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Incipient subsidence and subsequent clockwise rotation of the Miocene Janggi onshore basin, SE Korea, associated with the back-arc opening of East Sea

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Abstract

This paper presents detailed geological information on the Guryongpo Subbasin in the northern part of Miocene Janggi Basin. Detailed geological mapping, stratigraphic and structural analysis, and re-analysis of previous paleomagnetic data demonstrated information on the incipient basin extension and the subsequent clockwise rotation of the Janggi Basin. The basin fills comprise conglomerate-dominated deposit, dacitic tuffs interbedded with tuffaceous sediments (ca. 23.0–22.5 Ma), and dacitic (ca. 22.8–22.4 Ma) and basaltic intrusive and extrusive rocks (ca. 20–18 Ma), in ascending order. The basin fill strata are tilted south-southeastward, and their average dip angles gradually decrease upward, indicating syn-depositional south-southeastward tilting. Extensional structures were grouped into (1) E–W- to WNW-trending basin-bounding faults, growth faults, and dacitic dikes and (2) NE- to ENE-trending (basin-bounding) normal faults and basaltic dikes. The former structures are cut by the latter ones. The paleostress field reconstruction results reveal the incipient N–S-directed and the subsequent NW–SE directed basin extensions. Re-analysis of previous paleomagnetic data based on our stratigraphic scheme demonstrates the progressive clockwise rotation of the Janggi Basin under a regional dextral simple shear regime. The above results suggest that the incipient extension of the Miocene basin in the onshore region of SE Korea occurred before 23.0 ± 0.1 Ma during the back-arc opening of the East Sea. The results also indicate that the incipient extension and the subsequent evolution of the Janggi Basin can be explained by the clockwise horizontal rotation in response to the NNW-trending regional dextral strike-slip faulting due to the opening of the sea.

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Acknowledgements

This article is based on the doctoral dissertation of Kim (2018), the first author of this paper, with additional analysis of the paleomagnetic data and extended discussion on the tectonic implication. We sincerely appreciate the constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers and the editorial handling by Dr. Wu-Cheng Chi and Dr. Dong Geun Yoo. This study was supported by a grant (PJT201079) from the Study on Submarine Active Faults and Evaluation of Possibility of Submarine Earthquakes in the Southern Part of the East Sea, Korea, funded by the Korean Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries, South Korea.

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan, 46241, Republic of Korea

    Min-Cheol Kim, Yong-Un Chae, Hee-Cheol Kang & Moon Son

  2. Institute of Geohazard Research, Pusan National University, Busan, 46241, Republic of Korea

    Min-Cheol Kim, Hee-Cheol Kang & Moon Son

  3. Mineral Exploration and Development, Primo Resource Co., Ltd., Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 10564, Republic of Korea

    Rae-Yoon Jeong

  4. Raw material, Omya Korea Inc., Seoul, 04174, Republic of Korea

    Gyeonggeol Gahng

  5. Natural Disaster Division, Busan Metropolitan City, Busan, 47545, Republic of Korea

    Cheol Woo Song

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Kim, MC., Jeong, RY., Gahng, G. et al. Incipient subsidence and subsequent clockwise rotation of the Miocene Janggi onshore basin, SE Korea, associated with the back-arc opening of East Sea. Mar Geophys Res 44, 11 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-023-09520-5

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