• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.200-220
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• 2014

This study reexamines the old concept and reviews prevalent statements on Cenozoic vertical motions of the peninsula that have been uncritically repeated in our academia. The contents of this paper are redefinition of the notion, tilted flexure or warping, and a suggestion for a new time set and properties of the deformation, followed by a new model on its influencing factors and processes. In conclusion, the Cenozoic vertical motion of the Korean peninsula can be reified further with an epeirogenic movement of uplift in the east side-subsidence in the west side of the peninsula since the Neogene (23 Ma). However, the regional boundary for areas of uplift and subsidence is not likely in the Korean peninsula but broader farther to East China and the southern part of Russia. It can be best understood that mantle convection produced by subducting activities in the Western Pacific Subduction Zone causes the uplift and subsidence of earth surface around NE Asia. In addition, faultings in the upper lithosphere induced by in-situ plate boundary stresses accelerate regional uplift in the peninsula since the Quaternary. Controversies that are still standing such as current uplift movements along the western coast of the peninsula during the late Quaternary could be precisely discussed with future research providing detailed information on it.