• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 1999

High-resolution images are drawn from existing seismic data which were originally obtained by Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute (KORDI) during 1994-1997 for deep seismic studies on the East Sea of Korea. These images are analyzed for mapping Quaternary faults and near-bottom gas pockets. First 12 channels are selected from shot gathers for reprocessing. The processing sequence adopted for high-resolution seismic images comprises data copy, trace editing, true amplitude recovery, common-midpoint sorting, initial muting, prestack deconvolution, bandpass filtering, stacking, highpass filtering, poststack deconvolution, f-x migration, and automatic gain control (AGC). Among these processing steps, predictive deconvolution, highpass filtering, and short window AGC are the most significant in enhancement of resolution. More than 200 Quaternanry faults are interpreted on the migrated sections in the shallow depths beneath the seafloor. Although numerous faults are found mostly at the western continental slope and boundaries of the Ulleung Basin, significant amount of the faults are also indicated within the basin. Many of these faults are believed to be formed with reactivation of basement, from geotectonic activities including volcanism, and often originated in Tertiary, indicating that the tectonic regime of the East Sea might be unstable. Existence of shallow gas pockets casts real hazardous warnings to deep-sea drillings and/or to underwater constructions such as inter-island cables and gas pipelines. On the other hand, discovery of these gas pockets heightens the interests in developing natural resources in the East Sea. Reprocessed seismic sections, however, show no typical seismic characteristics for gas hydrates such as bottom-simulating reflectors in the western continental slope and ocean floor.