• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.625-636
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• 2010

The geophysical characteristics and geological structure of the northeastern part of the Ulleung Basin were investigated from interpretation of geophysical data including gravity, magnetic, bathymetry data, and seismic data. Relative correction was applied to reduce errors between sets of gravity and magnetic data, obtained at different times and by different equipments. The northeastern margin of the Ulleung Basin is characterized by complicated morphology consisting of volcanic islands (Ulleungdo and Dokdo), the Dokdo seamounts, and a deep pathway (Korea Gap) with the maximum depth of -2500 m. Free-air anomalies generally reflect the topography effect. There are high anomalies over the volcanic islands and the Dokdo seamounts. Except local anomalous zones of volcanic edifices, the gradual increasing of the Bouguer anomalies from the Oki Bank toward the Ulleung Basin and the Korea Gap is related to higher mantle level and denser crust in the central of the Ulleung Basin. Complicated magnetic anomalies in the study area occur over volcanic islands and seamounts. The power spectrum analysis of the Bouguer anomalies indicates that the depth to the averaged Moho discontinuity is -16.1 km. The inversion of the Bouguer anomaly shows that the Moho depth under the Korea Gap is about -16~17 km and the Moho depths towards the Oki Bank and the northwestern part of Ulleung Island are gradually deeper. The inversion result suggests that the crust of the Ulleung Basin is thicker than normal oceanic crusts. The result of 20 gravity modeling is in good agreement with the results of the power spectrum analysis and the inversion of the Bouguer anomaly. Except the volcanic edifices, the main pattern of magnetization distribution shows lineation in NE-SW. The inversion results, the 2D gravity modeling, and the magnetization distribution support possible NE-SW spreading of the Ulleung Basin proposed by other papers.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.267-285
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• 2002

Dok Island, a Pliocene volcano, lies in the southwestern part of the East Sea. Most the work to date have focused primarily on the petrolography of the island, and as a result, the morphological characteristics and internal structure of the volcanic edifices of the Dok Island remain poorly understood. To provide better constraints on these features, bathymetric data with multibeam echo sounder, 32-channel seismic and 3D gravity modeling were used in this study. Three positive topographic highs are present in the study area, and these highs satisfy the seamount criteria. They are named as Dokdo, Tamhae, and Donghae seamounts. 32-channel seismic survey was conducted to investigate the sediment thickness of the area, which shows that there are no sediments near the summit of seamounts. Away from the seamounts, however, sediment becomes thick(>2000 m) toward the western part of the study area, and sediments in the northern and southern parts are about 1000 m thick. Free-Air gravity anomalies in this study generally follow the bathymetric feature with less than -20 mGal at the western part, but increase towards the seamounts. In the summit of the Dokdo Seamount, anomalies reach over 120 mGal, and in Tamhae and Donghae seamounts, the peak anomaly shows 90 and 70 mGals, respectively. All seamounts have an isolated volcanic conduit in their centre and show regional compensation root with 0.5～1.5 km thickness. The flat-topped summit of the seamounts is probably caused by wave truncation, indicating the sea level at the time of formation of the flat-topped geometry. Comparison between the present-day sea level and subsidence level during the opening of the East Sea suggests that the seamounts in the study area have subsided by 200～300 m after the formation. Furthermore, it implies that the seamounts formed over 12～10 Ma.