• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.385-396
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• 2023

The Mesozoic Bansong Group, distributed along the NE-SW thrust fault zone of the Okcheon Fold Belt in the Danyang-Yeongwol-Jeongseon areas, contains important information on the two Mosozoic orogenic cycles in the Koran Peninsula, the Permian-Triassic Songrim Orogeny and the Jurassic Daebo Orogeny. This study aims to review previous studies on the stratigraphy, depositional period, and basin evolution of the Bansong Group and to suggest future research directions. The perspective on the implication of the Bansong Group in the context of the tectonic evolution of the Korean Peninsula is largely divided into two points of view. The traditional view assumes that it was deposited as a product of the post-collisional Songrim Orogeny and then subsequently deformed by the Daebo Orogeny. This interpretation is based on the stratigraphic, paleontologic, and structural geologic research carried out in the Danyang Coalfield area. On the other hand, recent research regards the Bansong Group as a product of syn-orogenic sedimentation during the Daebo Orogeny. This alternative view is based on the zircon U-Pb ages of pyroclastic rocks distributed in the Yeongwol area and their structural position. However, both models cannot comprehensively explain the paleontological and geochronological data derived from Bansong Group sediments. This suggests the need for a new basin evolution model integrated from multidisciplinary data obtained through sedimentology, structural geology, geochronology, petrology, and geochemistry studies.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.465-476
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• 2012

The Anatolia peninsula consists of several continental fragments that include the Pontide Block in north and the Anatolide-Touride Block in south as well as the Arabian Platform in southeast. These continental blocks were joined together into a single landmass in the late Tertiary. During most of the Phanerozoic these continental blocks were separated by paleo-oceans, such as Paleo-Tethys and Neo-Tethys. The Pontide Block in north show Laurasian affinities, and was only slightly affected by the Alpide orogeny; they preserve evidence for the Variscan and Cimmeride orogenies. The Pontic Block is composed of the Strandja, Istanbul and Sakarya zones that were amalgamated into a single terrane by the mid Cretaceous times. The Anatolide-Tauride Block in south shows Gondwana affinities but was separated from Gondwana in the Triassic and formed an extensive carbonate platform during the Mesozoic. The Anatolide-Tauride Block was intensely deformed and partly metamorphosed during the Alpide orogeny; this leads to the subdivision of the Anatolide-Tauride Block into several zones on the basis of the type and age of metamorphism and deformation. The Arabian Platform in southeast forms the northernmost extension of the Arabian Plate that shows a stratigraphy similar to the Anatolide-Tauride Block with a clastic-carbonate dominated Palaeozoic and a carbonate dominated Mesozoic succession. A new tectonic era started in Anatolia Peninsula in the Oligocene-Miocene after the final amalgamation of these continental blocks and plate. This neotectonic phase is characterized by extension, and strike-slip faulting, continental sedimentation, and widespread calcalkaline magmatism, which played a very important role in producing beautiful landscapes of the Anatolia Peninsula today.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.271-283
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• 2021

The Imjingang Belt in the middle-western Korean Peninsula has tectonically been correlated with the Permo-Triassic Qinling-Dabie-Sulu collisional belt between the North and South China cratons in terms of collisional tectonics. Within the belt, crustal-scale extensional ductile shear zones that were interpreted to be formed during collapsing stage with thrusts and folds were reported as evidence of collisional events by previous studies. In this study, we tried to understand the nature of deformation along the southern boundary of the belt in the Munsan area based on the interpretations of recently conducted structural analyses. To figure out the realistic geometry of the study area, the down-plunge projection was carried out based on the geometric relationships between structural elements from the detailed field investigation. We also conducted kinematic interpretations based on the observed shear sense indicators from the outcrops and the oriented thin-sections made from the mylonite samples. The prominent structures of the Munsan area are the regional-scale ENE-WSW striking thrust and the N-S trending map-scale folds, both in its hanging wall and footwall areas. Shear sense indicators suggest both eastward and westward vergence, showing opposite directions on each limb of the map-scale folds in the Munsan area. In addition, observed deformed microstructures from the biotite gneiss and the metasyenite of the Munsan area suggest that their deformation conditions are corresponding to the typical mid-crustal plastic deformation of the quartzofeldspathic metamorphic rocks. These microstructural results combined with the macro-scale structural interpretations suggest that the shear zones preserved in the Munsan area is mostly related to the development of the N-S trending map-scale folds that might be formed by flexural folding rather than the previously reported E-W trending crustal-scale extensional ductile shear zone by Permo-Triassic collision. These detailed examinations of the structures preserved in the Imjingang Belt can further contribute to solving the tectonic enigma of the Korean collisional orogen.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.525-535
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• 2017

Exhumation mechanism of migmatite in orogenic belts provides insights into thermo-mechanical evolution of lithosphere in association with orogeny. This study deals with kinematics of structures in and around the Gwangcheon Gneiss, as a preliminary study on exhumation mechanism, which is a main constituent of a domal structure (viz., Oseosan Dome) in the Hongseong area, southwestern margin of the Gyeonggi massif. Geological structures in the Gwangcheon Gneiss, which mainly comprises southern and northwestern part of the Oseosan Dome, generally have kinematic component of top-outward shear. This feature is likely to represent diapiric dome-up movement. In addition, a high strain zone, by which the tectonic domain involving the Gwangcheon Gneiss is bounded on the west, show structural features with normal sense of shear component. Taking available (thermo)chronological data into account, it is interpreted that activation of the high strain zone and exhumation of the Gwangcheon Gneiss occurred during Late Triassic, when the Gyeonggi massif was widely affected by post-collisional processes. It means that the Gwangcheon Gneiss was diapirically moved up and exhumed in the footwall of extensional high strain zone in association with Triassic post-collisional processes.

• Geosciences Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2019

We present data from the Mesozoic Keumkang, Palbong, and Baekhwa granites in Garorim Bay, in the southwestern part of the Gyeonggi massif, South Korea. Using major and trace element concentrations, Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions, and sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) zircon U-Pb ages, we aim to constrain the petrogenesis of the granites and explain their origin within a broader regional geological context. SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages of $232.8{\pm}3.2$, $175.9{\pm}1.2$, and $176.8{\pm}9.8$ Ma were obtained from the Keumkang, Palbong and Baekhwa granites, respectively. The Late Triassic Keumkang granites belong to the shoshonite series and show an overall enrichment in large ion lithophile elements (LILE), a depletion in high field strength elements (HFSE) relative to primitive mantle, compared with neighboring elements in the primitive mantle-normalized incompatible trace element diagram with notable high Ba and Sr contents, and negligible Eu anomalies. The Keumkang granites are typified by highly radiogenic Sr and unradiogenic Nd and Pb isotopic compositions: $(^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr)_i=0.70931-0.70959$, $(^{143}Nd/^{144}Nd)_i=0.511472-0.511484$ [$({\varepsilon}_{Nd})_i=-17.0$ to -16.7], and $(^{206}Pb/^{204}Pb)=17.26-17.27$. The Middle Jurassic Palbong and Baekhwa granites belong to the medium- to high-K calc-alkaline series, and show LILE enrichment and HFSE depletion similar to the Keumkang granites, but exhibit significant negative anomalies in Ba, Sr, and Eu. Furthermore, they have elevated Y and Yb contents at any given $SiO_2$ content compared with other Jurassic granitoids from the Gyeonggi massif. The Palbong and Baekhwa granites have slightly less radiogenic Sr and more radiogenic Nd and Pb isotopic compositions [$(^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr)_i=0.70396-0.70908$, $(^{143}Nd/^{144}Nd)_i=0.511622-0.511660$, $({\varepsilon}_{Nd})_i=-15.4$ to -14.7, $(^{206}Pb/^{204}Pb)=17.56-17.76$] relative to the Keumkang granites. The Keumkang granites are considered to have formed in a post-collisional environment following the Permo-Triassic Songrim orogeny that records continent-continent collision between the North and South China blocks, and may have formed by fractional crystallization of metasomatized lithospheric mantle-derived mafic melts. The Palbong and Baekhwa granites may have been produced from a gabbroic assemblage at pressures of less than ~15 kbar, associated with subduction of the paleo-Pacific (Izanagi) plate at the Eurasian continental margin. Elevated ${\varepsilon}_{Nd}(t)$ values in the granitoids from the southwestern part of the Gyeonggi massif relative to those of the central and northern parts, together with the comparatively shallow depth of origin, imply the presence of an exotic block in the Korean lithosphere.