• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.27-41
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• 1991

Taebaeg-Hajang area, in the northern part of Taebaeg city, comprises of Paleozoic sedimentary sequences and Cretaceous intrusive and volcanoclastic rocks. The rocks in the area are affected by folding and thrusting during the Bulgugsa Orogeny. In Taebaeg area, geologic structures related with thrust movement are dominant. These structures are small scale of klippe and window, back thrust, and asymmetric folds related with blind thrust. Tear fault or compartment fault due to differential movement of thrust sheets have "en echelon" arrays. Small scale transpression effects occurred along these faults and produced the flower structure. According to strain measurement using by ooids from limestone and quartz grains from quartzite, strain ratios are very low and strain ellipsoids are apparent oblate type.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.473-487
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• 1993

The Janggun mine area is occupied by the Proterzoic and the Paleozoic meta-pelites, which are intruded by the Jurassic Chunyang granite. The metamorphic terrain is divided into four zones of progressive metamorphism on the basis of mineral assemblages. The zones are chlorite zone, staurolite zone, andalusite zone, sillimanite zone ascending order. Boundary lines between the zones resemble outline of the Chunyang granite mass. Isograd reactions are chlorite+chloritoid+muscovite=staurolite+biotite+quartz+water, staurolite+chlorite+muscovite+quartz=andalusite+biotite+water, and staurolite+muscovite+quartz=andalusite+biotite+garnet+water between the chlorite zone and the staurolite zone, the staurolite zone and the andalusite zone, and the andalusite zone and the sillimanite zone, repectively. They are univariant reactions in KFMASH component system. Metamorphic conditions estimated from garnet-biotite geothermometers and phase equlibria are $530^{\circ}C$ and lower than 4 kb.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.541-554
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• 2019

The Taebaeksan Zone of the Okcheon Belt is a prominent fold-thrust belt, preserving evidence for overlapped polyphase and diachronous orogenic events during crustal evolution of the Korean Peninsula. The Pyeongchang-Jeongseon area of the northwestern Taebaeksan Zone is fault-bounded on the western Jucheon and southern Yeongwol areas, showing lateral variations in stratigraphy and structural geometries. For better understanding these geological characteristics of the northwestern Taebaeksan Zone, we have studied the structural geometry of the Pyeongchang-Jeongseon area. For this, we have firstly carried out the SHRIMP U-Pb age analysis of the age-unknown sedimentary rock to clarify stratigraphy for structural interpretation. The results show the late Carboniferous to middle Permian dates, indicating that it is correlated to the Upper Paleozoic Pyeongan Supergroup. In addition to this, we interpreted the geometric relationships between structural elements from the detailed field investigation of the study area. The major structure of the northwestern Taebaeksan Zone is the regional-scale Jeongseon Great syncline, having NE-trending hinge with second-order folds such as the Jidongri and Imhari anticlines and the Nambyeongsan syncline. Based on the stereographic and down-plunge projections of the structureal elements, the structural geometry of the Jeongseon Great syncline can be interpreted as a synformal culmination, plunging slightly to the south at its southern area, and north at the northern area. The different map patterns of the northern and southern parts of the study area should be resulted in different erosion levels caused by the plunging hinges. Considering the Jeongseon Great syncline is the major structure that constrains the distribution of the Paleozoic strata of the Pyeongchang and Jeongseon areas, the symmetric repetition of the lower Paleozoic Joseon Supergroup in both limbs should be re-examined by structural mapping of the Hangmae and Hoedongri formations in the Pyeongchang and Jeongseon areas.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.249-267
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• 2016

The Hongseong area of the central-western Korean Peninsula is considered to be a part of collision zone that is tectonically correlated to the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu belt of China. The area includes the elliptical-shaped serpentinized ultramafic bodies, together with mafic rocks. The studied bodies are in contact with the surrounded Neoproterozoic alkali granites at the Baekdong and Wonnojeon bodies and the Paleoproterozoic Yugu gneiss at the Bibong body. The Baekdong body contains the blocks of the Neoproterozoic alkali granites and the Late Paleozoic metabasites. The Bibong body also includes the Neoproterozoic alkali granite blocks. The Mesozoic intrusive rocks are also recognized at the Baekdong, Wonnojeon and Bibong bodies. On the other hand, the Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks are occurred at the Bibong body. The detrital zircon SHRIMP U-Pb ages of the serpentinites at three bodies range variously from Neoarchean to Middle Paleozoic at the Baekdong body, and from Neoarchean to Early Cretaceous at the Wonnojeon and Bibong bodies. Although serpentinization does not generally produce minerals suitable for direct isotopic dating, the youngest Middle Paleozoic age at the Baekdong body and the Early Cretaceous age at the Wonnojeon and Bibong bodies indicate the possible upper age limit for the (re)serpentinization. Especially, the Early Cretaceous serpentinization ages may be related to the widespread Early Cretaceous igneous activity in the central-southern Korean Peninsula. Age results for the serpentinite bodies and the included blocks of the studied serpentinized ultramafic bodies in the Hongseong area, therefore, provide several possible interpretations for the serpentinization ages of the ultramafic rocks as well as the geotectonic implications of serpentinization, requiring more detailed study including other serpentinized ultramafic bodies in the Hongseong area.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.107-124
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• 2015

The 'Imjin System' (or Rimjin System) was established in 1962 as a new stratigraphic unit separated from the Upper Paleozoic Pyeongan System based on the discovery of brachiopods and echinoderms of possible Devonian age. Subsequent discoveries of the Middle Devonian charophytes confirmed the Devonian age of the system. The Imjin System is distributed in the Imjingang Belt between the Pyongnam Basin and the Gyeonggi Massif, spans from the eastern areas including Cholwon-gun of the Gangwon Province, Gumchon-gun, Phanmun-gun, and Tosan-gun of the Hwanghaebuk Province, to the western areas of Gangryong-gun and Ongjin-gun of the Hwanghaenam Province, and includes the Yeoncheon Group (metamorphic complex) to the south. Unlike the lower Paleozoic strata in the Pyongnam Basin which solely produce marine invertebrate fossils, the Imjin System yields diverse non-marine plant and algal fossils. Brachiopods of the system are similar to those from the Devonian of the South China Block and include taxa endemic to the platform, implying a close paleogeographic affinity to the South China Block. The Imjin System is generally considered as of Middle to Late Devonian in age, although there have been suggestions that the system is of the Middle Devonian to Carboniferous in age. North Korean workers postulated that the Imjin System was deposited in the current geographic position, where the "Imjin Sea" (an extension of the South China Platform) was located during the Devonian. The Imjin System displays strong local variations in stratigraphy and its thickness. It has recently been reported that the strata are repeated and overturned by thrust faults in many exposures. The Yeoncheon Group a southward extension of the Imjin System, also experienced intense tight folding and contractional deformation. Northward decrease in metamorphic grade within the system suggests that the northern part of the Gyeonggi Massif and the Imjingang Belt are probably an extension of the Dabie-Sulu Belt between the South China and Sino-Korean blocks, and the Imjin System is an remnant of accretion resulted from the collision between the two blocks. In order to understand tectonic evolution and Paleozoic paleogeography of eastern Asia, further studies on stratigraphic, sedimentologic and tectonic evolution of the Imjin System involving scientists from the two Koreas are urgently needed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.427-448
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• 2019

This study reconstructed the paleoenvironments and paleogeography of the Taebaeksan Basin, through a review of the previous researches on sedimentology, paleontology and stratigraphy. This study also carried out a sequence stratigraphic analysis on regional tectonism and sea-level fluctuations on the basin during the Early Paleozoic. The basin broadly occur in the Taebaek, Yeongweol-Jecheon, Jeongseon-Pyeongchang, and Mungyeong areas, Gangwon province, South Korea. The basin-fills are composed mainly of mixed carbonates and siliciclastics, divided into the Taebaek, Yeongweol, Yongtan, Pyeongchang and Mungyeong groups according to lithologies and stratigraphic characteristics. Recently, there are a lot of studies on the provenance and depositional ages of the siliciclastic sequences of the basin. The detrital sediments of the basin would be derived from two separated provenances of the core-Gondwana and Sino-Korean cratons. In the Early Cambrian, the Taebaek and Jeongseon-Pyeongchang platforms have most likely received detrital sediments from the provenance of the Sino-Korean craton. On the other hand, the detrital sediments of the Yeongweol-Jecheon platform was probably sourced by those of the core-Gondwana craton. This separation of provenance can be interpreted as the result of the paleogeographic and paleotopographic separation of the Yeongweol-Jecheon platform from the Taebaek and Jeongseon-Pyeongchang platforms. The analyses on detrital zircons additionally reveal that the separation of provenance was ceased by the eustatic rise of sea-level during the Middle Cambrian, and the detrital sediments of the Taebaeksan Basin were entirely supplied from those of the core-Gondwana craton. During that period, sediment supply from the Sino-Korean craton would be restricted due to inundation of the provenance area of the craton. On the other hand, the Jeongseon-Pyeongchang platform sequences show the unconformable relationship between the Early Cambrian siliciclastic and the Early Ordovician carbonate strata. It is indicative of presence of regional uplift movements around the platform which would be to the extent offset of the effects of the Middle to Late Cambrian eustatic sealevel rise. These movements expanded and were reinforced across the basin in the latest Cambrian and earliest Ordovician. After the earliest Ordovician, the basin was tectonically stabilized, and the shallow marine carbonate environments were developed on the whole-platform by the Early Ordovician global eustatic sea-level rise, forming very thick carbonate strata in the basin. In the Late Ordovician, the Early Paleozoic sedimentation on the basin was terminated by the large-scale tectonic uplift across the Sino-Korean platform including the Taebaeksan Basin.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.433-444
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• 2016

The U-Pb ages of detrital zircons from the Baengnyeong Group were determined by LA-MC-ICPMS, yielding condensed age population in the range from 1100 Ma to 1800 Ma corresponding to the Mesoproterozoic to late Paleoproterozoic. However, detrital zircons of ca.1800-2000 Ma or ca. 2500 Ma ages, which appear frequently in the lower Paleozoic Joseon Supergroup and the upper Paleozoic Pyeongan Supergroup are lacking in the Baengnyeong Group. Such characteristics are identical to those of the Neoproterozoic Sangwon System of North Korea, suggesting that the Baengnyeong Group might be the southwestern extension of the Sangwon System. The zircon age distribution patterns from the Impi Formation in the Gunsan area closely resemble those of the Baengnyeong Group, implying possible correlation of the Impi Formation to the Sangwon System. Therefore, the Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons reported from the Hwangangni Formation of the Okcheon Metamorphic Belt and the Myobong, Sambangsan and Sesong Formations of the Taebaeksan Basin might be derived from the provenances within the Korean peninsula.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.91-103
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• 1980

In spite of the fact that the Okcheon system has been rather intensively studied by many geologists since 1945, it still remains as a controversal problem as to its stratigraphy and geologic age. Present study has mainly focused on the upper members of the Okcheon system, namely the Hwanggangri and the Kunjasan formations so as to clarify the lithology, the depositional environment and the tectonic evolution of the formations. The Kunjasan formation lying unconformably over the Hwanggangri formation which is supposed to be a meta-tillite is interpreted as a metamorphosed calcareous argillaceous and/or arenaceous sediments on contract to the idea postulated by some geologists that it was a derivative of silicified Hwanggangri formation. Lithology of the Kunjasan and the Hwanggangri formation is quite different in that the former is white in color, contains few pebbles, and mostly composed of diopside and detrital quartz, whereas the latter is black to dark in color, contains abundant and variable kinds of pebbles, and composed of more argillacous matrix that has been metamorphosed to hornfels. The Hwanggangri and the Kunjasan formations were deposited in the rather deep sea which has transgressed toward northeast from southwest in the late Precambrian time, and the writer (1970) had formerly designated it as Okcheon Paleogeosyncline. With the beginning of Paleozoic era, Okcheon neogeogyncline was formed to the northeast of the old paleogeogyncline area. The transgression of the sea had proceeded toward southwest in which Cambrian strata were accumulated. During this period the area occupied formerly by the paleogeosyncline was uplifted, so that most of the Hwanggangri and the Kunjasan formations were eroded away except in the area close to the neogeosyncline sea coast. This is the reason why the Hwanggangri and the Kunjasan formations are cropped out presently in the area of the vicinity of contact zone of the paleo- and neogeosyncline zones. The age of the Okcheon system has been reconfirmed to be Precambrian from the view of the facts that 1) the Hanggangri formation, the upper member of the Okcheon system is meta-tillite and correlated to the Precambrian tillite in the Yantze basin in China, 2) the Okcheon system has been moderately metamorphosed while other formations of the same age, if it is Paleozoic or later, have not been metamorphosed, and 3) tectonic history and limited areal distribution of the Hwanggangri and the Kunjasan formations is suggestive of Precambian age.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.455-468
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• 2013

We performed reconnaissance survey on Dashinchilen Nb-Ta REE area and Sant Cu area which are located in southeastern part of Khangai rare metals mineralized belt. In Dashinchilen area, Nb and Ta have been found in pegmatitic granite that is largely distributed in the survey area and muscovite in pegmatite which is an intrusion in paleozoic sedimentary rocks which are mostly composed of sandstone. While grades of Nb and Ta are not high, an outcrop that has high Th and U contents (542 ppm of Th and 56.9 ppm of U) has been found. Average and maximum REE contents in the survey area is three times and seven times, respectively, larger than average REE contents in the crust of the Earth. In Sant area, copper oxides such as malachite has been found in quartzite in paleozoic sedimentary rocks. A sedimentary rock formation that has high grade of Mn (12.4-34.6 %) has been found in the survey area. This sedimentary rock formation is the same formation with that of Ugii Nuur Fe-Mn mineralization which is located about 200 km northwest of the survey area. Average and maximum REE contents in the survey area is two and half times and seven times, respectively, larger than average REE contents in the crust of the Earth. According to the factor analysis for the data of the geochemical analysis, Nb and Ta in Dashinchilen area are highly correlated with muscovite and Cu in Sant area is highly correlated with Mo, Sn, and Bi. Furthermore, the factor analysis results show that Fe in Sant area was deposited with rare earth elements.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.167-184
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• 1980

The granitic plutons associated with Ogcheon geosynclinal zone can be grouped into three different subzones; SE-Subzone for the migmatitic and schistose granites of the southeast margin, 101-181m.y. old; NW-Subzone for those of the northwest margin, 112-163m. y. old; and C-Subzone for those of central part of the zone, 63-183m.y. old. The intrusives in C-Subzone are further subdivided into the older, adamellite to granodiorite (148-183m.y. old) and the younger, perthitic granites (63-106m,y. old). The metallogenic distribution of South Korea suggests that, in the Ogcheon Zone, it is possible to delineate an elongated polymetallogenic province in the general orientation of the zone intimately related with the migmatite and plutonic zones mentioned. Moreover, the mineralization in the province was basically controlled by the patterns of local geology involving country rocks and related igneous bodies, that permit subdivision of the province into the following three parts: Northeast (NE) Province consists dominantly of thick Paleozoic calcareous sediments; Middle (M) Province is characterized by predominant argillaceous and partly calcareous sediments of Precambrian to Late Paleozoic age; and Southwest (SW) Province consisting mainly of volcanic and arenaceous sediments of Mesozoic age. The three different plutonic zones with three different country rock provinces above mentioned make a combination which consists of nine classes. Each class can be assumed to be characterized by specific mineralization type. In order to classify the mineralization types, the present study sampled twenty six ore deposits and mineralized areas in Ogcheon zone as shown figure 2; eight ore deposits from plutonic SE-Subzone, ten from the plutonic NE-Subzone and eight from the plutonic C-Subzone. The characteristics of the classes are as follows: NE-SE is predominant in Au-Ag vein and Sn-migmatite of katazonal occurrence; NE-C is most productive in Pb-Zn and remarkable in Fe contact deposit in mesozone and partly Pb-Zn-Cu skarn in limestone and subordinate in mesozone and partly Pb-Zn pipes; M-SE is considerable in Au-Ag vein and rare elements (Nb, Ta, etc.) of pegmatite; M-C is predominant in F-veins in epizone and Mo-W, Fe, Cu veins occur in replacement type; M-NW is productive in Fe metamorphic and skarn types, partly remarkable in Cu, Pb-Zn contact; SW-SE is barren in mineralization related to Jurassic igneous rocks; SW-C is predominant in alunite and pyrophyllite in tuffs; and SW-NW is scarece in Pb-Zn, Cu, As and Au-Ag veins.