• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.205-216
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• 2011

Mineral compositions of 69 southeastern Yellow Sea surface sediments collected at the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) cruise in 2010, were determined using the quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis. Southeastern Yellow Sea surface sediments are composed of major minerals (quartz 49.1%, plagioclase 13.0% and alkali feldspar 9.3%), clay minerals, calcite, and aragonite. Illite (9.4%) is the most abundant clay mineral, chlorite (4.6%) is the second, and kaolinite (0.8%) is few. Quartz and alkali feldspar contents are high in coarse-grained sediments, whereas amphibole and clay mineral contents are high in fine-grained sediments. Quartz, plagioclase, alkali feldspar, chlorite, and kaolinite contents are higher, and illite content is lower in mud zone 1 corresponding to south margin of Central Yellow Sea Mud than in mud zone 2, a part of Southeastern Yellow Sea Mud. Difference of mineral composition between two mud zone suggests that source of fine sediment may be different in two mud zone and Southeastern Yellow Sea Mud might be largely supplied from the Keum and Youngsan rivers in southern part of the west coast in the Korean Peninsula.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2009

Major and trace elements were analyzed in three core sediments to investigate geochemical characteristics of East Sea sediments and provenance changes during late Quaternary in Ulleung Basin. Comparing with Yellow and South Sea sediments, contents of major elements were generally similar while contents of trace elements were significantly different. Furthermore, within this basin, there were some variabilities in trace element compositions. In the western slope sediments (WS), Mo was enriched over 6 times as much as other sites. On the other hand, Zr, Nb, Hf and Ta were enriched in basin sediments (Basin), and Ca and Cs were enriched in southern slope sediments (SS). After excluding elements derived from biogenic, authigenic and diagenetic origins, the lithogenic elements (K, Ti, Cs, Zr, Nb, Hf and Ta) could be classified into three groups from the comparison of element/Al ratios among cores. The first group consisted of elements (K and Ti) that showed the nearly similar element/Al ratios among three cores. The second group contained Cs which showed significant difference between two slope sediments. The third group elements (Zr, Nb, Hf and Ta) showed highly enriched in basin relative to both slope areas. The depth profiles of metal/Al ratios in basin sediments provided the following interpretation for the compositions of sediment and their variation. From 10,000 yr B.P. to 7,000 yr B.P. two lithogenic components (volcanic ashes and western slope sediments) were mixed and deposited in the basin. After 7,000 yr B.P., however, southern slope sediments were mixed with volcanic ashes and deposited in basin area. This event of source change is nearly close to inflow period of the Tsushima Warm Current to Ulleung Basin. Thus, it might be suggested that element geochemistry in Ulleung basin sediment indicate the change of current system in the study area.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.3 no.1 s.4
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• pp.1-15
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• 1995

Seismic reflection profiles and exploratory drilling well samples from the southern marginal-continental shelf basin of Korea delineate that the Tertiary sedimentary sequences can be grouped into five sequences (Sequence A, Sequence B, Sequence C, Sequence D and Sequence E, in descending order). Paleontologic data, K-Ar age datings, correlation with tuff layers and sequence stratigraphic analysis reveal that the sequences A, B, C, D and E can be considered as the deposits of Holocene $\~$ Pleistocene, Pliocene, Late Miocene, Early $\~$ Middle Miocene and Oligocene, respectively. The sequence stratigraphic and structural analyses suggest that the southern part of the Cheju Basin had experienced severe folding and faulting. NE-SW trending strike-slip movement is responsible for the deformation. The sinistral movement of strike-slip fault ceased before the deposition of Sequence B. Age dating and rare-earth elements analysis of volvanic rocks reveal+ that the Sequence D was deposited during the Early $\~$ Middle Miocene and the Sequence I was deposited earlier than the deposition of the Green Tuff Formation. Sedimentary petrological studies indicate that sediments of the Sequence I came from the continental block provenance. After the deposition of the Sequence E, uplift of the source area resulted in increase of sediment supply, subsidence and volcanic activities. The Sequence D show these factors and the sediments of the Sequence D are considered to be transported from the recycled orogenic belt.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2018

A gravity core (RS14-C2) was collected at site RS14-C2 in the continental slope to the east of Pennell-Isellin Bank of the Ross Sea (Antarctica) during PNRA XXIX (Rosslope II Project) Expedition. In order to trace the sediment source, magnetic susceptibility (MS), sand fraction, and clay mineral compositions were analyzed, and AMS $^{14}C$ ages were dated. Core sediments consist mostly of hemipelagic sandy clay or silty clay including ice-rafted debris (IRD). AMS $^{14}C$ age of core-top indicates the modern and Holocene sediments. Based on AMS $^{14}C$ dating, sediment color, MS and sand fraction, core sediments are divided into interglacial and glacial intervals. The interglacial brown sediments are characterized by low MS and sand fraction, whereas the glacial gray sediments are characterized by high MS and sand fraction. Among clay mineral compositions of core sediments, illite is highest (61.8~76.7%), and chlorite (15.7~21.3%), kaolinite (3.6~15.4%), and smectite (0.9~5.1%) are in decreasing order, and these compositions are also divided into the interglacial and glacial/deglacial intervals. During the glacial period, the high content of illite and chlorite indicate sediment supply from the bedrocks of Transantarctic Mountains under the Ross Ice Sheet. In contrast, because of decreasing supply of illite and chlorite by the glacial retreat, smectite and kaolinite contents increased relatively during the interglacial period. During the interglacial period, smectite may be transported additionally by the northeastward flowing surface current from the coast of Victoria Land in the western Ross Sea. Kaolinite may be also supplied to the continental slope by the Antarctic Slope Current from the kaolin-rich metasedimentary rock outcropped on the Edward VII Peninsula.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.173-184
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• 2019

Variations in grain size distribution and clay mineral assemblage are closely related to the sedimentary facies that reflect depositional conditions during the glacial and interglacial periods. Gravity cores BS17-GC15 and BS17-GC04 were collected from the continental shelf and rise in the eastern Bellingshausen Sea during a cruise of the ANA07D Cruise Expedition by the Korea Polar Research Institute in 2017. Core sediments in BS17-GC15 consisted of subglacial diamicton, gravelly muddy sand, and bioturbated diatom-bearing mud from the bottom to the top sediments. Core sediments in BS17-GC04 comprised silty mud with turbidites, brownish structureless mud, laminated mud, and brownish silty bioturbated diatom-bearing mud from the bottom to the top sediments. The clay mineral assemblages in the two core sediments mainly consisted of smectite, chlorite, illite, and kaolinite. The clay mineral contents in core GC15 showed a variation in illite from 28.4 % to 44.5 % in down-core changes. Smectite contents varied from 31.1 % in the glacial period to 20 % in the deglacial period and 25.1 % in the interglacial period. Chlorite and kaolinite contents decreased from 40.5 % in the glacial period to 30.3 % in the interglacial period. The high contents of illite and chlorite indicated a terrigenous detritus supply from the bedrocks of the Antarctic Peninsula. Core GC04 from the continental rise showed a decrease in the average smectite content from 47.2 % in the glacial period to 20.6 % in the interglacial period, while the illite contents increased from the 21.3 % to 43.2 % from the glacial to the interglacial period. The high smectite contents in core GC04 during the glacial period may be supplied from Peter I Island, which has a known smectite-rich sediment contributed by Antarctic Circumpolar Currents. Conversely, the decrease in smectite and increase in chlorite and illite contents during the interglacial period was likely caused by a higher supply of chlorite- and illite-enriched sediment from the eastern Bellingshausen Sea shelf by the southwestward flowing contour current.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.7 no.1_2 s.8
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• pp.28-34
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• 1999

The Cretaceous Poongam sedimentary Basin in Kangwon-do, Korea consists alluvial deposits of conglomerates, sandstones, mudstones or siltstones, and volcaniclastics. The Poongam Basin was formed as a fault margin sag or a transpressional basin developed along a strike-slip fault zone, and received huge amount of clastic sediments from the adjacent fault-scaip. It formed an aggrading alluvial fan system and a volcaniclast-supplied marginal lake environment, while tectonic activity and volcanism attenuated toward the end of basin formation. Following the Folk's classification, the sandstones of the Poongam Basin are identified as lithic wackes or feldspathic wackes. The areal and sequential variation of the mineral composition in the sandstones is not distinct. The results of K-Ar age dating from the intruding andesites, volcaniclastics and volcanic fragments in sedimentary rocks show a range of 70 Ma to 84 Ma. It suggests that volcarism occurred sequentially within a relatively short period as the pre-, syn-, and post-depositional events. It was the short period in the late Cretaceous that the basin had evolved i.e., the basin formation, the sediment input and fill, and the , intrusion and extrusion of volcanic rocks occurred. The Poongam sedimentary sequence is a typical tectonic-controlled coarse sedimentary facies which is texturally immature.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.1 s.176
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• pp.39-51
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• 2006

Rare earth elements(REEs) in transgressive shelf core sediments were analysed to identify constraints of REE distribution patterns and sediment provenances in the northern East China Sea(ECS). Sediments of Chinese and Korean rivers, such as Huanghe and Yangtz rivers, Keum and Yeongsan rivers that supply sediments to the northern ECS, were also analysed to figure out their typical REE distribution patterns. The distribution patterns of Chinese and Korean river sediments, which are normalized with upper continental crust (UCC) REE values, appear to be enriched in middle rare earth elements (MREEs) in Chinese river sediments, whereas in light rare earth elements (LREEs) in Korean river sediments. We assign the MREE-enriched convex-type distribution pattern in Chinese river sediments as 'C-type', and the LREE-enriched linearly decreasing pattern in Korean river sediments as 'D-type'. A major constraint of the REE concentration in northern ECS core sediments is interpreted to be LREE-enriched monazite $((Ce,\;La)PO_4)$ that is ubiquitous in and around the study area. Meanwhile, the distribution pattern of northern ECS sediments appears to be between the C-type and the D-type. We suggest that the nothern ECS sediments are the mixture of China and Korea riverine sediments that have been accumulated in paleo-river mouth, paleo-coast, and present-day shelf environment as well.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.189-196
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• 2013

In this study, we tried to define the origin of fine-grained sediments in Southwestern Cheju Island Mud (SWCIM) using principal component analysis. We used relative clay mineral compositions using 138 marine surface sediments, 4 Huanghe sediments and 3 Changjiang river sediments by the semi-quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis. We made bioplot diagram using R program with principal component 1 and component 2 because they might contain more than 90% of all data. Although the distribution pattern of each clay minerals in SWCIM is so intricate, smectite and kaolinite contents are high in the west region, but illite and chlorite contents are rich in the east region. In the biplot, the east region of SWCIM distribute around Changjiang river, whereas west region of SWCIM disperse around Huanghe. Our results might reveal that west region of SWCIM is mainly originated by Huanghe, but east region of SWCIM by Changjiang River.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.289-295
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• 2008

We studied the difference between the clay mineral content in the bulk marine sediments (absolute clay mineral composition) and clay mineral content only in total clay minerals (relative clay mineral composition) of the Yellow Sea marine sediments, and correlated the relationship between their distribution patterns. We used 56 Yellow Sea Surface sediments collected at the second cruise in 2001 of KORDI, and determined the absolute mineral composition using the quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis. Yellow Sea surface sediments consist of primary rock forming minerals including quartz (average 44.7%), plagioclase (15.9%), alkali feldspar (10.0%), hornblende (2.8%) together with clay minerals (illite 15.3%, chlorite 2.6% and kaolinite 1%) and carbonates (calcite 1.7%, aragonite 0.6%). Absolute clay mineral contents are very high in the region extending from the southeast of Sandong Peninsula to the southwest of Jeju Island. In contrast, it is very low along the margin of the Yellow Sea. Such distribution patterns of absolute clay mineral content are very similar to those of fine-grained sediments in the study area. The average relative clay mineral composition of illite, chlorite, and kaolinite is respectively 80.3%, 14.9% and 4.8%. The distribution pattern of relative mineral composition shows very different phenomenon when compared with those of absolute mineral composition, and also do not exhibit any positive relationship with that of fine-grained sediments in which clay mineral composition is abundant. Therefore, we suggest that the relative clay mineral compositions and their distribution patterns must be used very carefully when interpreting the origin of sediment provenance.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 2011

Clay mineral assemblages of core PC25A collected from the northern part of the Aleutian Basin in the Bering Sea were examined in order to investigate changes in sediment provenances and transport pathways. Ages of core PC25A were determined by both Last Appearance Datum of radiolaria (L. nipponica sakaii; $48.6{\pm}2\; ka$) and age control points obtained by the correlations of $a^{\ast},\; b^{\ast}$, and laminated sediment layers with the adjacent core PC23A, whose ages are well constrained. The corebottom age of core PC25A was calculated to be about 57,600 yr ago and core-top might be missing during coring execution. Average contents of smectite, illite, kaolinite, and chlorite during the last glacial period are 11% (5~24%), 47% (36~58%), 13% (9~19%), and 29% (21~40%), respectively. Clay mineral assemblages of the last glacial period are characterized by higher illite and lower smectite contents than those of core MC24 representing the modern values. Illite-rich clay sediments during the warm Early Holocene were transported from the northern part of Alaska continent (Province 1) through the ice-melt waters. During the deglacial period (B${\phi}$lling-All${\phi}$rod) of MIS 2, clay-sized particles seemed to be also transported by ice-melt waters mainly from Province 2 and Province 3 located farther south than Province 1. Higher smectite content during the Last Glacial Maximum is attributed to increased amounts of clay particles from the adjacent Alaska Peninsula (Province 4). From the early to the middle MIS 3, illite and smectite contents decreased, whereas chlorite content increased. With the low sea level standing during MIS 3 the supply of clay sediments from Province 2 and Province 3 was most likely intensified. Changes in clay mineral assemblages of core PC25A located in the northern part of the Aleutian Basin in the Bering Sea are closely related to the change of surface current system caused by sea level variation during the last glacial period.