• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.261-281
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• 2016

Our knowledge of the lithosphere beneath the Korean Peninsula has been improved through petrologic and geochemical studies of upper mantle xenoliths hosted by Quaternary intraplate alkali basalts from Jeju Island. The xenoliths are mostly spinel lherzolites, accompanied by subordinate harzburgite and pyroxenites. The mantle xenoliths represent residual mantle material showing textural and geochemical evidence for at least a three-stage evolution, fractional partial melting, recrystallization, and metasomatism. Their composition primarily controlled by early fractional melt extraction and porphyroclastic and mylonitic fabrics formed in a shear-dominated environment, which was subsequently modified by residual slab-derived fluids (or melts). Modal metasomatic products occur as both anhydrous phase(orthopyroxene) and hydrous phase (phlogopite). Late-stage orthopyroxene is more common than phlogopite. However, chemical equilibrium is evident between the primary and secondary orthopyroxene, implying that the duration of post-metasomatic high temperatures enabled complete resetting/reequilibration of the mineral compositions. The metasomatic enrichment pre-dates the host Jeju Quaternary magmatism, and a genetic relationship with the host magmas is considered unlikely. Following enrichment in the peridotite protolith in the mantle wedge, the upper mantle beneath proto-Jeju Island was transformed from a subarc environment to an intraplate environment. The Jeju peridotites, representing old subarc fragments, were subsequently transported to the surface, incorporated into ascending Quaternary intraplate alkali basalt. The result of this study implies that long term material transfer in the transformation of geotectonic setting from a subarc to intraplate may have played a significant role in the evolution of lithospheric mantle, resulting in the enriched mantle domains, such as EM I or EM II in the lithospheric mantle beneath East Asia.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.173-182
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• 2022

Dongsuak crater, located in the mid-mountainous region of Jeju Island, is located at an altitude of about 700 m, and the newly discovered Dongsuak spinel peridotites was enclosed in Dongsuak alkaline basalt. The Dongsuak spinel peridotites are composed of olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and spinel with porphyroclastic texture under the an equilibrium state. The variations of mineral major and trace compositions indicates that the Dongsuak spinel peridotites originate at depth from 66 to 88 km under an equilibrium temperature of about 960℃~1068℃. The Dongsuak spinel peridotites have been undergone about 1~3% fractional melting. The LREE-enriched characteristics indicate that the Dongsuak spinel peridotites have been undergone cryptic metasomatism by silicate melt without new minerals.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.365-376
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• 2023

Songaksan, formed about 3800 year ago, is one of the tuff rings in the Jeju Island. Mantle xenoliths, spinel peridotites, are enclosed in the Songaksan Trachybasalt. The spinel peridotites are less than 2 cm in size and are composed of olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and spinel. The uniform compositions of the minerals from core to rim indicate that equilibrium was reached in the spinel peridotites before these were enclosed in the host magma. The spinel peridotites originated at depths between 55 and 60 km with equilibrium temperatures ranging from 915 to 968℃. The spinel peridotites from Songaksan reveal porphyroclastic texture with a lot of neoblast minerals. Olivines display strong kink banding, indicating that the upper mantle of Songaksan has been deformed. The spinel peridotites from Songaksan have undergone about 5~7% fractional melting, and cryptic metasomatism by an silicate melt. The period of entrainment and transport of the spinel peridotites in the host magma is about 15 days.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.61-72
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• 2005

Modal and chemical compositions of clinopyroxnes in spinel peridotites from the Baegryeong Island and the Boeun, enclosed in Miocene alkali basalt, are important for understanding the pre-eruptive temperature condition and chemical processes such as mantle depletion and enrichment. All spinel peridotites show transitional texture between protogranular and porphyroclastic textures. Temperature ranges of spinel peridotites from the Baegryeong Island and the Boeun at 15 kb are 773∼1188℃ and 705∼1106℃, respectively. The spinel peridotites from the Baegryeong Island and the Boeun have undergone the 1∼10% and 1∼4% fractional melting, which were determined by using primitive mantle-normalized Y and Yb of clinopyroxenes. LREE enrichment patterns of clinopyroxene indicate that these rocks from both areas have undergone cryptic mantle metasomatism without new minerals.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2024

The Melanesian region in the western Pacific is dominated by complex plate tectonics, with the largest oceanic plateau, the OntongJava plateau, and a hotspot, the Caroline Islands. To better understand the complex geodynamics of the region, we estimate P- and S-velocity models and 𝛿 (V_P/V_S) model by using relative teleseismic travel times measured at seismometers on land and the seafloor. Our results show high-velocity anomalies in the subduction zones of the Melanesian region to a depth of about 400 km, which is thought to be subducting Solomon Sea, Bismarck, and Australian plates along plate boundaries. Along subduction zones, positive 𝛿 (V_P/V_S) anomalies are found, which may be caused by partial melting due to dehydration. A broad high-velocity anomaly is observed at 600 km depth below the Ontong-Java plateau, with a negative 𝛿 (V_P/V_S) anomaly. This is thought to be a viscous and dry remnant of the Pacific plate that subducted at 45-25 Ma, with a low volume of fluids due to dehydration for a long period in the mantle transition zone. Beneath the Caroline Islands, a strong low-velocity anomaly is obseved to a depth of 800 km and appears to be connected to the underside of the remnant Pacific plate in the mantle transition zone. This suggests that the mantle plume originating in the lower mantle has been redirected due to the interaction with the remnant Pacific plate and has reached its current location. The mantle plume also has a positive 𝛿 (V_P/V_S) anomaly, which is thought to be due to the influence of embedded fluids or partial melting. A high-velocity anomaly, interpreted as an effect of the thick lithosphere beneath the Ontong-Java plateau, is observed down to 300 km depth with a negative 𝛿 (V_P/V_S) anomaly, which likely indicate that little fluid remains in the melt residue accumulated in the lithosphere.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.109-119
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• 2013

Duibaejae basalts from Goseong, Gangwon-do, are divided into the lower basalt and the upper basalt depending on the properties, such as occurrence, mineral compositions, and major and trace compositions of the basalts. The lower basalts have characteristics of agglomerate rocks as well as contain, crustal and mantle xenoliths, and olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase xenocrysts. The upper basalts with columnar joints contain relatively more mantle xenolith and olivine xenocryst than the lower basalts. The major and trace element compositions suggest that the composition of the upper basalts is close to primary magma composition. Enrichment and depletion patterns of the trace and the rare-earth elements of the lower basalts are similar to those of the upper basalts, whereas the lower basalts are more LREE enriched than the upper basalts. The source magmas of the lower and upper basalts from Duibaejae volcanic edifice were generated from about 0.8-1.2% and 3.7-4.0% batch melting of garnet peridotite, respectively. The abundance of granite xenolith, and plagioclase and quartz xenocrysts with reaction rim indicates that the lower basalts, compared with upper basalts, might have been assimilated with the crustal materials during ascending to surface.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.423-433
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• 2017

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and Department of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration in Myanmar have explored the Kalaymyo chromitite deposit, Myanmar since 2013. It is now necessary to find a geochemical indicator for efficient mineral exploration in the future and building a 3D geological model for this ore deposit. Mantle podiform chromitite is a major type of Cr ore in this region, which is considered to be formed by mantle-melt interaction beneath the mantle-crust boundary of oceanic lithosphere. In this study we measured major element composition of spinels in harzburgite, dunite and chromitite, and examined the hypothesis that spinel Cr#(molar Cr/(Cr+Al)${\times}$100) can be used as a geochemical indicator in exploration for the Kalaymyo chromitite. The results show that there is a clear correlation between spinel Cr# and distribution of chromitite. The spinel Cr# of harzburgite increases with decreasing the distance from the chromitite bodies. The spinel composition is also closely associated with texture and occurrence of spinels. The high Cr# spinels (30-48) are subhedral to euhedral and enclosed by olivine whereas the low Cr# spinels (16-27) are anhedral and commonly associated with pyroxenes. Often the low Cr# spinels show symplectite intergrowths with pyroxenes, indicating their residual nature. These petrological and geochemical results suggest that the high Cr# spinels have resulted from mantle-melt interaction. We suggest that spinel Cr# can be used as a geochemical indicator for Cr ore exploration and as one of critical factors in 3D geological model in the Kalaymyo chromitite deposit.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.367-375
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• 2010

Understanding the interactions between earth materials and fluids is essential for studying the diverse geological processes in the Earth's surface and interior. In order to better understand the interactions between earth materials and fluids, we explore the effect of specific surface area and porosity on structural parameters of pore structures. We obtained 3D pore structures, using random packing simulations of porous media composed of single sized spheres with varying the particle size and porosity, and then we analyzed configurational entropy for 2D cross sections of porous media and cube counting fractal dimension for 3D porous networks. The results of the configurational entropy analysis show that the entropy length decreases from 0.8 to 0.2 with increasing specific surface area from 2.4 to $8.3mm^2/mm^3$, and the maximum configurational entropy increases from 0.94 to 0.99 with increasing porosity from 0.33 to 0.46. On the basis of the strong correlation between the liquid volume fraction (i.e., porosity) and configurational entropy, we suggest that elastic properties and viscosity of mantle melts can be expressed using configurational entropy. The results of the cube counting fractal dimension analysis show that cube counting fractal dimension increases with increasing porosity at constant specific surface area, and increases from 2.65 to 2.98 with increasing specific surface area from 2.4 to $8.3mm^2/mm^3$. On the basis of the strong correlation among cube counting fractal dimension, specific surface area, and porosity, we suggest that seismic wave attenuation and structural disorder in fluid-rock-melt composites can be described using cube counting fractal dimension.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2017

We construct 3D SV-wave velocity structure of the crust and the upper mantle beneath East Asia from Rayleighwave group-velocity measurements. For the construction of the SV-wave velocity model at 10 ~ 100 km depth, we used seismic data recorded at 321 broadband stations in Korea, Japan, and China. Rayleigh-wave group-velocity dispersion curves were obtained by using the multiple filtering technique in the period range from 3 to 150 s. High SV-velocity anomalies are imaged beneath the East Sea from 10 km depth to deeper depth, implying that the Moho beneath the East Sea is between at 10 ~ 20 km depth. We estimated the Moho beneath the Korean peninsula to be around 35 km based on the depth where a high-velocity anomaly is observed. The SV-wave velocity model shows prominent fast S-velocity anomalies near northeastern Japan, associated with the subducting Pacific plate. Low-velocity anomalies are found beneath the east coast of the Korean peninsula at 100 km depth, which may play a role in the formation of the Ulleungdo and the Ulleung basin. We observed low-velocity anomalies beneath the Yamato basin at 100 km depth as well, which may indicate the upwelling of fluid from the Pacific plate via dehydration at deeper depth.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.157-167
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• 2021

Lead (Pb) is one of the key trace elements, exhibiting a peculiar partitioning behavior into silicate melts in contact with minerals. Partitioning behaviors of Pb between silicate mineral and melt have been known to depend on melt composition and thus, the atomic structures of corresponding silicate liquids. Despite the importance, detailed structural studies of Pb-bearing silicate melts are still lacking due to experimental difficulties. Here, we explored the effect of lead content on the atomic structures, particularly the evolution of silicate networks in Pb-bearing sodium metasilicate ([(PbO)_x(Na₂O)_1-x]·SiO₂) glasses as a model system for trace metal bearing natural silicate melts, using ²⁹Si solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. As the PbO content increases, the ²⁹Si peak widths increase, and the maximum peak positions shift from -76.2, -77.8, -80.3, -81.5, -84.6, to -87.7 ppm with increasing PbO contents of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.67, 0.86, and 1, respectively. The ²⁹Si MAS NMR spectra for the glasses were simulated with Gaussian functions for Qⁿ species (SiO₄ tetrahedra with n BOs) for providing quantitative resolution. The simulation results reveal the evolution of each Qⁿ species with varying PbO content. Na-endmember Na₂SiO₃ glass consists of predominant Q² species together with equal proportions of Q¹ and Q³. As Pb replaces Na, the fraction of Q² species tends to decrease, while those for Q¹ and Q³ species increase indicating an increase in disproportionation among Qⁿ species. Simulation results on the ²⁹Si NMR spectrum showed increases in structural disorder and chemical disorder as evidenced by an increase in disproportionation factor with an increase in average cation field strengths of the network modifying cations. Changes in the topological and configurational disorder of the model silicate melt by Pb imply an intrinsic origin of macroscopic properties such as element partitioning behavior.