• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.163-172
• /
• 2019

A long core (RS15-LC48) was collected at a site in the continental rise between the Southern Ocean and the Ross Sea (Antarctica) during the 2015 Ross Sea Expedition. The mineralogical characteristics and the origin of clay minerals in marine sediments deposited during the Quaternary in the Ross Sea were determined by analyzing sedimentary facies, variations in grain size, sand fraction, mineralogy, clay mineral composition, illite crystallinity, and illite chemical index. Core sediments consisted mostly of sandy clay, silty clay, or ice rafted debris (IRD) and were divided into four sedimentary facies (units 1-4). The variations in grain size distribution and sand content with depth were very similar to the variations in magnetic susceptibility. Various minerals such as smectite, chlorite, illite, kaolinite, quartz, and plagioclase were detected throughout the core. The average clay mineral composition was dominated by illite (52.7 %) and smectite (27.7 %), with less abundant clay minerals of chlorite (11.0 %) and kaolinite (8.6 %). The IC and illite chemical index showed strong correlation trends with depth. The increase in illite and chlorite content during the glacial period, together with the IC and chemical index values, suggest that sediments were transported from the bedrocks of the Transantarctic Mountains. During the interglacial period, smectite may have been supplied by the surface current from Victoria Land, in the western Ross Sea. High values for IC and the illite chemical index also indicate relatively warm climate conditions during that period.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.357-370
• /
• 2002

Present work aims to investigate the species composition, physiognomy and distribution of arctic-alpine and alpine plants(AAP) of the Korean Peninsula. The dominance of AAP in the northern Korea may be due to the frequent exchanges of floras with circumpolar regions for the seek of the glacial refugia during the alternate Pleistocene glacial epochs. The post-glacial climatic amelioration pushed AAP back northwards and upwards, so they now shows disjunctive distribution on separate mountain tops. The diverse morphological adaptations of AAP to severe environmental conditions, viz. the dominance of perennial species, stunted tree growth, multiple protection of leaves, krummholz, and dwarf shrubs, are the result of long-term graduall development which have safeguarded the survival of AAP in a such a harsh cryo-climatic area. The appearance of the Korean endemic AAP reflects the long-term isolation of species in Korea, and the local environmental diversities which have both accentuated this isolation and aided the development of genetic diversity. Evergreen broad-leaved AAP at c. 1,500m to 1,800m and above are now endangered because of the competition from down-slope plants, and from the global warming.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.138-150
• /
• 1997

The late Quaternary stratigraphy of the tidal deposits in the Hampyung Bay, southwestern coast of Korea comprises 1) Unit III (nonmarine fluvial coarse-grained sediments), 2) Unit II (late Pleistocene tidal deposits), and 3) Unit I (late Holocene fine-grained tidal deposits) in ascending order. The basements of the Hampyung Bay is composed of granitic rocks and basic dyke rocks. These three units are of unconformally bounded sedimentary sequences. The sequence boundary between Unit I and Unit II, in particular, seems to be significant suggesting erosional surface and exposed to the air under the cold climate during the LGM. The uppermost stratigraphic sequence (Unit I) is a common tidal deposit formed under the transgression to highstand sea-level during the middle to late Holocene.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.225-232
• /
• 2004

To investigate the depositional environment and the geological structure of the Jeju Basin in the South Sea of Korea, we acquired 54-channel seismic data of about 1,980 line-km. The study area lies at the northeastern part of the East China Sea Trough, a Tertiary back-arc basin. The sedimentary basin formed by rifted activities resulted in the formation of graben and/or half-graben structures. The basin is composed of pre-rift, syn-rift and post-rift sediments bounded by regional unconformity. The pre-rift and syn-rift sediments consist of Oligocene, Early and Middle Miocene sequence, whereas the post-rift sediments consist of Late Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene sequences. Seismic and well data from the Jeju Basin indicate that Oligocene-Miocene sediments were deposited under fluvial and lacustrine depositional conditions. Following compressional tectonic movements in the Late Miocene time and a subsequent period of erosion, regional subsidence during the Pliocene time brought the Jeju Basin under marine conditions, resulting in the deposition of dominantly marine sediments.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.543-554
• /
• 2004

Analysis of multi-channel seismic reflection and well data serves to detail the structural evolution of the northern Okinawa Trough, southern offshore Korea. The overall structural style of the area is characterized by a series of half grabens and tilted fault blocks bounded by basement-involved listric normal faults. Most half grabens and tilted fault blocks developed in the direction of NNE-SSW, parallel to the axis of the Okinawa Trough. Orientation and distribution of the listric faults also suggest the development of transfer faults in NW-SE direction. The rifting phase of the northern Okinawa Trough have been established on the basis of structural and stratigraphic analyses of depositional sequences and their seismic expressions. Major phase of rifting probably started in the Late Miocene and the most active rifting occurred during the Early Pliocene. The rifting produced a series of half grabens and tilted fault blocks bounded by listric normal faults. It appears that the rifting activity has become weaker since the Late Pliocene, but the Pleistocene sediments faulted by listric faults bounding tilted fault blocks suggest that the rifting activity is probably still in progress.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.135-141
• /
• 2001

A paleomagnetic investigation was carried out to analyze magnetostratigraphic information and to evaluate the relationship between paleoenvironment and magnetic properties in sedimentary sequences of piston cores recovered from the abyssal basin of the southwestern Pacific. Pateomagnetic results revealed that the sediments had a stable remanent magnetization and recorded both normal and reversal polarities. The age of sediments was from late Pliocene and Pleistocene determined by matching the polarities with the geomagnetic time scale. The sedimentation rates were in the range of 0.63-1.85 mm/$10^3$ year which were extremely low rates. The results of the paleomagnetic analyses indicated that intervals of the magnetically stable layers as well as high value of susceptibility were significantly affected by the input changes which resulted input of large-quantity materials of relatively stable magnetic carriers.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.451-457
• /
• 2006

Hole 1124 of ODP Leg 181 was located in the Rekohu sediment drift off eastern New Zealand in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Mean gain sizes of sortable silt were measured in two drilled cores (1124A and l124B). Chronostratigraphy of core 1124 was correlated with the well-dated nearby core S931, resulting that the age of core 1124 covers the late Pleistocene spanning about MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 5. Mean grain size of sortable silt seemed to be relatively large during the glacial period, whereas that of the interglacial period was smaller, although several tephra layers contain some coarse-grained pyroclatic particles. The variation in mean grain size of sortable silt in Rekohu sediment drift during the late Pleistocene indicates that the intensity of Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) might have been enhanced during the glacial period as a result of increased production of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW).

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.114-120
• /
• 1993

Numerical method of nonlinear regression was introduced to characterize grain-size distribution more effectively than using the traditional textural parameters. This technique proved critical particularly to multimodal size distributions, as exemplified by samples from Cheju strait continental shelf. Grain-size analysis of samples collected from the Cheju Strait continental shelf reveals that 86% of the grain-size distributions are multimodal. As multimodal grain-size distribution deviates from the statistical (log) normal distribution, the grain-size parameters traditionally used in sediment studies do not describe the distribution efficiently. Therefore, the use of grain-size curves into elementary normal component curves was used. Means and standard deviations of 387 decomposed normal components were decided by a decomposition method (nonlinear least square regression) from 167 size curves of the Cheju Strait sediments. The mean values of decomposed normal components show peaks at 1-3 phi and 8-9 phi size classes. The plot of mean values of the coarse fraction normal components on the map shows a characteristic and complex areal distribution. On the basis of the areal distribution of the mean values of the components and that of isopach of total Plenipotence sediment, the areal distribution of layers composing a transgressive sand of Late Plenipotence age were revealed.

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

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.55-61
• /
• 1985

Two hundred suspended-matter samples were collected from the continental shelf off the southeast coast of Korea during September, 1981, March, 1982 and April 1983. Superficial bottom sediments on the shelf were also taken. Based on the alalyses of TSM distribution and concentration patterns, it is considered that finegrained suspended matters are restricted to nearshore-inner shelf showing a band or zone paralleling with coastal morphology. This fact suggests a limitation of "modern" fine grained sediments to a nearshore and inner shelf band. The sand deposits with the lower value of mud content (<5%) adjacent to the shelf break and on the outer shelf would probably be "relict" sediments (old beach sediments) deposited in response to a lower stand of sea level during the Pleistocene ice age. The transgression did little to alter the distribution of sand on the outer shelf in this particular study area. The progress of shore line was so rapid that a given locality was in the beach zone and subject to rapid longshore drift and extensive reworking only for a few years. Probably the most pronounced effect of the transgression was sorting of the sand, and at least partial winnowing out of the finer fractions.