• 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.

• 한국지구과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.04a
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• pp.23-23
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• 2010

스발바드 서측에 위치하는 스피츠버겐 하부의 암석권맨틀의 분화시기를 규명하기 위하여, 두 개의 독립적인 방사성동위원소 시스템인 Lu-Hf과 Re-Os 시스템을 스피넬 페리도타이트(spinel peridotite)에 활용하였다. 전암에 대한 Re-Os 계통(Re-Os 에러크론, 알루미노크론, Re-결핍연대 등)은 연구지역의 페리도타이트가 대류하는 맨틀로부터 고기원생대/후기시생대에 분리되었음을 지시한다. 흥미롭게도 이런 연대는 페리도타이트내 단사휘석 결정들에 대하여 얻어진 Lu-Hf 에러크론 연대와 일치한다. 또한 시료 내에 지구화학적으로 기록된 현무암질 액의 결핍정도 역시 계통적으로 위의 연대를 지지한다. 위 연대는 스피츠버겐 서측부에 보고된 가장 오래된 지각의 연대와 일치한다. 따라서 연구지역의 암석권맨틀이 연약권으로부터 분리된 것은 접촉하고 있는 지각과 동시기적으로 이루어진 사건임을 알 수 있다. 연구지역은 팔레오세 이래로 복잡한 지구조적 응력장 변화(압축에서 신장환경으로의 변화)를 겪었다. 그럼에도 불구하고 지각과 커플링된 암석권맨틀이 현존한다는 것은 연구지역내 응력장변화가 대규모의 암석권 디라미네이션(delamination)을 유발하지는 않았다는 것을 의미한다. 그러므로 북극권의 화산활동을 설명하기 위하여 북극권 상부맨틀에 존재한다고 알려진 듀팔(DUPAL) 같은 부화된 물질의 성인으로 일부의 연구자들이 주장하여 온 디라미네이션된 암석권맨틀의 존재는 설득력이 없다고 판단된다.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.361-371
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• 2017

We investigated geochemical characteristics of the Dodong Basaltic Rocks in the lower part of the Ulleung Island. They have lithological range of alkali basalt to trachybasalt, belonging to Na and K subseries of alkaline series. They mostly fall within the field of alkalline within-plate basalts on tectonic discrimination diagrams, and then plot in the field of oceanic island basalt (OIB). Geochemically, extension of lithospheric mantle and asthenospheric upwelling after East Sea under an Cenozoic extensional tectonic setting might be a heat source for partial melting of the enriched lithospheric mantle, which might generate the basaltic magma. But we cannot exclude that mantle plume might also be a heat source for melting of the lithospheric mantle.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.235-247
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• 2012

Peridotite xenoliths hosted by alkali basalts from South Korea occur in Baengnyeong Island, Jeju Island, Boeun, Asan, Pyeongtaek and Ganseong areas. K-Ar whole-rock ages of the basaltic rocks range from 0.1 to 18.9 Ma. The peridotites are dominantly lherzolites and magnesian harzburgites, and the constituent minerals are Fo-rich olivine ($Fo_{88.4-92.0}$), En-rich orthopyroxene, Di-rich clinopyroxene, and Cr-rich spinel (Cr# = 7.8-53.6). Hydrous minerals, such as pargasite and phlogopite, or garnet have not been reported yet. The Korean peridotites are residues after variable degree of partial melting (up to 26%) and melt extraction from fertile MORB mantle. However, some samples (usually refractory harzburgites) exhibit metasomatic enrichment of the highly incompatible elements, such as LREE. Equilibration temperatures estimated using two-pyroxene geothermometry range from ca. 850 to $1050^{\circ}C$. Sr and Nd isotopic compositions in clinopyroxene separates from the Korean peridotites show trends between depleted MORB-like mantle (DMM) and bulk silicate earth (BSE), which can be explained by secondary metasomatic overprinting of a precursor time-integrated depleted mantle. The Korean peridotite clinopyroxenes define mixing trends between DMM and EM2 end members on Sr-Pb and Nd-Pb isotopic correlation diagrams, without any corresponding changes in the basement. This is contrary to what we observe in late Cenozoic intraplate volcanism in East Asia which shows two distinct mantle sources such as a DMM-EM1 array for NE China including Baengnyeong Island and a DMM-EM2 array for Southeast Asia including Jeju Island. This observation suggests the existence of large-scale two distinct mantle domains in the shallow asthenosphere beneath East Asia. The Re-Os model ages on Korean peridotites indicate that they have been isolated from convecting mantle between ca. 1.8 and 1.9 Ga.

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.297-303
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• 2005

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.61-75
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• 2011

Mantle-derived xenoliths, corresponding to spinel harzburgite and lherzolite in alkali basalts from Jeju Island, are metasomatized to various extents. They contain distinctive secondary orthopyroxene, forming corona or poikilitic textures. It clearly indicate that this secondary orthopyroxene has been produced at the expense of olivine along the grain boundaries and margins, suggesting silica-enriched metasomatic melt infiltrated through grain boundaries. Based on the geotectonic characteristics of Jeju Island and textural characteristics and major elements composition of mantle xenoliths, it is suggested that the silica-enriched melt/fluid could have derived from the ancient subducted slab, possibly in the mantle wedge, implying that the high $SiO_2$ activity in the lithospheric upper mantle beneath Jeju Island at that time.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.153-163
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• 2012

The Earth's surface deforms vertically in response to a variety of sources relating to lithospheric and sub-lithospheric processes, and distinguishing the continental mechanisms for vertical motions of the lithosphere remains a fundamental challenge in geosciences. A key prerequisite to the challenge is documentation of the temporal and spatial pattern of vertical motions in different tectonic settings. This study is aimed at elucidating the geodynamic factors that can contribute to vertical motions of the Earth's surface in intraplate continental settings including the Neogene uplift in the Korean peninsula based on numerous recent achievements in relevant fields. Ultimately, deciphering the interplay between the Earth's surface and the Earth's interior processes leads us to the notion of "the importance of geomorphic landscape" as a prism to view the dynamics of the Earth's inside.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.328-346
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• 2012

This study provides quantitative constraints on Neogene uplift in the Korean peninsula using onshore paleo-shoreline records and seismic data. The eastern margin of Northeast Asia including Korea sits in the back-arc system behind the Western Pacific Subduction Zone, a complex trench triple junction of the Philippine Sea, Pacific, and Eurasian (Amurian) plates. An analysis of seismic data in the subduction zone shows that the pattern of uplift in the peninsula mirrors the extent of deep seismicity in subducting Pacific plate beneath. Combined with previous tomographic studies it is proposed that uplift is partly driven by asthenospheric upwelling caused by a sinking slab during the Neogene. In addition, the SHmax orientations of E-W and N-S trends in the peninsula are consistent with the prevailing in-situ stress fields in the eastern Eurasian continent generated by various plate boundary forces. The uplift in Korea during the Late Neogene is attributed, in part, to lithospheric failure relating to faulting movements, thus providing a link between dynamic effects of mantle upwelling at sinking slab edge and lithospheric responses driven by plate boundary forces.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.51-67
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• 2016

Geochemical characteristics of the Early Cretaceous igneous rocks from eastern China and the Gyeongsang Basin, Korean Peninsula has been summarized. They have wide range of lithological variation with extrusive picrite-basalt-andesite-trachyte-rhyolite and lamprophyre, and intrusive gabbro-diorite-monzonite-syenite-granite and diabase in eastern China, mostly belonging to the high-K calc-alkaline or shoshonitic series. The volcanic rocks intercalated with the Hayang Group sedimentary assemblages in the Gyeongsang basin are high-K to shoshonitic basaltic trachyandesites. The Early Cretaceous basaltic rocks studied mostly fall within the field of within-plate basalts on the Zr/Y-Zr and Nb-Zr-Y tectonic discrimination diagrams. On a Sr-Nd isotope correlation diagram, basaltic rocks from the North China block (NCB) and the continent-continent collision zone (CZ) between the North and South China blocks plot into the enriched lower right quadrant along the extension of the mantle array. The initial $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratios of basaltic rocks from the South China block (SCB) are indistinguishable from those of the NCB and CZ basaltic rocks, but their ${\varepsilon}_{Nd}$ (t) values are relatively more elevated, plotting in right side of the mantle array. Basaltic rocks from the NCB and CZ are characterized by low $^{206}Pb/^{204}Pb(t)$ ratios, lying to the left of the Geochron on the $^{207}Pb/^{204}Pb(t)$ vs. $^{206}Pb/^{204}Pb(t)$ correlation. Meanwhile, the SCB basaltic rocks have relatively radiogenic Pb isotopic compositions compared with those of the NCB and CZ basaltic rocks. Basaltic rocks from the Hayang Group plot within the field of the NCB basaltic rocks in Sr-Nd and Pb-Pb isotope spaces. Metasomatically enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) is likely to have been the dominant source for the early Cretaceous magmatism. Asthenospheric upwelling under an early Cretaceous extensional tectonic setting in eastern China and the Korean Peninsula might be a heat source for melting of the enriched SCLM. Metasomatic agents proposed include partial melts of lower continental crust delaminated and foundered into the mantle or subducted Yangtze continental crust, or fluid/melt derived from the subducted paleo-Pacific plate.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.62-77
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• 2016

In the early model of plate tectonics, the plate was depicted as a passive raft floating on the convecting mantle and carried away by the mantle flow. At the same time, ridge push at spreading boundaries and drag force exerted by the mantle on the base of lithosphere were described as the dominant driving forces of plate movements. However, in recent studies of plate tectonics, it is generally accepted that the primary force driving plate motion is slab pull beneath subduction zones rather than other forces driven by mantle convection. The current view asserts that the density contrast between dense oceanic lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere is the substance of slab pull. The greater density of oceanic slab allows it to sink deeper into mantle at trenches by gravitational pull, which provides a dominant driving force for plate motion. Based on this plate tectonics development, this study investigated the contents of plate tectonics in high school Earth Science textbooks and how they have been depicted for the last few decades. Results showed that the early explanation of plate movement driven by mantle convection has been consistently highlighted in almost all high school textbooks since the 5th curriculum, whereas most introductory college textbooks rectified the early theory of plate movement and introduced a newly accepted theory in revised edition. Therefore, we suggest that the latest theory of plate tectonics be included in high school textbooks so that students get updated with recent understanding of it in a timely manner.