• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.303-312
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• 2011

Analysis of high-resolution seismic profiles from the southeastern continental shelf of Korea reveals that the Holocene transgressive deposits consist of five sedimentary units characterized by retrograding or backstepping depositional arrangements. Unit I, forming a linear sediment body along the shelf margin, is an ancient beach/shoreface deposit formed during the early stage of transgression. During the transgression, the paleo-channels were backfilled with fluvial or coastal-plain sediments, forming Unit II as an incised-channel fill deposit. The near-surface sediment was reworked and eroded by shoreface erosion, forming a thin lag of sands (Unit III) on the midshelf. During the middle stage of the transgression, the shoreline may have stabilized at around 70 - 80 m below the present sea level for some period of time to allow the formation of sand ridge systems (Unit IV). Unit V in the inner shelf was deposited in an estuarine environment during the middle to late stage of transgression. Such transgressive stratigraphic architecture is controlled by a function of lateral changes in the balance among rates of relative sea-level rise, sediment input and marine processes at any given time.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.369-379
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• 2003

Analysis of high-resolution seismic profiles and sediment data from the southeastern continental shelf of Korea reveals that the late Quaternary deposits consist of a set of lowstand (LST), transgressive (TST), and highstand systems tracts (HST) that corresponds to the sea-level change after the Last Glacial Maximum. LST (Unit I) above the sequence boundary consists of sandy mud or muddy sand deposited during the last glacial period and is confined to the shelf margin and trough region. TST (Unit II) between transgressive surface and maximum flooding surface consists of sandy sediments deposited during the postglacial transgression (15,000-6,000 yr BP). Although TST is widely distributed on the shelf, it is much thinner than LST and HST. On the basis of distribution pattern, TST can be divided into three sub-units: early TST (Unit IIa) on the shelf margin, middle TST (Unit IIb) on the mid-shelf, and late TST (Unit IIc) on the inner shelf, respectively. These are characterized by a backstepping depositional arrangement. HST(Unit III) above the maximum flooding surface is composed of the fine-grained sediments deposited during the last 6000 yrs when sea level was close to the present level and its distribution is restricted to the inner shelf along the coast.