Evolution of the eastern margin of Korea: Constraints on the opening of the East Sea (Japan Sea)

We interpreted marine seismic profiles in conjunction with swath bathymetric and magnetic data to investigate rifting to breakup processes at the eastern Korean margin that led to the separation of the southwestern Japan Arc. The eastern Korean margin is rimmed by fundamental elements of rift architecture comprising a seaward succession of a rift basin and an uplifted rift flank passing into the slope, typical of a passive continental margin. In the northern part, rifting occurred in the Korea Plateau that is a continental fragment extended and partially segmented from the Korean Peninsula. Two distinguished rift basins (Onnuri and Bandal Basins) in the Korea Plateau are bounded by major synthetic and smaller antithetic faults, creating wide and considerably symmetric profiles. The large-offset border fault zones of these basins have convex dip slopes and demonstrate a zig-zag arrangement along strike. In contrast, the southern margin is engraved along its length with a single narrow rift basin (Hupo Basin) that is an elongated asymmetric half-graben. Analysis of rift fault patterns suggests that rifting at the Korean margin was primarily controlled by normal faulting resulting from extension rather than strike-slip deformation. Two extension directions for rifting are recognized: the Onnuri and Hupo Basins were rifted in the east-west direction; the Bandal Basin in the east–west and northwest–southeast directions, suggesting two rift stages. We interpret that the east–west direction represents initial rifting at the inner margin; while the Japan Basin widened, rifting propagated southeastward repeatedly from the Japan Basin toward the Korean margin but could not penetrate the strong continental lithosphere of the Korean Shield and changed the direction to the south, resulting in east–west extension to create the rift basins at the Korean margin. The northwest–southeast direction probably represents the direction of rifting orthogonal to the inferred line of breakup along the base of the slope of the Korea Plateau; after breakup the southwestern Japan Arc separated in the southeast direction, indicating a response to tensional tectonics associated with the subduction of the Pacific Plate in the northwest direction. No significant volcanism was involved in initial rifting. In contrast, the inception of sea floor spreading documents a pronounced volcanic phase which appears to reflect asthenospheric upwelling as well as rift-induced convection particularly in the narrow southern margin. We suggest that structural and igneous evolution of the Korean margin, although it is in a back-arc setting, can be explained by the processes occurring at the passive continental margin with magmatism influenced by asthenospheric upwelling.     

Discovery of Pyrrhotite-Chalcopyrite-Bearing Amphibole Megacrysts in Tongling Area, Anhui Province

Some pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite-bearing amphibole megacrysts (including pyroxene megacrysts) were discovered in Mesozoic augite diorite-porphyrite at Caoshan in Tongling area, Anhui Province. The amphibole megacrysts, belonging mainly to pargasite and magnesiohastingsite, are characteristic of the amphibole composition derived from mantle and crystallized in lower crust. In general, the aggregates of pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite take the shapes of cylinder and sphere. Three occurrences have been recognized in the amphibole megacrysts: parallel linear, bunchy and scattered. The unique cylinder-like shape of the aggregates and remarkable Ni-poor sulfides in Caoshan are distinctively different from the spherical Ni-rich sulfides in pyroxene megacrysts and any other kinds of megacrysts. In terms of composition, the amphibole megacrysts and their sulfides in Caoshan are similar to those in the pyroxenite xenoliths in Qilin, Guangdong Province. In terms of origin, the pyrrhotite-chalcopyrites as exsolution products resulted from the subsolidus re-equilibration of sulfide solid solution within amphibole megacrysts.amphibole megacrysts were first discovered inside and outside China. This discovery is important for the study of regional magma evolution and its associated mineralizations and ore sources as well.     

Sequential extraction and leaching characteristics of heavy metals in abandoned tungsten mine tailings sediments

The chemical speciation of potentially toxic elements (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in the contaminated soils and sulfides-rich tailings sediments of an abandoned tungsten mine in Korea was evaluated by conducting modified BCR sequential extraction tests. Kinetic and static batch leaching tests were also conducted to evaluate the potential release of As and other heavy metals by acidic rain water and the leaching behaviors of these heavy metals. The major sources of the elements were As-, Zn- and Pb-bearing sulfides, Pb carbonates (i.e., cerussite), and Pb sulfates (i.e., anglesite). The biggest pollutant fraction in these soil and tailing samples consists of metals bound to the oxidizable host phase, which can be released into the environment if conditions become oxidative, and/or to residual fractions. No significant difference in total element concentrations was observed between the tailings sediments and contaminated soils. For both sample types, almost no changes occurred in the mobility of As and the other heavy metals at 7 days, but the mobility increased afterwards until the end of the tests at 30 days, regardless of the initial pH. However, the mobility was approximately 5–10 times higher at initial pH 1.0 than at initial pHs of 3.0 and 5.0. The leached amounts of all the heavy metal contents were higher from tailings sediments than from contaminated soils at pH > 3.0, but were lower at pH < 3.0 except for As. Results of this study suggest that further dissolution of heavy metals from soil and tailing samples may occur during extended rainfall, resulting in a serious threat to surface and groundwater in the mine area.     

Nature of polymerization and properties of silicate melts and glasses at high pressure

The structures of sodium silicate and aluminosilicate glasses quenched from melts at high pressure (6-10 GPa) with varying degrees of polymerization (fractions of nonbridging oxygen) were explored using solid-state NMR [¹⁷O and ²⁷Al triple-quantum magic-angle spinning (3QMAS) NMR]. The bond connectivity in melts among four and highly coordinated network polyhedra, such as ^[4]Al, ^[5,6]Al, ^[4]Si, and ^[5,6]Si, at high pressure is shown to be significantly different from that at ambient pressure. In particular, in the silicate and aluminosilicate melts, the proportion of nonbridging oxygen (NBO) generally decreases with increasing pressure, leading to the formation of new oxygen clusters that include 5- and 6-coordinated Si and Al in addition to 4-coordinated Al and Si, such as ^[4]Si-O-^[5,6]Si, ^[4]Si-O-^[5,6]Al and Na-O-^[5,6]Si. While the fractions of ^[5,6]Al increase with pressure, the magnitude of this increase diminishes with increasing degrees of ambient-pressure polymerization under isobaric conditions. Incorporating the above structural information into models of melt properties reproduces the anomalous pressure-dependence of O²⁻ diffusivity and viscosity often observed in silicate melts.     

Cu(II) adsorption at the calcite-water interface in the presence of natural organic matter: Kinetic studies and molecular-scale characterization

We have characterized the adsorption of Suwannee River humic acid (SRHA) and Cu(II) on calcite from preequilibrated solutions at pH 8.25. Sorption isotherms of SRHA on calcite follow Langmuir-type behavior at SRHA concentrations less than 15 mg C L⁻¹, whereas non-Langmuirian uptake becomes evident at concentrations greater than 15 mg C L⁻¹. The adsorption of SRHA on calcite is rapid and mostly irreversible, with corresponding changes in electrostatic properties. At pH 8.25, Cu(II) uptake by calcite in the presence of dissolved SRHA decreases with increasing dissolved SRHA concentration, suggesting that formation of Cu-SRHA aqueous complexes is the primary factor controlling Cu(II) sorption at the calcite surface under the conditions of our experiments. We also observed that surface-bound SRHA has little influence on Cu(II) uptake by calcite, suggesting that Cu(II) coordinates to calcite surface sites rather than to surface-bound SRHA.Cu K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) spectroscopic results show that the local coordination of Cu adsorbed at the calcite surface is very similar in the presence and absence of SRHA. Ca backscatterers at ∼3.90 Å indicate that Cu(II) forms tetragonally distorted inner-sphere adsorption complexes in both binary and ternary systems. Subtle differences in the XANES and EXAFS between binary sorption samples and ternary sorption samples, however, prevent us from ruling out the formation of ternary Cu-SRHA surface complexes. Our findings demonstrate that SRHA plays an important role in controlling the fate and transport of Cu(II) in calcite-bearing systems.     

Analysis of solar radiation on the surface estimated from GWNU solar radiation model with temporal resolution of satellite cloud fraction

Preliminary analysis with a solar radiation model is generally performed for photovoltaic power generation projects. Therefore, model accuracy is extremely important. The temporal and spatial resolutions used in previous studies of the Korean Peninsula were 1 km × 1 km and 1-h, respectively. However, calculating surface solar radiation at 1-h intervals does not ensure the accuracy of the geographical effects, and this parameter changes owing to atmospheric elements (clouds, aerosol, ozone, etc.). Thus, a change in temporal resolution is required. In this study, one-year (2013) analysis was conducted using Chollian geostationary meteorological satellite data from observations recorded at 15-min intervals. Observation data from the intensive solar site at Gangneung-Wonju National University (GWNU) showed that the coefficient of determination (R²), which was estimated for each month and season, increased, whereas the standard error (SE) decreased when estimated in 15-min intervals over those obtained in 1-h intervals in 2013. When compared with observational data from 22 solar sites of the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA), R² was 0.9 or higher on average, and over- or under-simulated sites did not exceed 3 sites. The model and 22 solar sites showed similar values of annual accumulated solar irradiation, and their annual mean was similar at 4,998 MJ m^?2 (3.87 kWh m^?2). These results show a difference of approximately ± 70 MJ m^?2 (± 0.05 kWh m^?2) from the distribution of the Korean Peninsula estimated in 1-h intervals and a higher correlation at higher temporal resolution.     

A monotonic limiter and flux-corrected transport approach for high-order time integration schemes

A monotonic transport algorithm for a high-order time integration scheme is described in this paper. The algorithm is a modified version of an existing high-order time integration scheme, and is tested using a simple one-dimensional pulse and two-dimensional deformational flows. It is found that the new formulation can remove the error, caused by new maxima/minima and excessive smoothing, which occurs in scalar transport using the original extrapolation scheme. The results show that there may be potential for the high-order time integration scheme to be applied in numerical weather prediction models.     

Zircon U-Pb ages and Hf isotopic characteristics of the Dehe biotite monzonitic gneiss pluton in the North Qinling orogen and their geological significance

The Dehe granitic pluton intruded the Xiahe Group which is in the core complex of the North Qinling Orogenic Belt(NQOB).It shows gneissic bedding and possesses typical S-type granite minerals such as muscovite and garnet.LA-ICP-MS U-Pb isotopic dating of the Dehe granite yielded a weighted average age of 925±23 Ma which represents the emplacement age of the pluton.Most of the εHf(t) values are negative,and the two-stage model ages are consistent with the age of the Qinling Group.The isotope data show that the Dehe granite was formed in the following geological setting:in the syn-collision setting of the NQOB in the Neoproterozoic,crustal thickening induced partial melting of materials derived from the Qinling complex,and then the maga upwelled and intruded into the Xiahe Group.The formation of the Dehe S-type granite implied the occurrence of a convergent event in the QOB during the Neoproterozoic.     

Andesite and dacite genesis via contrasting processes: the geology and geochemistry of El Valle Volcano,Panama

The easternmost stratovolcano along the Central American arc is El Valle volcano, Panama. Several andesitic and dacitic lava flows, which range in age 5–10 Ma, are termed the old group. After a long period of quiescence (approximately 3.4 Ma), volcanic activity resumed approximately 1.55 Ma with the emplacement of dacitic domes and the deposition of dacitic pyroclastic flows 0.9–0.2 Ma. These are referred to as the young group. All of the samples analyzed are calc-alkaline andesites and dacites. The mineralogy of the two groups is distinct; two pyroxenes occur in the old-group rocks but are commonly absent in the young group. In contrast, amphibole has been found only in the young-group samples. Several disequilibrium features have been observed in the minerals (e.g., oscillatory zoning within clinopyroxenes). These disequilibrium textures appear to be more prevalent among the old- as compared with the young-group samples and are most likely the result of magma-mixing, assimilation, and/or polybaric crystallization. Mass-balance fractionation models for major and trace elements were successful in relating samples from the old group but failed to show a relationship among the young-group rocks or between the old- and young-group volcanics. We believe that the old-group volcanics were derived through differentiation processes from basaltic magmas generated within the mantlewedge. The young group, however, does not appear to be related to more primitive magmas by differentiation. The young-group samples cannot be related by fractionation including realistic amounts of amphibole. Distinctive geochemical features of the young group, including La/Yb ratios〉15, Yb〈1, Sr/Y〉150, and Y〈6, suggest that these rocks were derived from the partial melting of the subducted lithosphere. These characteristics can be explained by the partial melting of a source with residual garnet and amphibole. Dacitic material with the geochemical characteristics of subducted-lithosphere melting is generated apparently only where relatively hot crust is subducted, based on recent work. The young dacite-genesis at El Valle volcano is related to the subduction of relatively hot lithosphere.     

East Asian monsoon variation and climate changes in Jeju Island, Korea, during the latest Pleistocene to early Holocene

A 4.96-m-long sediment core from the Hanon paleo-maar in Jeju Island, Korea was studied to investigate the paleoclimatic change and East Asian monsoon variations during the latest Pleistocene to early Holocene (23,000-9000 cal yr BP). High-resolution TOC content, magnetic susceptibility, and major element composition data indicate that Jeju Island experienced the coldest climate around 18,000 cal yr BP, which corresponds to the last glacial maximum (LGM). Further, these multi-proxy data show an abrupt shift in climatic regime from cold and arid to warm and humid conditions at around 14,000 cal yr BP, which represents the commencement of the last major deglaciation. After the last major deglaciation, the TOC content decreased from 13,300 to 12,000 cal yr BP and from 11,500 to 9800 cal yr BP, thereby reflecting the weakening of the summer monsoon. The LGM in Jeju Island occurred later in comparison with the Chinese Loess Plateau. Such a disparity in climatic change events between central China and Jeju Island appears to be caused by the asynchrony between the coldest temperature event and the minimum precipitation event in central China and by the buffering effect of the Pacific Ocean.