Neotectonics of the Eastern Korean Margin Inferred from Back-arc Rifting Structure

Earthquakes occur frequently in the continental shelf and slope area of the Korean Peninsula in the East Sea (Japan Sea) although they are mostly not large in magnitude. This area constitutes the eastern Korean margin, marking a transitional structure from rifted continental crust to oceanic crust t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ocean science journal 2018, 53(3), , pp.601-609
Main Authors: Kim, Han-Joon, Jou, Hyeong-Tae, Lee, Gwang Hoon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic Pollution
Compression
Continental crust
Continental shelves
Correlation
Crustal structure
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Earthquakes
Magma
Marine & Freshwater Sciences
Miocene
Oceanic crust
Oceanography
Oligocene
Rifting
Seismic activity
Waste Water Technology
Water Management
Water Pollution Control
해양학
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Summary:Earthquakes occur frequently in the continental shelf and slope area of the Korean Peninsula in the East Sea (Japan Sea) although they are mostly not large in magnitude. This area constitutes the eastern Korean margin, marking a transitional structure from rifted continental crust to oceanic crust that resulted from lithospheric extension into breakup in a back-arc. We reviewed how the crustal structure of the eastern Korean margin was emplaced to understand its correlation with the present seismicity. Back-arc extension that caused rifting and breakup at the Korean margin took place sequentially from the northern to southern parts in the Late Oligocene through the Early Miocene. The stress regime of the Korean margin switched from extension to compression in the Middle Miocene, resulting from the collision of the Philippine Sea Plate with the Japan Arc. The structural lineations at the Korean margin inherited from backarc rifting and breakup are interpreted to be prone to earthquakes by showing a close spatial correlation with ongoing seismicity. The changing geometry of the estimated locus of breakup at the Korean margin that follows a curvilinear path appears to induce diverse focal mechanisms of the earthquakes under the present compressive stress field.
ISSN:1738-5261
2005-7172
DOI:10.1007/s12601-018-0036-9