Meso-Cenozoic basin evolution in northern Korean Peninsula

In the Korean Peninsula the Meso-Cenozoic basins were mainly formed due to fault block and block movement. The Mesozoic fracture structures correspond basically to modem large rivers in direction. Such faults were usually developed to rift and formed lake-type tectonic basin, such as the Amrokgang-, Taedonggang-, Ryesonggang-, Hochongang-, Jangphari-, Susongchon-, Pujon-, and Nampho basins. The Mesozoic strata are considered to be divided into the Lower Jurassic Taedong System, Upper Jurassic Jasong System, Upper Jurassic-early Lower Cretaceous Taebo System, and the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene （ Chonjaebong, Hongwon, Jaedok Series）. The Cenozoic block movement succeeded the Mesozoic fault block movement. The Kilju-Myongchon Graben and Tumangang Basin, etc, are the basins related to the fault zones developed from the Oligocene to Miocene. In addition, the Tertiary basins were formed in many areas in the Miocene （e. g. Sinhung, Oro, Hamhung, Yonghung, Anbyon, Cholwon, etc）. The Cenozoic sedimentation occurred mainly from the late Oligocene to Miocene. The Kilju-Myongchon Graben was the fore deep connected to the sea and the basins inclined in the Chugaryong Fault Zone are intramountain basins. Therefore, coal-beating beds and clastic rocks in the intramountain basins and rare marine strata and terrigenous clastic rocks are main sedimentary sequences in the Cenozoic.     

Characteristics of carbonatites from the northern part of the Korean Peninsula: A perspective from distribution,geology and geochemistry

The present study introduces the carbonatite in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula for the first time.Recent exploration and development of the phosphorus-bearing carbonate rocks in the area have accumulated new geological data which gave us an opportunity to study origin of the carbonate rocks.We conducted geological survey,geochemical analyses of trace elements and rare earth elements,and carbon and oxygen isotope analyses for the carbonatites from Ssangryong,Pungnyon,Yongyu and Puhung districts of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.This research confirms that the phosphorus-bearing carbonate rocks are carbonatite originating from the mantle.The studied carbonatites are distributed at the junctions of ring and linear structures or around their margins and contain a greater amount of REEs,Y,and Sr than carbonate rocks.The carbonatites in Yongyu and Puhung area show evidence that they were formed from mantle plume generated at the lower mantle and display similar fractionation characteristics to carbonatites in Barrado Itapirapua in Brazil and Kalkfeld and Ondurakorume in Namibia.REE patterns of the carbonatites are typical of carbonatites and the carbon and oxygen isotope analyses demonstrate that the carbonatites were originated from mantle.The carbonatites from the northern part of the Korean Peninsula have a great potential for sources of REE,Y,PGE(platinum group elements),copper,and gold.     

Two species of the genusoncaea (copepoda, poecilostomatoida, oncaeidae) from the east sea, Korea

Abstract   Oncaea venusta Philippi, 1843 has been known as having some different size groups, but recent genetic study for cyt b and ITS 1 (Elverset al. 2006) suggests that these size groups can be considered as different species. Of these size groups, the largestO. venusta Philippi and the smallestO. venella Farran, 1929 were first described in Korean waters. The latter is easily distinguishable from the former in the following characteristics in addition to its small size: (1) length to width ratio of genital double somite of two genders smaller, and (2) female second pediger bearing inconspicuous dorso-posterior swelling.Oncaea venusta andO. venella co-occur in Korean waters during spring to fall, but their occurrence patterns seasonally differ: the former shows higher density in fall while the latter does in summer.     

Magmatic and hydrothermal zircon growth during multiple orogenic cycles in an evolving mantle wedge

The Hongseong area of the Hongseong-Imjingang Belt in the central-western Korean Peninsula forms part of a subduction-collision system that is correlated with the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu Belt in China. Several serpentinized ultramafic bodies carrying blocks of metamorphosed mafic rocks occur in this area. Here we investigate zircon grains in serpentinites from Bibong(BB) and Wonnojeon(WNJ), and high-pressure(HP) mafic granulite from Baekdong(BD) localities based on U-Pb, REE and Lu-Hf analyses. The zircons from BD HP mafic granulite show distinct age peaks at 838 Ma, 617 Ma and 410 Ma, with minor peaks at1867 Ma, 1326 Ma and 167 Ma. The Neoproterozoic age peaks in these rocks as well as in the serpentinites suggest subduction-related melt-fluid interaction in the mantle wedge at this time. The older zircon grains ranging in age from the Early to Middle Paleoproterozoic might represent detrital grains from the basement rocks transferred to the wedge mantle through sediment subduction. The BD HP mafic granulite shows a Middle Paleozoic age peak(Devonian; 410 Ma). The 242-245 Ma age peaks in the compiled age data of zircon grains serpentinites from BB and WNJ correspond to a major Triassic event that further added melts and fluids into the ancient mantle wedge to crystallize new zircons. In the chondrite normalized rare earth element diagram, the magmatic zircon grains from the studied rocks show LREE depletion and HREE enrichment with sharply negative Eu and Pr anomalies and positive Ce and Sm anomalies. The REE patterns of hydrothermal zircons show LREE enrichment, and relatively flat patterns with negative Eu anomaly. Zircon Hf signature from the WNJ serpentinite show negative εHf(t)(-18.5 and-23.5) values indicating an enriched mantle source with TDM in the range of 1614 Ma and1862 Ma. Zircons from the BD HP mafic granulite also show slightly negative εHf(t)(average-4.3) and TDM in the range of 1365-1935 Ma. Our study provides evidence for multiple zircon growth in an evolving mantle wedge that witnessed melt and fluid interaction during different orogenic cycles.     

中国东部-朝鲜半岛中生代板块边界划分研究进展

中朝板块与扬子板块在晚二叠世-三叠纪期间的碰撞形成大别-苏鲁造山带,这一碰撞结合带过黄海在朝鲜半岛的延伸方式一直是国内外学者关注的焦点.由于朝鲜半岛地质构造的复杂性,对于这一问题仍存在诸多不同的观点,主要有两类:①沿临津江带或沃川带或京畿地块进入朝鲜半岛;②没有延入朝鲜半岛.深部地质与地球物理资料显示区内两板块深部结合带位置可能与表层存在较大差异,这更加深了板块边界划分研究的复杂程度.本文总结了上述两个板块结合带划分研究的各类观点,回顾下扬子上、下地壳归属特征差异的主要研究进展,认为产生观点差异的主要原因是对区内中新生代整体地质演化认识不足,尤其是缺乏足够可靠的深部信息,从而提出地质、地球化学、地球物理资料的综合解释是今后解决这一问题的发展方向,指出黄海地区海-陆构造关系为国内下一阶段的研究重点.     

The Korean emissions trading scheme: business perspectives on the early years of operations

Korea’s domestic emissions trading scheme commenced in January 2015. It targeted mainly industrial and power sectors, and compelled companies to transform how they manage energy efficiency and mitigate GHGs. This study sets out to explore how Korean companies evaluated their allocation position and engaged in emissions trading in the first compliance period, and to identify their views on trading barriers and policy expectations at the start of emissions trading. Questionnaire surveys and on-site interviews targeting Korean companies under the Korean emissions trading scheme were conducted at the start of operations (February to March 2015) and after the first compliance year (May 2016), respectively. Actual operation results are observed and compared with the survey findings. This study extrapolates implications for policy and presents suggestions for the government and the target companies in terms of how to improve the current emissions trading scheme in order to further stimulate emissions trading.

POLICY RELEVANCE

This study attempts to bridge the gap between companies and government policy in operating the domestic emission trading scheme in Korea. Empirical results, based on analysis of company-level data, reveal how businesses perceive K-ETS and how this relates to the operating results, which saw only limited trading of surplus emissions taking place in the early phase. Key barriers to active trading identified in the study include supply–demand imbalance, policy uncertainty and lack of preparedness of companies over carbon pricing. These barriers could be addressed by improved transparency of allowance allocation methods, possibly restricting carry-over of surplus allowances, ending policy uncertainty and providing more information to companies that can support companies’ policy understanding of the carbon pricing based on the market mechanism. Targeted companies should proactively participate in emissions trading in the early phase, in order to learn from it and prepare for the future introduction of auctioning.     

The tectonic boundary between the Okcheon and Taebaeksan basins,South Korea: A restraining bend of a continental transform fault between the South and North China Cratons

The geological relationship between the Okcheon and Taebaeksan basins of the Okcheon belt on the Korean peninsula is a key issue in reconstructing the tectonic evolution of the peninsula. The boundary between the two basin sequences has been variously interpreted as a conformable, unconformable, or thrust contact, without clear evidence being provided for any of these hypotheses. Detailed examination of structures and microfabrics of deformed rocks adjacent to the contact in the Bonghwajae area suggests that the boundary between the two basin sequences is a thrust. Based on the U–Pb ages of detrital zircons from metasedimentary rocks and pre‐existing geologic data from the Okcheon belt, the thrust is a relay structure between two segments of a continental transform fault along which the Okcheon Basin was juxtaposed against the Taebaeksan Basin during the Permian–Triassic suturing of the North and South China Cratons.     

朝鲜半岛咸北地区晚二叠世基性火山岩的地球化学特征:岩石成因与地质意义

晚古生代火山作用既是探究朝鲜半岛北部大地构造归属的基本要素,又是认识东北亚大陆两大构造域转折之际地球动力学过程的关键窗口。针对咸北地区会宁基性火山岩开展的离子探针锆石U-Pb年代学和地球化学研究表明,其喷发时代为晚二叠世(257±3Ma);主要岩石类型包括玄武安山岩和安山岩,其Si O2含量介于51.9%~55.3%,Mg#变化于40~58,属于钙碱性系列;岩石富集大离子亲石元素、亏损高场强元素(如Nb,Ta,Ti),并具有高正的锆石εH f(t)(+10~+16)值。元素-同位素地球化学示踪指示该基性火山岩的岩浆源区为俯冲沉积物熔体交代而形成的不均一岩石圈地幔,其部分熔融则可能归因于俯冲后的板内伸展背景。会宁基性火山岩不仅为判定咸北地块属于中亚造山带在朝鲜半岛的东延部分提供了岩石学证据,而且与中国相邻地块上的同期岩浆事件一道,构成见证古亚洲洋东段沿西拉木伦-长春-延边一线断裂带最终闭合的空间标记。     

美国Spruce Pine与新疆阿尔泰地区高纯石英伟晶岩的对比研究

     对美国北卡罗来纳州 Spruce Pine 地区白岗岩 / 伟晶岩和新疆阿尔泰白云母花岗岩 / 伟晶岩进行了对比研究。这两个地区的伟晶岩可能是过铝质花岗岩浆通过熔体 - 蒸汽分异作用的产物。美国产高纯石英的伟晶岩发育在片岩、片麻岩的背景之上,主要造岩矿物中富含斜长石,Na 大于 K,大离子亲石元素 Sr 和 Ba 含量高,高场强元素和稀土元素含量低,Eu 正异常,石英中杂质元素含量低。这些特征可作为高纯石英伟晶岩的判别标志。我国阿尔泰地区的伟晶岩脉十分发育,所研究的样品中,有些样品已经具有这些特点,阿尔泰伟晶岩区具有产高纯石英的成矿前景。