Holocene sea-level history and tectonic movements, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Many small former embayments on the Korean coast of the Yellow Sea have been diked and drained since early in the twentieth century. Beneath the thin veneer of rice-paddy soil and alluvium of these valleys are organic rich estuarine sediments that overlie weathered bedrock or colluvium. Several suites of basal estuarine mud samples have been dated by the radiocarbon method. A proposed Holocene sea-level curve for the Yellow Sea coast of the Korean Peninsula is shown. The Pohang-Yangsan tectonic block of SE Korea shows a succession of marine terraces on its eastern coast that are not dated, but probably extend back to at least the last interglacial age (about 125 000 years ago). Late Pleistocene tectonic uplift of this block at a rate of about 0.1 m/1000 yr can be suggested. -from authors