• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.259-275
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• 2023

Pan African granitoids of Kaiama is comprised of K-feldspar rich granites, porphyritic granites, and granitic gneiss that are intruded by quartz veins and aplitic veins and dykes which trend NE-SW. In order to establish the geochemical signatures, petrogenesis, and tectonic settings of the lithological units, petrological, petrographical, and geochemical studies was carried out. Petrographic analysis reveals that the granitoids are dominantly composed of quartz, plagioclase feldspar, biotite, and k-feldspar with occasional muscovites, sericite, and opaque minerals that constitute very low proportion. Major, trace, and rare earth elements geochemical data reveal that the rocks have moderate to high silica (SiO₂=63-79.7%) and alumina (Al₂O₃=11.85-16.15) contents that correlate with the abundance of quartz, feldspars, and biotite. The rocks are calc-alkaline, peraluminous (ASI=1.0-<1.2), and S-type granitoids sourced by melting of pre-existing metasedimentary or sedimentary rocks containing Al, Na, and K oxides. They plot dominantly in the WPG and VAG fields suggesting emplacement in a post-collisional tectonic setting. On a multi-element variation diagram, the granitoids show depletion in Ba, K, P, Rb, and Ti while enrichment was observed for Th, U, Nd, Pb and Sm. Their rare-earth elements pattern is characterized by moderate fractionation ((La/Yb)_N=0.52-38.24) and pronounced negative Eu-anomaly (Eu/Eu^*=0.02-1.22) that points to the preservation of plagioclase from the source magma. Generally, the geochemical features of the granitoids show that they were derived by the partial melting of crustal rocks with some input from greywacke and pelitic materials in a typical post-collisional tectonic setting.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.565-583
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• 2020

In recent years, various social issues related to the natural radioactive elements detected in household goods and building materials are addressed, and should be solved promptly. In Korea, for more than 20 years, the Ministry of Environment has investigated the natural radioactive materials such as heavy metals, uranium, and radon in soil or groundwater. The origins of natural radioactive materials in them may have a close correlation with the geological factors including classification of rocks, petrogenetic origins, and deformation characteristics, but the exact geological correlations are not clarified because of the absence of the government policy preserved in the basement rocks, soils as well as groundwater in fault-related reservoirs. This study aims to perform a research on the correlation between the petrogeneses of the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks and natural radioactive concentrations in rocks (radon, uranium, thorium, potassium etc.) in Korea. Among the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks, alkaline plutonic rocks (syenite, monzonite and monzodiorite and alkali granite) show high U and Th concentrations by high solubilities of U, Th, Zr, REE, and Nb until the most extreme stages of magmatic fractionation (viz. crystal fractionation) due to high magma temperature and high alkalinity tendency. The highly fractionated high-K calalkaline and peraluminous granitic rocks (leucogranite, two-mica granite and leucocratic pegmatite are also U and Th concentrations compared with other less or medium fractionated granitic rocks (diorite, granodiorite and granite). The alkaline plutonic rocks are associated with intracontinental rifting and extensional environment after crustal thickening by collisional and subductional processes. In contrast, the dominant calc-alkaline granitic rocks in Korea are related to the arc environment of the subduction zone. In summary, the trends of the U, Th and K concentration from the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks in Korea are closely linked to the petrogenesis of the rocks in tectonic environment. The preliminary data for gamma-spectrometric mesurments of natural radionuclide contents (²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K) in the Phanerozoic plutonic rocks show high values in the alkaline and highly fractionated granitic rocks.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.355-370
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• 1989

Igneous rocks of study area consist of Pre-Cambrian orthogneiss, Devonian granite, Triassic foliated granites and Jurassic granites distributed along the southeast margin of Ogcheon Geosynclinal belt(SE-zone), and irregular shaped granitic stocks in the central part of the belt(C-zone). Anorthosite and gaabbro are also present in southern part of the SE-zone in the belt and intruded into gneiss complex of Ryongnam massif. Distribuition of foliated granites shows three linear arrangements which are composed of hornblende-biotite foliated granodiorite, porphyritic foliated granodiorite, biotite foliated granodiorite, leuco foliated granite and two mica foliated granite. Foliated granites generated by dextral strike slip movement at deep level. Jurassic granites composed of several rock facies are considered to be formed by differentiation of magma during Daebo Orogeny. A general trend of the chemical composition of these igneous rocks in study area suggests that most of them corresponding to calc-alkaline rock series was affected under orogeny and I-type granite except for two mica foliated granite. In chondrite normalised REE pattern of these igneous rocks, LREE shows more variable range and strong (-)Eu anomaly than HREE. Geochronological episodes of igneous activity from early Proterozoic to Cretaceous in SE-zone of Ogcheon Geosynclinal belt are two more Pre-Cambrian Orogeny, Devonian Orogeny(Variscan), Songrim Disturbance, Daebo Orogeny and Bulkuksa Disturbance.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.561-573
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• 1996

The igneous rocks in the Goseong area, the southwestern part of the Gyeongsang basin, are composed of the volcanic rocks, Bulgugsa granites and intrusive andesites. The volcanic rocks are andesitic lapilli tuff, dacite and rhyolite. The granites are mainly of hornblende-biotite granite and intruded into the sedimentary basement and the volcanic rocks. The intrusion of andesitic dyke is thought to be the latest igneous activity in the area. In the variation diagrams of the major oxides, the three igneous rock types show different variational trends, indicating that they were from the different magmatic pulses. K-Ar radiometric ages suggest that the igneous activity in the Goseong area had occurred during late Cretaceous period. The ages of the volcanic rocks seem likely to have become younger due to the thermal effect by the granitic intrusion. The major element compositoinal variation of the granites from the Goseong area are compared with those from the Jindong, Geoje and Masan areas. By the comparison, it is easily understood that the Jindong granites are fairly different from the other three granites. On the other hand, the Goseong, Geoje and Masan granites generally show similar variational trends with each other, suggesting that they are of similar genetic origin. Combining the similarity of the geochemical features and the difference of the intruding ages between the Goseong and Masan granites, it seems like that the magma generation from the same source materials had occurred at a temporal interval.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.261-276
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• 1991

The main aspect of this study are to clarify igneous activity of igneous rocks, which is a member of various intrusives and volcanics exposed in Naju-Namchang area of southern central zone of Ogcheon Geosynclinal Belt, southern part of Youngdong-Kwangju depression zone of tectonic provinces in Korea. Naju-Namchang area are subdivided into three rock belts based on occuring of Cretaceous granites. Three rock belts consist of foliated granites, Jurassic granites and Cretaceous granites in central granitic rock belt (C-C), and acidic tuff and lavas in northwest volcanic rock belt(C-NW) and southeast volcanic rock belt(C-SE). Chemical composition of these igneous rocks show mostly similar trend to the Daly's values on Harker diagram and correspond to VAG + Syn-COLG region on Pearce's discrimination diagram. These igneous rocks vary wide range in total REE amount(37.4-221.3ppm) characterized by enriched LREE content and steep negative slope in Eu(-) anomaly. It is concluded each synchronous granites which composed of serveral rock facies is considered to formed by differentiation of co-magma at continental margin, and igneous activity of study area are two more Pre-Cambrian Orogenies, Songrim Disturbance, Daebo Orogeny and Bulkuksa Disturbance.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.627-636
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• 2012

In the Obongri-Goseong area of Gangwondo, South Korea, there are six densely distributed volcanic edifices i.e., Duibaejae, Oeumsan, Galmibong, 249 m height, 166 m height, and 102 m height, and two other volcanic edifices including Goseongsan and Unbongsan volcanic edifice that are separately located from a distance. A previously undiscovered 249m volcanic edifice in Obongri was found in this investigation, and the six volcanic edifices distributed in Obongri will be referred to as the Obongri volcanic edifice group. Volcanic edifices in this area were interpreted by other researchers as being volcanic plug, plug dome, and cylindrical volcanic pipe type edifices. The aim of this study is to investigate the aspect of volcanic activity in the Obongri-Goseong area and the formation of volcanic edifices by examining of the shape of volcanic edifices, stratigraphy, and characterization of volcanic products. All the volcanic edifices in the area are composed of basaltic rocks on the Mesozoic granite basement, and the prevalence of the dome shape increased towards the upper part of the mountain. Three volcanic edifices (Duibaejae, 166 m height, 102 m height) include intercalated pyroclastic deposits between the basaltic rocks and the basement. The pyroclastic deposit in the Duibaejae volcanic edifice is composed of quartz, feldspar, granite fragments originated from the basement, and scoria fragments originated from the volcanic eruption. In addition to angular olivine, plagioclase, and pyroxene xenocrysts, all the basaltic rocks contained mantle xenolith, gabbroic xenolith originated from the lower crust, and granitic xenolith originated from the basement. This fact indicates that magma rapidly rose to the surface and that the volcanic activity was explosive. It is also interpreted that, as the basaltic magma became highly viscous due to the large amount of xenocrysts, the erupted magma formed a dome structure on the surface. The original dome structure was then severely eroded out leaving a plug dome formation on the basement.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.35-60
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• 1987

The geochemical characteristics including minerals, major and trace elements chemistries of the Proterozoic, Jurassic and Cretaceous granites in Korea are systematically summarized and intended to decipher the origin and crystallization process in connection with the tectonic evolution. The granites in Korea are classified into three different ages of the granites with their own distinctive geochemical patterns: 1) Proterozoic granitoids; 2) Jurassic granites(cratonic and mobile belt); 3) Cretaceous-Tertiary granites. The Proterozoic granite gneisses (I-type and ilmenite-series) formed by metamorphism of the geochemically evolved granite protolith. The Proterozoic granites (S-type and ilmenite-series) produced by remobilization of sialic crust. The Jurassic granites (S-type and ilmenite-series) were mainly formed by partial melting of crustal materials, possibly metasedimentary rocks. The Cretaceous granites (I-type and magnetite-series) formed by fractional crystallization of parental magmas from the igneous protolith in the lower crust or upper mantle. The low temperature ($315{\sim}430^{\circ}C$) and small temperature variations (${\pm}20{\sim}30^{\circ}C$) in the cessation of exsolution of perthites for the Proterozoic and Jurassic granites might have been caused by slow cooling of the granites under regional metamorphic regime. The high ($520^{\circ}C$) and large temperature variations (${\pm}110^{\circ}C$) of perthites for the Cretaceous granites postulate that the rapid cooling of the granitic magma. In terms of the oxygen fugacity during the feldspar crystallization in the granite magmas, the Jurassic mobile belt granites were crystallized in the lowest oxygen fugacity condition among the Korean granites, whereas the Cretaceous granites in the Gyeongsang basin at the high oxygen fugacity condition. The Jurassic mobile belt granites are located at the Ogcheon Fold Belt, resulting by closing-collision situation such as compressional tectonic setting, and emplaced into a Kata-Mesozonal ductile crust. The Jurassic cratonic granites might be more evolved either during intrusion through thick crust or owing to lower degree of partial melting in comparison with the mobile belt granites. The Cretaceous granites are possibly comparable with a continental margin of Andinotype. Subduction of the Kula-Pacific ridge provided sufficient heat and water to trigger remelting at various subcrustal and lower crustal igneous protoliths.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.123-154
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• 1982

Petrochemical, K-Ar dating, Sand Rb/Sr isotopes, metallogenic zoning, paleomagnetic and geotectonic studies of the Gyongsang basin were carried out to examine applicability of plate tectonics to the post-late Cretaceous igneous activity and metallogeny in the southeastern part of Korean Peninsula. The results obtained are as follows: 1. Bulgugsa granitic rocks range from granite to adamellite, whose Q-Ab-Or triangular diagram indicates that the depth and pressure at which the magma consolidated increase from coast to inland varying from 6 km, 0.5-3.3 kb in the coastal area to 17 km, 0.5-10 kb in the inland area. 2. The volcanic rocks in Gyongsang basin range from andesitic to basaltic rocks, and the basaltic rocks are generally tholeiitic in the coastal area and alkali basalt in the inland area. 3. The volcanic rocks of the area have the initial ratio of Sr^{87}/Sr^{86} varying from 0.706 to 0.707 which suggests a continental origin; the ratio of Rb/Sr changing from 0.079-0.157 in the coastal area to 0.021-0.034 in the inland area suggests that the volcanism is getting younger toward coastal side, which may indicate a retreat in stage of differentiation if they were derived from a same magma. The K_2O/SiO_2 (60%) increases from about 1.0 in the coastal area to about 3.0 in the inland area, which may suggest an increase indepth of the Benioff zone, if existed, toward inland side. 4. The K-Ar ages of volcanic rocks were measured to be 79.4 m.y. near Daegu, and 61.7 m.y. near Busan indicating a southeastward decrease in age. The ages of plutonic rocks also decrease toward the same direction with 73 m.y. near Daegu, and 58 m.y. near Busan, so that the volcanism predated the plutonism by 6 m.y. in the continental interior and 4 m.y. along the coast. Such igneous activities provide a positive evidence for an applicability of plate tectonics to this area. 5. Sulfur isotope analyses of sulfide minerals from 8 mines revealed that these deposits were genetically connected with the spacially associated ingeous rocks showing relatively narrow range of ${\delta}^{34}S$ values (-0.9‰ to +7.5‰ except for +13.3 from Mulgum Mine). A sequence of metallogenic zones from the coast to the inland is delineated to be in the order of Fe-Cu zone, Cu-Pb-Zn zone, and W-Mo zone. A few porphyry type copper deposits are found in the Fe-Cu zone. These two facts enable the sequence to be comparable with that of Andean type in South America. 6. The VGP's of Cretaceous and post Cretaceous rocks from Korea are located near the ones($71^{\circ}N$, $180^{\circ}E$ and $90^{\circ}N$, $110^{\circ}E$) obtained from continents of northern hemisphere. This suggests that the Korean peninsula has been stable tectonically since Cretaceous, belonging to the Eurasian continent. 7. Different polar wandering path between Korean peninsula and Japanese islands delineates that there has been some relative movement between them. 8. The variational feature of declination of NRM toward northwestern inland side from southeastern extremity of Korean peninsula suggests that the age of rocks becomes older toward inland side. 9. The geological structure(mainly faults) and trends of lineaments interpreted from the Landsat imagery reveal that NNE-, NWW- and NEE-trends are predominant in the decreasing order of intensity. 10. The NNE-trending structures were originated by tensional and/or compressional forces, the directions of which were parallel and perpendicular respectively to the subduction boundary of the Kula plate during about 90 m.y. B.P. The NWW-trending structures were originated as shear fractures by the same compressional forces. The NEE-trending structures are considered to be priginated as tension fractures parallel to the subduction boundary of the Kula plate during about 70 m.y. B.P. when Japanese islands had drifted toward southeast leaving the Sea of Japan behind. It was clearly demonstrated by many authors that the drifting of Japanese islands was accompanied with a rotational movement of a clock-wise direction, so that it is inferred that subduction boundary had changed from NNE- to NEE-direction. A number of facts and features mentioned above provide a suite of positive evidences enabling application of plate tectonics to the late Cretaceous-early Tertiary igneous activity and metallogeny in the area. Synthesizing these facts, an arc-trench system of continental margin-type is adopted by reconstructing paleogeographic models for the evolution of Korean peninsula and Japan islands. The models involve an extention mechanism behind the are(proto-Japan), by which proto-Japan as of northeastern continuation of Gyongsang zone has been drifted rotationally toward southeast. The zone of igneous activity has also been migrated from the inland in late-Cretaceous to the peninsula margin and southwestern Japan in Tertiary.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.3_4
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• pp.157-168
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• 2002

In Gimcheon area of the central Yeongnam massif granite gneiss occurrs with intercalated biotite gneiss at xenolith or restite. In order to understand the evolution of the central Yeongnam massif, it is essential to have absolute age information, but not many age data are available yet. Furthermore the previous age determinations from the study area are not compatible with the outcrop relationship. In this study we determined chemical ages from the zircon grains. We obtained ages of $1970\pm$ 78(l$\sigma$)Ma from the granite gneiss, $1814\pm$77(l$\sigma$)Ma from the outer rim of a rounded zircon and 1973$\pm$97(l$\sigma$)Ma from a longish zircon, both from the biotite gneiss. These ages seem to indicate the timing of granitic magma intrusion and subsequent metamorphism. Ages of $2954\pm$ 158($l\sigma$)Ma, 2440$\pm$58(l$\sigma$)Ma, and 2219$\pm$36($l\sigma$)Ma obtained from zoned core of the rounded zircon grain from the biotite gneiss suggest various geological events before such metamorphism of the biotite gneiss. Ages in the range of 1450~1670 Ma observed in zircons of both gniesses suggest later metamorphism that the granite gneiss and the biotite gneiss experienced together. The chemical age determination by electron probe micro-analyzer of this study utilized 1$\mu\textrm{m}$ beam diameter and it seems to be a very useful age determination from the zircons with complex growth history because of superior spatial resolution.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 1992

Ulsan granite is plotted mainly in the region of syeno-granite of the Streckeisen diagram, which consists with those of iron related granites in the area of Kimhae-Mulgum, while Chindong granites and Yucheon-Eonyang granites are plotted in the regions of granodiorite-diorite and monzo-granite, respectively. These granites show a differentiation trend of calc-alkaline magma, and their magmatic evolution from intermediate to acidic rocks is consistant with the general crystallization path of the Cretaceous granitic rocks in the Gyeongsang basin. The difference index (D.I.) is 70~90 for Ulsan granite, which lies between 35~80 of Chindong granites and 85~95 of Yucheon-Eonyang granites. These granites are distinguishable from each other by variation patterns of chemical elements. For instance, there is clear difference in content of some major and trace elements between Ulsan granite and Cu-related Chindong granites: Ulsan granite has high content of K (2.68%) and Ba (636 ppm), and low content of Ca (1.07%), Mg (0.50%) and Sr (185 ppm), whereas Chindong granites has less content of K (1.62%) and Ba (382 ppm), and higher content of Ca (3.75%), Mg (1.42%) and Sr (405 ppm). However, the content of Ulsan granite overlaps partly those of Yucheon-Eonyang granites, which are apparently dividable from Chindong granites. There is an usual trend that Cu content is high in Chindong granites of Cu province and Zn content is higher in Yucheon-Eonyang granites of Pb-Zn province. But it is unusual that Cu and Zn are higher in Ulsan granite (34 ppm, 74 ppm) than in Chindong granites (15 ppm, 22 ppm) and Yucheon-Eonyang granites (14 ppm, 43 ppm). This may be due to the reason that Ulsan granite is productive and Cu-Zn minerals are associated with iron ores. Productive Chindong granites in Haman-Gunbug area and Yuchon-Eonyang granites near ore deposits have higher content of Cu and Zn than Ulsang granite. Therefore, it is expected that chemical variation patterns of granites are applicable to distinguish mineral commodity of ore deposits (iron, copper, or lead-zinc) related with the granites in the Gyeongsasng basin.