved along its length with a single narrow rift basin (Hupo Basin) that is an elongated asymmetric half-graben. Rifting at the Korean margin was primarily controlled by normal faulting resulting from extension in the west and southeast directions orthogonal to the inferred line of breakup along the base of the slope rather than strike-slip deformation. Although rifting involved no significant volcanism, the inception of sea floor spreading documents a pronounced volcanic phase which seems to reflect slab-induced asthenospheric upwelling as well as rift-induced convection particularly in the narrow southern margin. We suggest that structural and igneous evolution of the Korean margin can be explained by the processes occurring at the passive continental margin with magmatism intensified by asthenospheric upwelling in a back-arc setting.