• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.2 no.2 s.3
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• pp.59-70
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• 1994

The Cenozoic geological structures and the tectonic evolution of the southern Ulleung Basin were studied with seismic profiles and exploration well data. Basement structure of the Korea Strait is distinctly characterized by normal faults trending northeast to southwest. The normal faults of the basement are most likely related to the initial liking and extensional tectonics of Ulleung Basin. Tsushima fault along the west coast of Tsushima islands runs northeastward to the central Ulleung Basin. The Middle Miocene and older sequences in the Tsushima Strait show folds and faults mostly trending northeast to southwest. These folds and faults may be interpreted as a result of compressional tectonics. The Late Miocene to Qauternary sequences are not much deformed, but numerous faults mostly N-S trending are dominated in the Tsushima Strait. The Ulleung Basin was in intial rifting during Oligocene, and then active extension and subsidence from Early to early Middle Miocene. Therefore SW Japan separated from Korea Peninsula and drifted toward southeast, and Ulleung Basin was formed as a pull-apart basin under dextral transtensional tectonic regime. During rifting and extensional stage, Tsushima fault as a main tectonic line separating SW Japan block from the Korean Peninsula acted as a normal faulting with right-lateral strike-slip motion as SW Japan drifted southeastward. During middle Middle Miocene to early Late Miocene, the opening of Ulleung basin stopped and uplifted due to compressional tectonics. The southwest Japan block converging on the Korean Peninsula caused compressional stress to the southern margin of Ulleung Basin, resulting in strong deformation under sinistral transpressional tectonic regime. Tsushima fault acted as thrust fault with left-lateral strike-slip motion. From middle Late Miocene to Quaternary, the southern margin of Ulleung Basin has been controlled by compressional motion. Thus the Tsushima fault still appears to be an active thrust fault by compressional tectonic regime.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.16-22
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• 2003

The focal mechanisms of the earthquakes occurred in 2001 and 2002 are analyzed to understand the regional stress and tectonics in and around Korean Peninsula. The forty -three fault plane solutions are derived using the polarities of first arrival P-waves recorded at KIGAM, Bmh and KEPRI stations. The result suggest that thrust motion with significant amount of strike slip component is dominant mode of faulting. The larger population of mechanism is characterized by WNW-ESE striking nodal planes. NE-SW direction is interpreted as dominant compressional axis orientation of stress field. These solutions are similar to those of medium size earthquakes studied previously, which is known as typical regional tectonic stress orientation in and around Korean Peninsula.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.74-83
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• 1990

The similarity in Mesozoic geology between the Antarctic Peninsula and South America indicates the possibility that they had situated along the same tectonics line before the separation of southwestern Gondwanaland. The igneous activity around the Antarctic Peninsula, including the South Shetland islands, can be correlated with the South American Cordillera Orogeny due to the subduction of Farallon/Phoenix plate until late Mesozoic. However igneous activity in Tertiary correlates with the tectonics movement accompanying the formations of Drake passage and Scotian sea. The south Shetland islands form a Jurassic-Quaternary miasmatic island arc on the sialic basement of schist and deformed sedimentary rocks. Forming of the South Shetland Islands arc began during the latest Jurassic or earliest Cretaceous from the southwestern part of the archipelago. The igneous activity migrated northeasterly and continued in most areas until late Tertiary. The entire arc-forming period, between late Jurassic and late tertiary times, was characterized by emplacement and eruption of magmas of intermediate between island-arc tholeiite and calc-alkaline types. However, Quaternary volcanic rocks show strong alkaline affinities which corresponds to the switch from compressional to intra: plate tensional tectonics. The rocks of late Cretaceous to Tertiary, mainly found in King George Island, consist of lava of basalt to andesite and intercalated pyroclastic rocks. Some of the volcanic rocks, which ofter called quartz-pyrite lodes'are severely altered and include much content of calcite,silica and pyrite.The stratographic succession of King George Island can be divided into two formation:Fields formation and Hennequin formation.The Fildes formation crops out at the west side of Admiralty Bay n King George Island,while the Hennequin formation at the east side of the bay.These two formtions are thought to be formed contempiranceously.The Fildes formation consists of altered olivine-basalt and basaltic andestie, whereas the Hennequin formation consists of fine-grained hypersthene-augite-andesite.Both formations interclate pyroclastic rocks.

• 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 Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.5 no.1_2 s.6
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• pp.27-35
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• 1997

The Gorae II area is located in the southwestern margin of the Ulleung Basin, East Sea and corresponds to the Ulleung Trough. The survey of 3D seismic data in this area was performed to delineate the structural leads confirmed by the previous 2D seismic data. As a part of 3D interpretation, basement related structural movements and their relationship with the stratigraphy were studied. The study shows that eight sequences were identified which are genetically related to the tectonics and sediment supply in this area. The geologic structures characterizing the study area consist of : (1) block faults developed in the early stage of basin opening, (2) late Miocene thrusts, and (3) Pliocene wrench faults. The eight sequences consist of pre-rift (acoustic basement), syn-rift (Sequence $A_1, A_2$), post-rift (Sequence $B_1{\~}B_3$), syn-compressional sequence (Sequence C), and post-compressional sequence(Sequence D) from oldest to youngest. The time structure and isochron maps were constructed for each sequence and also used in seismic facies analysis and interpretation of sedimentary environment. The interpretation results reveal that the relative sea level changes caused by several stages of tectonic movements and sediment supply control the stratal and structural geometry of Ulleung basin.

• 한국석유지질학회:학술대회논문집
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• autumn
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• pp.57-72
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• 2000

The Murzuk Basin covers an area in excess of $350,000{\cal}km^2$, and is one of several intra-cratonic sag basins located on the Saharan Platform of North Africa. Compared with some of these basins, the Murzuk Basin has a relatively simple structure and stratigraphy, probably as a result of it's location on a the East Saharan Craton. The basin contains a sedimentary fill which reaches a thickness of about $4,000{\cal}m$ in the basin centre. This fill can be divided into a predominantly marine Paleozoic section, and a continental Mesozoic section. The principal hydrocarbon play consists of a glacial-marine sandstone reservoir of Cambro-Ordovician age, sourced and sealed by overlying Silurian shales. The present day borders of the basin are defined by tectonic uplifts, each of multi-phase generation, and the present day basin geometry bears little relation to the more extensive Early Palaeozoic sedimentary basin within which the reservoir and source rocks were deposited. The key to the understanding of the Cambro-Ordovician play is the relative timing of oil generation compared to the Cretaceous and Tertiary inversion tectonics which influenced source burial depth, reactivated faults and reorganised migration pathways. At the present day only a limited area of the basin centre remains within the oil generating window. Modelling of the timing and distribution of source rock maturity uses input data from AFTA and fluid inclusion studies to define palaeo temperatures, shale velocity work to estimate maximum burial depth and source rock geochemistry to define kinetics and pseudo-Ro. Migration pathways are investigated through structural analysis. The majority of the discovered fields and identified exploration prospects in the Murzuk Basin involve traps associated with high angle reverse faults. Extensional faulting occurred in the Cambro-Ordovician and this was followed by repeated compressional movements during Late Silurian, Late Carboniferous, Mid Cretaceous and Tertiary, each associated with regional uplift and erosion.