• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.187-198
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• 2003

High-resolution (Chirp, 3-11 kHz) echo facies and sedimentary facies of piston-core sediments were analyzed to reveal the late Quaternary depositional processes in the Korea Plateau and Ulleung Interplain Gap. The Korea Plateau is an Isolated topographic high with a very restricted input of terrigenous sediments, and its slope is characterized by a thin sediment cover and various-scale submarine canyons and valleys. Echo and sedimentary facies suggest that the plateau has been moulded mainly by persistent (hemi) pelagic sedimentation and intermittent settling of volcanic ashes. Sediments on the plateau slope and steep margins of ridges and seamounts were reworked by earthquake-induced, large-scale slope failures accompanied by slides, slumps and debris flows. As major fraction of the reworked sediments consists of (hemi) pelagic clay particles, large amounts of sediments released from mass flows were easily suspended to form turbid nepheloid layers rather than bottom-hugging turbidity currents, which flowed further downslope through the submarine canyons and spreaded over the Ulleung Basin plain. In the Ulleung Interplain Gap, sediments were introduced mainly by (hemi) pelagic settling and subordinate episodic mass flows (turbidity currents and debris flows) along the submarine channels from the slopes of the Oki Bank and Dok Island. The sediments in the Ulleung Interplain Channel and its margin were actively eroded and reworked by the deep water flow from the Japan Basin.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.513-523
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• 2012

The upper sedimentary layer of the Ulleung Basin in the East Sea shows stacked mass-flow deposits such as slide/slump deposits in the upper slope, debris-flow deposits in the middle and lower slope, and turbidites in the basin plain. Shallow gases or gas hydrates are also reported in many area of the Ulleung Basin, which are very important in terms of marine resources, environmental changes, and geohazard. This paper aims at studying acoustic characteristics and distribution pattern of gas-related structures such as acoustic column, enhanced reflector, dome structure, pockmark, and gas seepage in the upper sedimentary layer, by analysing high-resolution chirp profiles. Acoustic column shows a transparent pillar shape in the sedimentary layer and mainly occurs in the basin plain. Enhanced reflector is characterized by an increased amplitude and laterally extended to several tens up kilometers. Dome structure is characterized by an upward convex feature at the seabed, and mainly occurs in the lower slope. The pockmark shows a small crater-like feature and usually occurs in the middle and lower slope. Gas seepage is commonly found in the middle slope of the southern Ulleung Basin. These gas-related structures seem to be mainly caused by gas migration and escape in the sedimentary layer. The distribution pattern of the gas-related structures indicates that formation of these structures in the Ulleung Basin is controlled not only by sedimentary facies in upper sedimentary layer but also by gas-solubility changes depending on water depth. Especially, it is interpreted that the chaotic and discontinuous sedimentary structures of debris-flow deposits cause the facilitation of gas migration, whereas the continuous sedimentary layers of turbidites restrict the vertical migration of gases.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.563-582
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• 2000

Two Cretaceous(80-90 Ma) non-marine sedimentary basins, Namyang and Tando Basins, are distributed in the Namyang area, Hwaseonggun and in the Tando area, Ansanshi, Kyungki Province, Korea. The Namyang and Tando Basins are composed of 10 facies, which are pooped into 5 facies associations(FA). FA I consists of massive conglomerate facies, normally graded conglomerate facies and reversely graded conglomerate facies, which is interpreted to have been formed by laminated sandstone facies, massive conglomerate facies(channelized), which is thought to have been formed by sheet flow, stream flow and suspension sedimentation in an alluvial/braided plain environment. FA III consists of massive mudstone(pebbly) facies, laminated mudstone facies, massive sandstone facies and is interbedded by channel-fill conglomerate. It is interpreted to have been deposited by suspension settling during flooding and channel-fill deposition in a floodplain environment. FA IV consists of massive conglomerate facies, normally graded conglomerate facies, massive sandstone facies, normally graded sandstone facies, and laminated sandstone facies and is interbedded with mudstone facies. It is thought to have been deposited by debris flow and turbidity current in a fan-delta environment. FA V consists of massive mudstone facies, laminated mudstone facies, laminated sandstone facies and is interbedded by massive conglomerate bed. It is thought to have been formed by suspension sedimentation and low-density turbidity current in a lake. In the Namyang Basin FA I is distributed in the eastern and southern margin of the basin, FA II in the middle part of the basin as north-south tending band. and FA III in the western part. In the Tando Basin FA II is distributed in the middle part of eastern margin and in the northwestern margin, FA IV in the southwestern part, and FA V in the central part. Correlation of the facies associations shows that FA I and II in the Namyang Basin are distributed in the lower to middle part of stratigraphic sequence and FA III in the upper part of the sequence whereas FA II and IV in the Tando Basin are in the lower to middle part and FA V in the upper part of the sequence. These patterns of facies associations distribution suggest that the Namyang Basin was developed as an alluvial fan and alluvial/braided plain at first and then evolved into a floodplain whereas the Tando Basin was developed as a fan-delta and alluvial/braided plain at first and then evolved into a lake environment.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.173-184
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• 2019

Variations in grain size distribution and clay mineral assemblage are closely related to the sedimentary facies that reflect depositional conditions during the glacial and interglacial periods. Gravity cores BS17-GC15 and BS17-GC04 were collected from the continental shelf and rise in the eastern Bellingshausen Sea during a cruise of the ANA07D Cruise Expedition by the Korea Polar Research Institute in 2017. Core sediments in BS17-GC15 consisted of subglacial diamicton, gravelly muddy sand, and bioturbated diatom-bearing mud from the bottom to the top sediments. Core sediments in BS17-GC04 comprised silty mud with turbidites, brownish structureless mud, laminated mud, and brownish silty bioturbated diatom-bearing mud from the bottom to the top sediments. The clay mineral assemblages in the two core sediments mainly consisted of smectite, chlorite, illite, and kaolinite. The clay mineral contents in core GC15 showed a variation in illite from 28.4 % to 44.5 % in down-core changes. Smectite contents varied from 31.1 % in the glacial period to 20 % in the deglacial period and 25.1 % in the interglacial period. Chlorite and kaolinite contents decreased from 40.5 % in the glacial period to 30.3 % in the interglacial period. The high contents of illite and chlorite indicated a terrigenous detritus supply from the bedrocks of the Antarctic Peninsula. Core GC04 from the continental rise showed a decrease in the average smectite content from 47.2 % in the glacial period to 20.6 % in the interglacial period, while the illite contents increased from the 21.3 % to 43.2 % from the glacial to the interglacial period. The high smectite contents in core GC04 during the glacial period may be supplied from Peter I Island, which has a known smectite-rich sediment contributed by Antarctic Circumpolar Currents. Conversely, the decrease in smectite and increase in chlorite and illite contents during the interglacial period was likely caused by a higher supply of chlorite- and illite-enriched sediment from the eastern Bellingshausen Sea shelf by the southwestward flowing contour current.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

Four entities of the Cenozoic fish fossils were discovered in the Miocene Duho Formation, Pohang, Korea. these fossils were identified as the first Pleuronectiformes in Korea based on the following-the presence of postcleithrum, the elongation of the first proximal pterygiophore of the anal fin ray, almost consistent presence of two proximal pterygiophore of the anal fin rays between the two adjacent hemal spines, the fusion of the first and second hypurals, the fusion of the third and fourth hypurals and the first preural centrum, the presence of well-developed anteriormost plate-like neural spine, the presence of the urohyal like fish-hook and its elongated sciatic part, and the division of the parahypural from the first preural centrum. On the other hand, geological studies about the Duho Formation consistently claimed that shallow-sea creatures were washed away by meteorological events such as a great flood and deposited at the bottom of deep-sea by the turbidity current. However, in Duho Formation, only shallow-sea ones have been discovered thus far. This study reported that Flat fish, deep-sea creature, was discovered in Duho Formation for the first time in Korea.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.171-177
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• 2002

Two piston-core sediments, obtained from the southwestern margin of the Ulleung Basin in East Sea, are analyzed to investigate the stratigraphy and sedimentary environment of the Late Quaternary. The cores consist mainly of cuddy sediments with silty sands, lapilli tephra and ash layers. The chronostratigraphic correlation with known eruption ages reveals that the core sediments contain the stratigraphic document over the past 46.1 kyr and the sedimentation rates during the last glacial period were relatively higher (12.1-14.9 cm/kyr) than those in pelagic ocean. Several sedimentary facies, mainly affected by turbidity currents, are commonly present in the core interval accumulated during the oxygen-isotope stage 2. Many of horizontal voids, which are thought to have formed by gas expansion, are observed in fore 00GHP-07. The total organic carbon (TOC) contents of the core sediments are noticeably high (average 1 .8%). Particularly, these TOC valuers increased during Termination I, suggesting that dering this time interval the sedimentary environment of the study area was changed to more anoxic.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.397-406
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• 2012

During the 2nd Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Drilling Expedition (UBGH2) in 2010, gas-hydrate-bearing sediment cores were recovered at 10 drill sites. Base, on Infrared (IR) thermal image and grain-size analysis of the cores, three distinct types of gas hydrate are classified: Type I (fracture-filling in mud layers), Type II (disseminated in mud layers), and Type III (pore-filling in sand layers). Types I and II gas hydrates occur in mud as discrete veins, nodules or disseminated particles. Type III fills the pore spaces of the sand layers encased in mud layers. In this case, the sand content of hosting sediments shows a general linear relationship with gas hydrate saturation. The degrees of temperature anomalies (${\Delta}T$) from IR images generally increase with gas hydrate saturation regardless of gas hydrate occurrence types. Type I is dominantly found in the sites where seismic profiles delineate chimney structures, whereas Type II where the drill cores are composed almost of mud layers. Type III was mainly recovered from the sites where hemipelagic muds are frequently intercalated with turbidite sand layers. Our results indicate that gas hydrate occurrence is closely related to sedimentological characteristic of gas hydrate-bearing sediments, that is, grain size distribution.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.259-269
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• 2002

Based on sedimentary structures, degree of bioturbation, and internal erosional layers, the deep-sea core sediments in the East Sea (Ulleung and Yamato basins) and the Northwestern Pacific Ocean (Shikoku Basin) can be divided into two parts (upper and lower) with the boundary of around 10,000 years B.P. in age. The upper part of core KT94-10 from Shikoku Basin is characterized by low sedimentation rate, internal erosion layer, high degree of bioturbation and cross-lamination structures. It can be interpreted as the bottom-current deposits which show some different characteristics from turbidite or hemipelagic sediment. However, its lower part consists of highly bioturbated, massive mud, suggesting that it be not related to the influence of bottom current. On the other hand, the cores in Ulleung and Yamato basins do not show any evidence of bottom-current deposits: their upper parts consist of bioturbated mud, and lower parts are characterized by laminated mud with pyrite filaments, indicating anaerobic condition. Consequently, these sedimentological characteristics suggest that deep-sea circulation would be changed from slow-moving to fast-moving one at this bounding time commonly in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and the East Sea. Also, even in the same time, the deep-sea circulation in the Northwestern Pacific area would be relatively faster than that in the East Sea.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.127-133
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• 2009

In order to determine organic carbon oxidation by manganese and iron oxides, six core sediments were obtained in slope and basin sediments of Ulleung Basin in East Sea. The basin sediments show high organic carbon contents (>2%) at the water depths deeper than 2,000 m; this is rare for deep-sea sediments, except for those of the Black Sea and Chilean upwelling regions. In the Ullleung Basin, the surface sediments were extremely enriched by Manganese oxides with more than 2%. Maximum contents of Fe oxides were found at the depth of $1{\sim}4cm$ in basin sediments. However, the high level of Mn and Fe oxides was not observed in slope sediment. Surface manganese enrichments (>2%) in Ulleung Basin may be explained by two possible mechanisms: high organic carbon contents and optimum sedimentation rates and sufficient supply of dissolved Manganese from slope to the deep basin. Reduction rates of iron and manganese oxides ranged from 0.10 to $0.24\;mmol\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$ and from 0.30 to $0.57\;mmol\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$, respectively. In Ulleung Basin sediments, $13{\sim}26%$ of organic carbon oxidation may be linked to the reduction of iron and manganese oxides. Reduction rates of metal oxides were comparable to those of Chilean upwelling regions, and lower than those of Danish coastal sediments.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.295-307
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• 2022

We studied the Cretaceous Jeonggaksan Formation to determine depositional processes of pyroclastic density currents entering into the lacustrine environments. This formation is composed largely of sandstone-mudstone couplets and (tuffaceous) normally graded sandstones deposited in lacustrine environments, interbedded with two pyroclastic beds: welded massive lapilli tuff and normally graded lapilli tuff. The welded massive lapilli tuff (10 m thick) is composed of poorly sorted, structureless lapilli supported by a welded ash matrix. The normally graded lapilli tuff (4 m thick) is characterized by moderately to well sorted natures and multiple normally graded divisions in the lower part of the bed with internal boundaries. The contrasting depositional features between these lapilli tuff are suggestive of different physical characteristics and depositional processes of pyroclastic density currents in the lake. Overall poorly sorted and massive natures of the thick, welded massive lapilli tuff are interpreted to have been formed by rapid settling of pyroclastic sediments from highly concentrated and sustained pyroclastic density currents. In this case, the pyroclastic density currents were able to displace lake water from shoreline and the pyrolclastic density currents preserved their own heat except for frontal parts of the currents. As a result, welded textures can be formed despite entrance of pyroclastic density currents into the lake. The internal boundaries of the normally graded lapilli tuff reflect unsteady natures of the pyroclastic density currents at the time of the deposition and the pyroclastic density currents can not provide sufficient pressure to displace lake water. As a consequence, the pyroclastic density currents transformed into water-saturated turbidity currents, forming relatively well sorted, normally graded lapilli tuff.