• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.160-166
• /
• 2007

The coarse deposit with a lower mud content adjacent to the shelf of the southern East Sea is probably a "relict" sediment deposited in response to a lower stand of sea level during the Pleistocene. The sediment that developed on the slope and in the deep sea was river-borne primarily and was secondarily reworked or redistributed by the Tsushima Warm Current from the East China Sea. The clay mineralogy of the area suggests various sources of fine-grained sediment from adjacent rivers, the Korea Strait, volcanic material from Ulleung Island, and the Japan coast. Massive sand, bioturbated mud, homogeneous mud, and laminated mud were the dominant facies found in the core sediments from the study area. The massive sand was mainly volcanic ash from an eruption on Ulleung Island (9300 yr BP) and consisted of colorless pumiceous glass and a black scoriaceous type. The sedimentation rates on the slope, based on the Ulleung-Oki ash layer, were about 10cm/ky higher than in the basin. Other than the coarse-grain sediment, the mean size of the fine sediment dominating the bioturbated and homogeneous muds in the basin and the laminated mud on the slope was 6-10 phi. This indicates a difference in the major sedimentary process: hemipelagic sedimentation in the Ulleung Basin and mass flow deposition, such as turbidite, on the slope of the southern East Sea.

• 한국석유지질학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• autumn
• /
• pp.50-67
• /
• 1999

Biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental analyses are carried out on cutting samples from the Dolgorae wells drilled in the Ulleung basin. The clayey, silty, and sandy sediments of the wells yield various microfossil assemblages of relatively good preservation, among which five fossil groups are reported; a total of 97 foraminiferal species of 66 genera, 19 nannofossil species of 12 genera, 86 ostracod species of 41 genera, 107 diatom species of 44 genera, and 124 dinoflagellate cysts species of 45 genera. Based on microfossils the geologic ages of the Dolgorae wells are dated to be from late Early Miocene to Early Pleistocene. Several biohorizons are defined in Neogene successions by the LOD (Last Ocurrence Datum) and FOD (First Ocurrence Datum) of marker species including G. truncatulinoides (LOD: 1.9 Ma) of foraminifera; C. macintyeri (LOD: 1.64-1.60), G. oceanica (FOD: 1.65 Ma), G. caribbeanica (1.72 Ma), D. brouweri (LOD: 2 Ma), R. pseudoumbilica (LOD: 3.66 Ma), P. lacunosa (FOD: 4.2 Ma) of nannofossils; S. ellipsoideus (LOD: 4 Ma), S. palcacantha (LOD: 10.2), C. giusepei (LOD: 14 Ma) of dinocysts; D. seminae v. fossilis (FOD: 3.7 Ma), T. antiqua (LOD: 1.7 Ma), T. convexa (LOD: 2.4 Ma), N. kamtschatica (LOD: 2.58 Ma), T. oestrupii(FOD: 5.1 Ma) of diatoms. Abundance patterns of microfossils throughout the wells reflect changes in paleoenvironmental and sedimentological settings of the basin in relation to sea-level variations. According to these data the large-cycle and small-cycle changes of transgression and regression phases are observed in terrestrial to marine sediments. This high-resolution sequence biostratigraphy established by various fossil groups enabled more reliable correlation between strata and refined interpretation on deposition systems of the basin. It also proved to provide fundamental and precise informations regarding stratigraphic correlation, tectonic events, basin, and depositional history for hydrocarbon explorations, especially in collaboration with seismic-stratigrahic analyses.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.225-232
• /
• 2004

To investigate the depositional environment and the geological structure of the Jeju Basin in the South Sea of Korea, we acquired 54-channel seismic data of about 1,980 line-km. The study area lies at the northeastern part of the East China Sea Trough, a Tertiary back-arc basin. The sedimentary basin formed by rifted activities resulted in the formation of graben and/or half-graben structures. The basin is composed of pre-rift, syn-rift and post-rift sediments bounded by regional unconformity. The pre-rift and syn-rift sediments consist of Oligocene, Early and Middle Miocene sequence, whereas the post-rift sediments consist of Late Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene sequences. Seismic and well data from the Jeju Basin indicate that Oligocene-Miocene sediments were deposited under fluvial and lacustrine depositional conditions. Following compressional tectonic movements in the Late Miocene time and a subsequent period of erosion, regional subsidence during the Pliocene time brought the Jeju Basin under marine conditions, resulting in the deposition of dominantly marine sediments.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.185-195
• /
• 1998

Two piston cores (94PC-2 and 95PC-4) taken from the East Sea (Sea of Japan) are studied to evaluate the paleoceanographic changes and its interaction with climatic variation. The bulk geochemistry of the non-biogenic fractions of 54 sediment samples is determined using X-ray fluorescence. Four geochemical stratigraphic units at both core sediments are recognized based on the variations in major element concentration. These chemical stratigraphic units correspond well with the sedimentological and paleontological facies. Source materials are considered as basic and/or intermediate rocks judging from silica content. A distinctive boundary around 11 kyr may correspond to Younger Dryas event. The switch of most major elements at this level and the distinctive changes in concentration of typical terrigenous elements (TiO$_2$ and Al$_2$O$_3$) are the strong evidence for the difference in sources of terrigenous materials. The weathering indices exhibit high degree in Core 94PC-2 and low degree in Core 95PC-4. The changes in weathering degree can be distinguished by the lowest value occurred at 11 kyr in Core 94PC-2 and by a gradual decrease from top to bottom in Core 95PC-4. The profiles of potassium and sodium exhibit specific excursions between the Holocene and the late Pleistocene. This implies that sediments of the two cores originating from different sources with different weathering degrees. The distinct two-group distributions in K$_2$O/CaO vs. Na$_2$O/K$_2$O also support the difference in provenance of aluminosilicate materials at the boundary of 11 kyr. Thus, supply patterns of terrigenous materials are stable in Holocene and more complicated in the last glacial period.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.279-290
• /
• 2012

Plecoglossus altivelis (ayu) is an amphidromous fish widely distributed in Northeastern Asia from the East China Sea to the northern Japanese coastal waters, encompassing the Korean Peninsula within its range. The shore lines of northeastern region in Asia have severely fluctuated following glaciations in the Quaternary. In the present study, we investigate the population genetic structure and historical demographic change of P. altivelis at a population level in East Asia. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) based on 244 mitochondrial control region DNA sequences clearly showed that as the sampling scope extended to a larger geographic area, genetic differentiation began to become significant, particularly among Northeastern populations. A series of hierarchical AMOVA could detect the genetic relationship of three closely located islands between Korea and Japan that might have been tightly connected by the regional Tsushima current. Neutrality and mismatch distribution analyses revealed a strong signature of a recent population expansion of P. altivelis in East Asia, estimated at 126 to 391 thousand years ago during the late Pleistocene. Therefore it suggests that the present population of P. altivelis traces back to its approximate demographic change long before the last glacial maximum. This contrasts our a priori expectation that the most recent glacial event might have the most crucial effect on the present day demography of marine organisms through bottleneck and subsequent increase of effective population size in this region.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.495-510
• /
• 2008

Vaccinium vitis-idaea or lingonberry, a typical arctic-alpine plant, is common on the circumpolar regions and alpine belts of the Northern Hemisphere, and also occurs on the alpine and subalpine belts of the Korean Peninsula, including Mt. Sorak and Hongchon. Vaccinium vitis-idaea at the elevation of c. 350m a.s.l. of Hongchon is found on the wind hole area with cool summer, and mild winter. Vaccinium vitis-idaea at Hongchon is regarded as the glacial relict of the Pleistocene period, and shows a disjunctive distribution, along with the alpine and subalpine belts of the northern and central Korea since the Holocene period. Present vertical range of Vaccinium vitis-idaea between Mt. Sorak and Hongchon might indicates that the temperatures during the glacial epoch was colder than today, down to -6 to $-7^{\circ}C$ Vaccinium vitis-idaea at this fragile wind hole site could be endanger if current global warming trends continues, and anthropogenic activities become serious.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.543-554
• /
• 2004

Analysis of multi-channel seismic reflection and well data serves to detail the structural evolution of the northern Okinawa Trough, southern offshore Korea. The overall structural style of the area is characterized by a series of half grabens and tilted fault blocks bounded by basement-involved listric normal faults. Most half grabens and tilted fault blocks developed in the direction of NNE-SSW, parallel to the axis of the Okinawa Trough. Orientation and distribution of the listric faults also suggest the development of transfer faults in NW-SE direction. The rifting phase of the northern Okinawa Trough have been established on the basis of structural and stratigraphic analyses of depositional sequences and their seismic expressions. Major phase of rifting probably started in the Late Miocene and the most active rifting occurred during the Early Pliocene. The rifting produced a series of half grabens and tilted fault blocks bounded by listric normal faults. It appears that the rifting activity has become weaker since the Late Pliocene, but the Pleistocene sediments faulted by listric faults bounding tilted fault blocks suggest that the rifting activity is probably still in progress.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.135-141
• /
• 2001

A paleomagnetic investigation was carried out to analyze magnetostratigraphic information and to evaluate the relationship between paleoenvironment and magnetic properties in sedimentary sequences of piston cores recovered from the abyssal basin of the southwestern Pacific. Pateomagnetic results revealed that the sediments had a stable remanent magnetization and recorded both normal and reversal polarities. The age of sediments was from late Pliocene and Pleistocene determined by matching the polarities with the geomagnetic time scale. The sedimentation rates were in the range of 0.63-1.85 mm/$10^3$ year which were extremely low rates. The results of the paleomagnetic analyses indicated that intervals of the magnetically stable layers as well as high value of susceptibility were significantly affected by the input changes which resulted input of large-quantity materials of relatively stable magnetic carriers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.239-246
• /
• 1985

Uranium-thorium separation technique from shallow sediment and ${\alpha}$-source electrodeposition technique are established in the present work, and uranium series disequilibrium dating method is applied to the quaternary piston core from Sangback-do, South Sea of Korean Peninsula. The age of the piston core (depth 200~300cm) sampled from Latitude $34^{\circ}06^{\prime}37^{{\prime}{\prime}}$, Longitude $127^{\circ}37^{\prime}37^{{\prime}{\prime}}$ was determined as ranging from $9.0{\pm}2.2$ to $22.9{\pm}3.3$ Ky B.P, i.e., Later Pleistocene, older than Holocene which was stratigraphically known in the previous study. The sedimentation rate in the area is regularly increased according to the depth of the sedimentation layer. Except a few split sections of the piston core the sedimentation rates are avarage 7.2cm/1,000 years. Where sedimentation layer is deeper, then sedimentation rate tend to be slower. It must be pointed in age calculation that initial $^{230}Th/^{234}U$ radioactivity ratio is much influenced when detrital material was introduced in the sample. The $^{230}Th/^{234}U$ activity ratio measured in the present work is 0.06 at $^{232}Th=0$, and this value shows higher analytical errors because of the low· radioactivity of $^{230}Th$ in the samples.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.386-392
• /
• 1996

A numerical method based on genetic algorithms was introduced to characterize the grain-size distribution more effectively. This technique was proved significant particularly for multimodal size distributions, as was verified for samples from Korea Strait continental shelf. Sediment samples collected from the Korea Strait continental shelf revealed that $96\%$ of the grain-size distributions were multimodal. Therefore, the use of grain-size parameters was not the ideal method. As an alternative method, the decomposition of sue curves into elementary normal component curves was used. Means and standard deviations of 593 decomposed normal components were calculated by a numerical method from 268 size curves of Korea Strait sediments. The mean values of decomposed normal components showed peaks at $1\~3\phi\;and\;7\~9\phi$ size classes. The plot of mean and standard deviation values of the coarse fraction normal components on the map showed a characteristic areal distribution. The characteristic distribution was found to derive from underlying Pleistocene sediment on the basis of sea bottom geologic distribution of the area. The method of decomposition into normal components was found to be more effective than the analysis using traditional grain-size parameters in investigation of multimodal size distribution of Korea Strait shelf sediment.