• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.65-88
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• 1982

In the last ten years, marine geological and geophysical survey and research were conducted by Japanese, Russian and American scientists in the East Sea of Korea (Japan Sea). Many research results were published. However, regional research of the geology of the continental margin of the Korean Peninsula was not conducted. This study has made on attempt to classify submarine strata and stratigraphic boundaries. The study has revealed characters of submarine geology and structure. Isopach maps of each identified stratigraphic unit have been constructed as the results of this study. The study was conducted on the basis of analyses of marine seismic surveys carried out in the continental margin of the East Sea between Kangneung and Pohang. Three depositional basins were identified in the study area and they were named as, Mukho Basin, Hupo Basin and Pohang Basin. The Mukho Basin is developed in continental slope and shelf in the area between Kangneung and Samcheog. Quaternary and Pliocene sediments attain a maximum thickness of 900 m. Basement rocks are interpreted as granite and gneiss. They are correlated with granite-gneiss of the Taebaecksan Series of Pre-cambrian age and the Daebo granite of Jurassic age. The Hupo Basin is developed in the continental shelf between Uljin and Youngdeok. Quaternary and Pliocene sediments attain a maximum thickness of 600 m. Basement rocks were interpreted as granite and gneiss and they are correlated with metamorphic rocks of Pre-cambrian age and the Daebo granites, comprising the Ryongnam Massif. The Pohang Basin is developed in the area between Pohang and Gangu. This basin contains Miocene and older sediments. Basement rocks are not shown. Many faults are developed within the continental shelf and slope. These faults strike parallel with the coast line. A north-south direction is predominant in the southern study area. However, in the northern study area the faults strike north, and north-west. The faults are parallel to each other and are step faults down-thrown to the east or west, forming horst and graben structures which develop into sedimentary basins. Such faults caused the development of submarine banks along the boundary between the continental shelf and slope. This bank has acted as a barrier for deposition in the Hupo Basin. Paleozoic sedimentary rocks distributed widely in the adjacent land area are absent in the Mukho Basin. This suggests that the area of the basin was situated above the sea level until the Pliocene time. The study area contains Pliocene sediments in general. These sediments overlie the basement complex composed of metamorphic rocks, granites, Cretaceous (Kyongsang System) sedimentary rocks and Miocene sedimentary rocks. These facts lead to a conclusion that the continental shelf and slope of the study area were developed as a result of displacements along faults oriented parallel to the present coast line in the post Miocene time.

• International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Korean Journal of Geophysical Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.59-73
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• 1998

Sediment samples from five stations at the Shihwa Lake sewage outfall, west cost of Korea, were collected to evaluate the effect of the outfall on benthic foraminifers. Heavy metal (Cu and Zn) polluted the eastern part of the Shihwa Lake, adjacent to the Shihwa-Banwol Industrial Complexes, shows barren or nearly barren of benthic foraminifers, and the lowest number of species both at the core top and downcore. Excepting for the barren zone, pyritized benthic foraminifers abundantly occur both at the surface and downcore sediments in the western part of the Shihwa Lake, suggesting that foraminiferal disease by anoxic bacteria. Recent intrusion of pollutants form the Shihwa-Banwol Industrial Complexes and adjacent six major streams severely polluted the Shihwa Lake as shown by the low abundance (number/10 g) of benthic foraminifers, low number of Ammonia beccarii, low species diversity, and absence of both Elphidium spp. and ostracodes at the surface sediments compared of both downcore. Except the barren zone, both pyritized and non-pyritized Ammonia beccarii occur dominantly in the surface sediments and downcore. Elphidium spp. (either pyritized or non-phyritized) do not occur in the surface sediments of whole stations. However, they occur from the entire downcore sediments except in the eastern part of Shihwa Lake. Arenaceous foraminifers do not inhabit in the heavily polluted areas as evidenced by the occurrence of relatively deep core depth (11-15 cm). Ostracodes occur at the downcore sediments, but they do not occur at the surface sediments. Ostracodes also do not occur at the heavily polluted areas in the eastern part of the Shihwa Lake both at the surface and downcore sediments, indicating that the abundance of ostracodes also can be used for a pollution indicator.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 1993

The geologic structure of the Yongil Bay was studied in detail based on high resolution seismic profiles. The seafloor trends NE to SW with a deeper part off the Kuryong Peninsula. The seafloor is rather smooth due to the Quaternary fluvial deposits in the lower part and muddy sediments in the upper part. The seafloor off Umockri is very irregular due to erosion where Tertiary sedimentary rocks crop out. The underlying basement rocks were strongly deformed with faults and folds. High-angled reverse faults mostly trend N-S and NNW-SSE and are indicative of westward thrusting. Normal faults in NW-SE and WNW-ESE directions occur locally. Large folding structures trend NE-SW nearshore area of Umockri. The geologic structure suggests that the bay was subject to compressional stress regimes trending E-W and/or NW-SE prior to the early Late Miocene.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.16 no.3 s.49
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• pp.293-300
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• 2006

The groundwater movement in the west costal landfill area was analyzed by measuring N value by Standard Penetration Test, coefficient of permeability by falling head method, linear structure analysis by Digital Elevation Method, groundwater flow direction and rate by flowmeter logging due to tidal variation in the each borehole. The coefficients of permeability of the weathered zone and of the marine deposit showed similar values although some values of weathered zone show smaller values than those of the marine deposit. The major groundwater flow and rate in the marine deposit observed as east-west direction due to tidal variation, but on the other hand it was observed as N45E in weathered zone which is the major direction of the linear structures in the area. 2 hours delayed changes of the groundwater flow direction was observed during the 24 hours observation, and it seems to be a travel time of the tidal wave which cause the continuous change of the hydaulic gradient of the groundwater.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.69-84
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• 1998

A geochemical study was carried out to define how marine shore sediments are related to their terrestrial source rocks in the region of Taean and Byunsan Peninsula, western Korea. The lithology of the coastal part of the study area is composed of Pre-Cambrian granite gneiss, schist, Jurassic terrestrial sedimentary rocks, and Cretaceous plutonic intrusives. Shore sediments are transported from three drainage tributaries. The sediments consist of quatrz with clay minerals, such as illite, kaolinite, smectite, chlorite. Heavy minerals include hematite, ilmenite, rare amount of zircon and apatite. Compared to those in coastal rocks, amount of heavy minerals in the sediments is considerably low. The low content of heavy minerals is thought to be attributed to the heavy mineral detainment in the river beds and influences of tidal currents which cause heavy minerals to accumulate in specific spots. Chemical composition of the major and trace elements, trace elements, and REE chondrite normalized pattern suggest that shore sediments transported from the corresponding drainage tributary show close mineralogical and geochemical relationships with the source rocks distributed in the Taean and Byunsan Peninsula.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.4 s.179
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• pp.385-402
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• 2006

Paleomagnetic studies have made remarkable contributions to the understanding of many geological aspects of Korea for the last 40 years, such as the collisional processes of Korean Peninsula, the development of basins in relation with fault systems, the opening and evolution of the East Sea, and the reconstruction of paleogeographic configuration. These contributions have played an important role in the escalation of geology in Korea by elucidating the mechanisms on Processes of fragmentation and amalgamation of the Peninsula, mountain building, igneous activities, metamorphism, and folding and faulting based on the view of plate tectonics. This paper is intended to introduce and summarize the paleomagnetic research papers designed to decipher the tectonic processes of Korea, according to the geologic ages of the studied rocks.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.33-41
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• 1999

A new sedimentary basin is reported from the marine multi-channel seismic data which were acquired for the hydrocarbon exploration on the southwestern Korean continental shelf in 1970. Along the southeastern part of Line 1192, the about 60-km-long basin with the thickness of 0.55~1.1 s is observed on the near-trace gather. However, both new and previous 24-fold stack sections fail to show the basin image probably due to its rugged top beneath the shallow water. The boundary contact between the basement with the velocity of about 5200m/s and the basin filling with the velocities of 4300~4700 m/s is unclear. These velocites are calculated from the corresponding shot gathers. Compared with the Haenam Basin, a neighbouring onshore Cretaceous sedimentary basin, we interpret that the new basin includes the volcanics and volcaniclastic sequences deposited in the lacustrine environment. This nonmarine basin was possibly formed as the result of the tectonic movement during the Cretaceous, implying the wide occurrence of the Cretaceous basins over the southern Korean Peninsula as well as its southwestern continental shelf.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.289-299
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• 1985

Sedimentary petrology and depositional environments of the Sindong Group, consisting of in ascending order the Nagdong, Hasandong and Jinju Formations, in the Euiseong Subbasin are studied. For these, the Sindong sequence over 1,000m thick is measured at the scale of 1:200 and 36 thin sections of sandstones of the Hasandong Formation are studied under the polarizing microscope. In addition, published paleontologic data are incorporated in the sedimentologic interpretation. Most of the sandstones are classified as arkose. They are moderately sorted, near symmetrical to fine skewed and mesokurtic. Relationship between the textural parameters suggests a fluviatile environment of the Hasandong Formation. The Sindong fauna and flora also indicate non-marine depositional environments. Sedimentologic data of the measured sections show that the Sindong Group is made up of from the bottom an alluvial fan (lower part of the Nagdong Formation), a fluvial plain (upper part of the Nagdong Formation and the Hasandong Formation) and a fluvial/lacustrine (the Jinju Formation) deposits.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 1985

The computation of gravity anomalies by multi pole expansion is derived and compared with exact calculation for right rectangular prisms and right circular cylinders. For sources near field points, the multipole expansion results in a better approximation in volume integrals than in surface integrals. Nonetheless two approximate methods are coincident in the far-field of the general geophyical prospecting.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.1 s.176
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• pp.83-93
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• 2006

The Kita-Yamato Trough is characterized by a SW-NE trending narrow graben between the Yamato Bank and the Kita-Yamato Bank in the central East Sea/Japan Sea (ES/JS). Core 20EEZ-1 was obtained in the flat summit of a small ridge from the southwest Kita-Yamato Trough. The sedimentation was mainly controlled by the supply of hemipelgic sediments and substantial tephras from explosive volcanic eruptions of the Quaternary volcanoes. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the tephrostratigraphy from the marine sediments collected from the Kita-Yamato Trough and to provide the atmosphere and ocean conditions during the explosive volcanic eruptions. According to the detailed tephrostratigraphy and lithofacies records, the core sediments were deposited during the last marine isotope stage (MIS) 7. The core consists of four lithofacies, idetified as, oxidized mud (OM), crudely laminated mud (CLM) and bioturbated mud (BM), interbedded with coarse-grained tephra (TP). The major element geochemistry and stratigraphic positions of seven tephra layers suggest that they originated from the Aira caldera in Kyushu area among the Japanese islands (AT tephra; 29.24 ka), unknown submarine volcano in the south Korea Plateau (SKP-I; MIS 3, SKP-II; MIS 4, SKP-IV; boundary between MIS 6 and MIS 5e, SKP-V; MIS 6, respectively), and the Baegdusan volcano in the Korean Peninsula (B-KY1; ca. 130 ka, B-KY2; ca. 196 ka). The absence of tephras originated trom Ulleung Island in core 20EEZ-l suggest that the tephras had not been transported into the Kita-Yamato Trough by atmosphere conditions during the eruptions. On the other hand, the B-KYI and the B-KY2 tephras derived from the Baegdusan volcano were founded in the Kita-Yamato Trough by a presence of prevailing westerly winds during the eruptions. Furthermore, the SKP tephras were characterized by the transport across the air-water interface, causing quickly thrust of raising eruption plumes from subaqueous explosive eruptions. Surface currents may play an important role in controlling the distribution patterns of the SKP tephras to distal areas. The tephrostratigraphic study in the Kita-Yamato Trough provides the important chronostratigraphic marker horizons and the detailed atmosphere and ocean conditions during the explosive eruptions.