• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.171-193
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• 2019

This study aims to identify the geometry and internal structures of the Yeongdeok Fault, a branch fault of the Yangsan Fault, by detailed mapping and to characterize its kinematics by analyzing the attitudes of sedimentary rocks adjacent to the fault, slip data on the fault surfaces, and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of the fault gouges. The Yeongdeok Fault, which shows a total extension of 40 km on the digital elevation map, cuts the Triassic Yeongdeok Granite and the Cretaceous sedimentary and volcanic rocks with about 8.1 km of dextral strike-slip offset. The NNW- or N-S-striking Yeongdeok Fault runs as a single fault north of Hwacheon-ri, Yeongdeok-eup, but south of Hwacheon-ri it branches into two faults. The western one of these two faults shows a zigzag-shaped extension consisting of a series of NNE- to NE- and NNW-striking segments, while the eastern one is extended south-southeastward and then merged with the Yangsan Fault in Gangu-myeon, Yeongdeok-gun. The Yeongdeok Fault dips eastward with an angle of > $65^{\circ}$ at most outcrops and shows its fault cores and damage zones of 2~15 m and of up to 180 m wide, respectively. The fault cores derived from several different wall rocks, such as granites and sedimentary and volcanic rocks, show different deformation patterns. The fault cores derived from granites consist mainly of fault breccias with gouge zones less than 10 cm thick, in which shear deformation is concentrated. While the fault cores derived from sedimentary rocks consist of gouges and breccia zones, which anastomose and link up each other with greater widths than those derived from granites. The attitudes of sedimentary rocks adjacent to the fault become tilted at a high angle similar to that of the fault. The fault slip data and AMS of the fault gouges indicate two main events of the Yeongdeok Fault, (1) sinistral strike-slip under NW-SE compression and then (2) dextral strike-slip under NE-SW compression, and shows the overwhelming deformation feature recorded by the later dextral strike-slip. Comparing the deformation history and features of the Yeongdeok Fault in the study area with those of the Yangsan Fault of previous studies, it is interpreted that the two faults experienced the same sinistral and dextral strike-slip movements under the late Cretaceous NW-SE compression and the Paleogene NE-SW compression, respectively, despite the slight difference in strike of the two faults.