• 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.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.349-356
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• 2010

Analysis of high-resolution seismic profiles acquired from the southeastern continental shelf of Korea reveals that the late Quaternary transgressive deposits consist of six seismic units created in response to sea-level rise. These units with different seismic facies and geometry can be grouped into two distinct depositional wedges (paralic and marine) bounded by a ravinement surface. The paralic component underlying the ravinement surface consists of the sediment preserved from shoreface erosion and contains incised-channel fill, ancient beach-shoreface deposit and estuarine deposit. The top of paralic unit is truncated by a ravinement surface and overlain by marine component. The marine component consists of the sediment produced through shoreface erosion during landward transgression and contains mid-shelf sand sheet, mid-shelf sand ridge and inner shelf sand sheet. Such transgressive stratigraphic architecture of six sedimentary units 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.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.132-142
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• 2009

The Tamar rift valley runs through the City of Launceston, Tasmania. Damage has occurred to city buildings due to earthquake activity in Bass Strait. The presence of the ancient valley, the Tamar valley, in-filled with soft sediments that vary rapidly in thickness from 0 to 250mover a few hundreds metres, is thought to induce a 2D resonance pattern, amplifying the surface motions over the valley and in Launceston. Spatially averaged coherency (SPAC), frequency-wavenumber (FK) and horizontal to vertical spectrum ratio (HVSR) microtremor survey methods are combined to identify and characterise site effects over the Tamar valley. Passive seismic array measurements acquired at seven selected sites were analysed with SPAC to estimate shear wave velocity (slowness) depth profiles. SPAC was then combined with HVSR to improve the resolution of these profiles in the sediments to an approximate depth of 125 m. Results show that sediments thicknesses vary significantly throughout Launceston. The top layer is composed of as much as 20m of very soft Quaternary alluvial sediments with a velocity from 50 m/s to 125 m/s. Shear-wave velocities in the deeper Tertiary sediment fill of the Tamar valley, with thicknesses from 0 to 250m vary from 400 m/s to 750 m/s. Results obtained using SPAC are presented at two selected sites (GUN and KPK) that agree well with dispersion curves interpreted with FK analysis. FK interpretation is, however, limited to a narrower range of frequencies than SPAC and seems to overestimate the shear wave velocity at lower frequencies. Observed HVSR are also compared with the results obtained by SPAC, assuming a layered earth model, and provide additional constraints on the shear wave slowness profiles at these sites. The combined SPAC and HVSR analysis confirms the hypothesis of a layered geology at the GUN site and indicates the presence of a 2D resonance pattern across the Tamar valley at the KPK site.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.332-339
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• 1991

The sedimentation pattern in Namhaepo Bay, a macrotidal coastal embayment of western Korea, was investigated by means of analysing high-resolution seismic profiles, sediment samples, and tidal currents. Recent sediments up to 20 m which overlie the irregular surface of the acoustic basement. The sediments consist mainly of sandy silt and silt; the mean grain size of these sediments ranges from 4 to 5.5 phi, showing a shoreward-fining distribution pattern. This distribution pattern agrees are largely reversed during ebb, with a maximum velocity of 39 cm/sec. The calculated shear velocity of the tidal currents at sea bed ranges from 0.5 to 3.3 cm/sec during flood and from 0.7 to 2.5 cm/sec during ebb. The mean values of these velocities exceed the critical shear velocity for the silt particles. The data suggest that the tidal currents play an important role in the transportation and deposition of sediments in the bay and the surface topography of the sea floor is largely deter-mined by tidal sedimentation.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.66-77
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• 1992

Tidal sand ridges and sand waves are well developed in the Yellow Sea off Tae-An Peninsula, Korea. Their transport directions were inferred based on high resolution seismic profiles, surficial sediment characteristics and tidal regime. Tidal sand ridges are asymmetric, with long axes parallel to or slightly oblique to the dominant NE-SW tidal current direction. They show steep south and/or southeast flanks, which are in concordance with the apparent direction of internal cross-bedding in the south. Holocene sediments occur in accordance with distributional patterns of tidal sand ridges. These features indicate that Holocene active tidal sand ridges move toward the open sea in southeast, south and southwest direction. Sand waves which are distributed in flat sea floor with depth of about 40-60m show also asymmetric forms with a steep east-to-northeast face. Surficial sediments in the sand wave field are characterized by well sorted fine sands compared with poorly sorted adjacent areas. The sand waves appear to undergo easterly or northeasterly landward movement.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.2E
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• pp.44-49
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• 2007

Donghae City - Ulleung Island Line (DC-UI Line) is a representative line for underwater and geoacoustic modeling in the middle western East Sea. In this line, an integrated model of P-wave velocity is proposed for a low-frequency range target (<200 Hz), based on high-resolution seismic profiles (2 - 7 kHz sonar and air-gun), shallow and deep cores (grab, piston, and Portable Remote Operated Drilling), and outcrop geology (Tertiary rocks and the basement on land). The basement comprises 3 geoacoustic layers of P-wave velocity ranging from 3750 to 5550 m/s. The overlying sediments consist of 7 layers of P-wave velocities ranging from 1500 to 1900 m/s. The bottom model shows that the structure is very irregular and the velocity is also variable with both vertical and lateral extension. In this area, seabed and underwater acousticians should consider that low-frequency acoustic modeling is very range-dependent and a detailed geoacoustic model is necessary for better modeling of acoustic propagation such as long-range surveillance of submarines and monitoring of currents.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.6 s.175
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• pp.633-642
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• 2005

We present the sedimentary sequence and distribution pattern of the late Holocene muddy deposits in the northern East China Sea shelf using the high-resolution 'Chirp' profiles. The seismic sedimentary sequence overlying acoustic basement (basal reflector-B) can be divided into two depositional units (Unit 1 and 2) bounded by erosional bounding surface (mid reflector-M). The lower Unit 1 above basal reflector-H is characterized by the acoustically parallel to subparallel reflections and channel-fill facies. The upper Unit 2, up to 7 m in thickness, shows seismically semi-transparent seismic facies and lenticular body form. On the base of sequence stratigraphic concept, these two sediment units have developed during transgression and highstand period, respectively, since the last sea-level lowstand. The transgressive systems tract (Unit 1) lie directly on the sequence boundary (reflector B) that have farmed during the last glacial maximum. The transgressive systems tract in this study consists mostly of complex of delta, fluvial, and tidal deposits within the incised valley estuary system. The maximum flooding surface (reflector M) corresponding to the top surface of transgressive systems tract is obviously characterized by erosional depression. The highstand systems tract (Unit 2) above maximum flooding surface is made up of the mud patch filled with the erosional depression. The high-stand mud deposits showing a circle shape just like a typhoon symbol locates about 140 km off the south of Cheju Island with water depth of $60\~90m$. Coverage area and total sediment volume of the mud deposits are about $3,200km^2$ and $10.7\times10^9\;m^3$, respectively. The origin of the mud patch is interpreted as a result of accumulating suspended sediments derived from the paleo-Yellow and/or Yangtze Rivers. The circular distribution pattern of the mud patch appears to be largely controlled by the presence of cyclonic eddy in the northern East China Sea.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.191-200
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• 1999

Analysis of chirp high-resolution seismic profiles from the central Yellow Sea reveals that depositional environments in this area can be divided into three distinctive zones from west to east: (1) subaqueous delta system near the Shandong Peninsula, (2) erosional zone in the central Yellow Sea, and (3) tidal sand ridges and sand waves near the Korean Peninsula. The Shandong subaqueous delta, extending southward from the Shandong Peninsula, changes gradually into prodelta southeastward. The sediments originated from the Yellow River are transported southward along the Chinese coastal area. The erosional zone in the central Yellow Sea contains numerous paleochannels and shows linear erosional features trending northwest-southeast. The erosional zone would be dominated by non-depositional or erosional processes during the Holocene. Tidal sand ridges and sand waves are well developed along the western coast of Korea. The residual sands, which were originally fluvial sediments at the sea-level lowstand, are interpreted as the result of winnowing process during the sea-level rise. Modern sand ridges generally migrates in a northeast-southwestern direction, which coincide with dominant tidal current direction.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.5 no.1_2 s.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 1997

Seismic stratigraphic analysis of the high resolution profiles obtained from the southeastern shelf of Korea divided the deposits into 4 sequences; 1) sequence D, 2) sequence C, 3) sequence B and 4) sequence A (Holocene sediments). Sequence D was deposited in shallow-water environment at west of the Yangsan Fault as the basin subsided. On the other hand, the eastern part was formed at the slope front. Landward part of the slope-front fill sediments were eroded and redeposited nearby slope due to the syndepositional tilting of the basin. This tilting probably resulted from the continuous closing of the Ulleung Basin. Sequence C is made of stacked successions of the lowstand fluvial sediments, transgressive sediments and marine highstand sediments derived from the paleo-river in the western part of the Yangsan Fault. Sequence C in the eastern part of the Yanshan Fault was formed at the shelf break. Progradation of the lowstand sediments resulted in broadening of the shelf. Sequence C in the eastern part was also tilted but the tilting was weaker than in Sequence D. During the formation of sequence B the tilting stopped and the point source instead of the line source started in both sides of the Yangsan Fault. Sequence B was composed of the highstand systems tract partially preserved around the Yokji island, lowstand systems tract mainly preserved in the Korea Trough and transgressive systems tract. After the stop of the tilting, the force of compression due to the closing of the Ulleung Basin may be released by the strike-slip faults instead of tilting.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.145-153
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• 2013

High-resolution chirp profiles were analyzed to investigate the echo types of near-surface sediments in the Yellow Sea off the Baegryeong Island. On the basis of seafloor morphology and subbottom echo characters, 7 echo types were identified. Flat seafloor with no internal reflectors or moderately to well-developed subbottom reflectors (echo type 1-1 and 1-2) is mainly distributed in the southern part of the study area. Flat seafloor with superposed wavy bedforms (echo type 1-3) is also distributed in the middle part. Mounded seafloor with either smooth surface or superposed bedforms (echo type 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3) occurs in the middle part of the study area. Irregular and eroded seafloor with no subbottom reflectors (echo type 3-1) is present in the northern part of the study area off the Baegryeong Island. According to the distribution pattern and sedimentary facies of echo types, depositional environments can be divided into three distinctive areas: (1) active erosional zone due to strong tidal currents in the northern part; (2) formation of tidal sand ridges in response to tidal currents associated with sea-level rise distributed in the middle part; and (3) transgressive sand sheets in the southern part. Such a depositional pattern, including 7 echo types, in this area reflects depositional process related to the sea-level rise and strong tidal currents during the Holocene transgression.