• 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.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.224-232
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• 2000

Inorganic nutrient concentrations in relation to springtime physical parameters of the Yellow Sea were investigated during April 1996. Three major water masses, i.e., the Yellow Sea Warm Current Water (YSWC), Coastal Current Water (CCW) and Changjiang River Diluted Water (CRDW), prevailed in the study area. Water masses were vertically wel1 mixed throughout the study area, and nutrients were supplied adequately from bottom to surface layer. As result of ample nutrients supplied by vertical mixing together with progressed daylight condition, springtime phytoplankton blooms were observed, which was responsible for the depletion of inorganic nutrients in surface water column. Low nutrients concentration in bottom water of the central Yellow Sea (Stn. D9; nitrate: <2 ${\mu}$M, phosphate: <0.3 ${\mu}$) was associated with the entrance of YSWC which is characterized by high temperature and salinity. Influenced by runoff and vertical tidal mixing, CCW with high nutrient concentrations probably associated with China and Korea coastal waters with high nutrients concentration. For the local scale of inorganic nutrient distribution, nutrient transfers from coast to central areas were limited due to restriction imposed by tidal fronts (Stn. D6) and thus affected the horizontal nutrient profiles. Relatively high phytoplankton biomass was observed in the tidal front (Chl-${\alpha}$=12.38 ${\mu}$gL$^{-1}$) during the study period. Overall, the springtime nutrient distribution patterns in the Yellow Sea appeared to be affected by: (1) Large-scale influx of YSWC with low nutrient concentrations and CCW with high nutrient concentrations influenced by Korea and China coastal waters; (2) vertical mixing of water mass and phytoplankton distribution; and (3) local-scale tidal front as well as phytoplankton blooms alongthe tidal front.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.126-134
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• 2001

Several angular sandstone fragments (about 7 cm in longest diameter) occur in two piston cores, obtained from the submarine trough in the northeastern part of Korea Strait. The origin of the sandstone fragments and the paleoenvironment of trough sediment could be suggested from sedimentary facies analysis of cores and identification of ostracod within sandstone fragments. Echo characteristics around two core sites in submarine trough represent the prolonged bottom echoes with diffuse or no subbottom reflectors. The cores consist of a lower bioturbated mud and an upper gravelly sand sediments with sandstone/shell fragments. The bioturbated mud sediments show low water contents (27-44%) and high shear strength (19.2->37 kPa) compared with those of Holocene sediments (60-219% and 1.0-2.7 kPa, respectively) in the inner shelf and continental slope. However, clay contents (48-56%) of the bioturbated mud sediments are similar to those of fluviatile Holocene sediments in the inner shelf. The mean grain size of gravelly sand sediments ranges from 2.3 to 3.0 ${\phi}$ and shows coarsening upward with sandstone/shell fragments. The Holocene palimpsest in the continental shelf are composed of muddy sand sediments or sandy mud sediments (mean grain size: 4.6-7.6 ${\phi}$). Those suggest that two core sediments might be formed from Paleofluvial and paleocoastal deposits during sea-level lowstand. However, sandstone fragments mainly consist of quartz grains and bioclasts, with carbonate matrix, hollow pore, and glauconite. Two extinct ostracod species, Normanicythere sp. and Kotoracythere sp., are recovered in the sand-stone fragments of core EP-7, and they continued to exist from late Pliocene to early Pleistocene in cold water environment of this area. Thus, the sandstone fragments are interpreted to be formed at the paleocoastal environment derived from the Plio-Pleistocene outcrops exposed around the submarine trough during the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum) period.