Heterogeneous modification and reactivation of a craton margin beneath the Korean Peninsula from teleseismic travel time tomography

Jung Hun Song; Seongryong Kim; Junkee Rhie

doi:10.1016/j.gr.2019.11.016

Heterogeneous modification and reactivation of a craton margin beneath the Korean Peninsula from teleseismic travel time tomography

Jung Hun Song, Seongryong Kim, Junkee Rhie

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Abstract

Margins of old continental lithosphere are likely prone to ongoing modification processes. Therefore, constraining detailed structures beneath the margin can be essential in understanding the evolution of the continental lithosphere. The eastern margin of the Eurasian plate is a natural laboratory that allows us to study the strong effects from multiple episodes of continental collision and subduction of different oceanic plates since their formation. To reveal the detailed evolution of cratons at their margins, we describe, for the first time, the upper mantle structures beneath the southern Korean Peninsula (SKP) based strictly on teleseismic relative arrival time data from densely deployed local seismic arrays, which allows us to constrain the details of the lithospheric structures beneath the Archean-Proterozoic basement. We imaged a thick (~150 km) high-velocity anomaly mainly beneath the Proterozoic Yeongnam Massif with large velocity contrasts (dlnVp ≈ 4.0% and dlnVs ≈ 6.0%) at its boundaries, suggesting the presence of a long-lasting cratonic root in the southwestern SKP. On the other hand, low-velocity anomalies were found beneath the Proterozoic Gyeonggi Massif, Gyeongsang arc-back-arc basin, and along the eastern margin of the SKP, indicating significantly modified regions. The possible existence of a remnant cratonic root beneath the SKP and contrasting lithospheric structures across the different Precambrian massifs suggests the highly heterogeneous modification of cratonic lithosphere at the eastern Eurasian plate margin. Strong velocity reductions, which indicate a thermally elevated upper mantle potentially with partial melts, correspond to areas of Cenozoic basalts, high surface heat flow, and high topography along the eastern KP margin. We interpret this coincidence as a result of recent reactivation of a craton margin, which is controlled by intense interaction between the convective upper mantle and heterogeneous continental lithosphere.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	475-489
Number of pages	15
Journal	Gondwana Research
Volume	81
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2019.11.016
Publication status	Published - 2020 May
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank M. Santosh and N. Rawlinson for constructive comments and suggestions that improved the original manuscript. We acknowledge N. Rawlinson for providing his code (FMTOMO, Fast Marching Tomography). We thank KMA, KIGAM, KINS, NIED, and JMA for providing continuous waveform data. Most figures were generated using Generic Mapping Tools ( Wessel et al., 2013 ). Seismic data and velocity models are available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8980499 ( Song et al., 2020 ). This work was funded by the Korea Meteorological Institute under Grant KMI 2019-00110 .

Funding Information:
We thank M. Santosh and N. Rawlinson for constructive comments and suggestions that improved the original manuscript. We acknowledge N. Rawlinson for providing his code (FMTOMO, Fast Marching Tomography). We thank KMA, KIGAM, KINS, NIED, and JMA for providing continuous waveform data. Most figures were generated using Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel et al. 2013). Seismic data and velocity models are available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8980499 (Song et al. 2020). This work was funded by the Korea Meteorological Institute under Grant KMI 2019-00110.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors

Keywords

Continental margin
Cratonic lithosphere
Heterogeneous modification
Korean Peninsula
Seismic tomography

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geology

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10.1016/j.gr.2019.11.016

Cite this

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title = "Heterogeneous modification and reactivation of a craton margin beneath the Korean Peninsula from teleseismic travel time tomography",

abstract = "Margins of old continental lithosphere are likely prone to ongoing modification processes. Therefore, constraining detailed structures beneath the margin can be essential in understanding the evolution of the continental lithosphere. The eastern margin of the Eurasian plate is a natural laboratory that allows us to study the strong effects from multiple episodes of continental collision and subduction of different oceanic plates since their formation. To reveal the detailed evolution of cratons at their margins, we describe, for the first time, the upper mantle structures beneath the southern Korean Peninsula (SKP) based strictly on teleseismic relative arrival time data from densely deployed local seismic arrays, which allows us to constrain the details of the lithospheric structures beneath the Archean-Proterozoic basement. We imaged a thick (~150 km) high-velocity anomaly mainly beneath the Proterozoic Yeongnam Massif with large velocity contrasts (dlnVp ≈ 4.0% and dlnVs ≈ 6.0%) at its boundaries, suggesting the presence of a long-lasting cratonic root in the southwestern SKP. On the other hand, low-velocity anomalies were found beneath the Proterozoic Gyeonggi Massif, Gyeongsang arc-back-arc basin, and along the eastern margin of the SKP, indicating significantly modified regions. The possible existence of a remnant cratonic root beneath the SKP and contrasting lithospheric structures across the different Precambrian massifs suggests the highly heterogeneous modification of cratonic lithosphere at the eastern Eurasian plate margin. Strong velocity reductions, which indicate a thermally elevated upper mantle potentially with partial melts, correspond to areas of Cenozoic basalts, high surface heat flow, and high topography along the eastern KP margin. We interpret this coincidence as a result of recent reactivation of a craton margin, which is controlled by intense interaction between the convective upper mantle and heterogeneous continental lithosphere.",

keywords = "Continental margin, Cratonic lithosphere, Heterogeneous modification, Korean Peninsula, Seismic tomography",

author = "Song, {Jung Hun} and Seongryong Kim and Junkee Rhie",

note = "Funding Information: We thank M. Santosh and N. Rawlinson for constructive comments and suggestions that improved the original manuscript. We acknowledge N. Rawlinson for providing his code (FMTOMO, Fast Marching Tomography). We thank KMA, KIGAM, KINS, NIED, and JMA for providing continuous waveform data. Most figures were generated using Generic Mapping Tools ( Wessel et al., 2013 ). Seismic data and velocity models are available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8980499 ( Song et al., 2020 ). This work was funded by the Korea Meteorological Institute under Grant KMI 2019-00110 . Funding Information: We thank M. Santosh and N. Rawlinson for constructive comments and suggestions that improved the original manuscript. We acknowledge N. Rawlinson for providing his code (FMTOMO, Fast Marching Tomography). We thank KMA, KIGAM, KINS, NIED, and JMA for providing continuous waveform data. Most figures were generated using Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel et al. 2013). Seismic data and velocity models are available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8980499 (Song et al. 2020). This work was funded by the Korea Meteorological Institute under Grant KMI 2019-00110. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors",

year = "2020",

month = may,

doi = "10.1016/j.gr.2019.11.016",

language = "English",

volume = "81",

pages = "475--489",

journal = "Gondwana Research",

issn = "1342-937X",

publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Heterogeneous modification and reactivation of a craton margin beneath the Korean Peninsula from teleseismic travel time tomography

AU - Song, Jung Hun

AU - Kim, Seongryong

AU - Rhie, Junkee

N1 - Funding Information: We thank M. Santosh and N. Rawlinson for constructive comments and suggestions that improved the original manuscript. We acknowledge N. Rawlinson for providing his code (FMTOMO, Fast Marching Tomography). We thank KMA, KIGAM, KINS, NIED, and JMA for providing continuous waveform data. Most figures were generated using Generic Mapping Tools ( Wessel et al., 2013 ). Seismic data and velocity models are available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8980499 ( Song et al., 2020 ). This work was funded by the Korea Meteorological Institute under Grant KMI 2019-00110 . Funding Information: We thank M. Santosh and N. Rawlinson for constructive comments and suggestions that improved the original manuscript. We acknowledge N. Rawlinson for providing his code (FMTOMO, Fast Marching Tomography). We thank KMA, KIGAM, KINS, NIED, and JMA for providing continuous waveform data. Most figures were generated using Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel et al. 2013). Seismic data and velocity models are available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8980499 (Song et al. 2020). This work was funded by the Korea Meteorological Institute under Grant KMI 2019-00110. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors

PY - 2020/5

Y1 - 2020/5

N2 - Margins of old continental lithosphere are likely prone to ongoing modification processes. Therefore, constraining detailed structures beneath the margin can be essential in understanding the evolution of the continental lithosphere. The eastern margin of the Eurasian plate is a natural laboratory that allows us to study the strong effects from multiple episodes of continental collision and subduction of different oceanic plates since their formation. To reveal the detailed evolution of cratons at their margins, we describe, for the first time, the upper mantle structures beneath the southern Korean Peninsula (SKP) based strictly on teleseismic relative arrival time data from densely deployed local seismic arrays, which allows us to constrain the details of the lithospheric structures beneath the Archean-Proterozoic basement. We imaged a thick (~150 km) high-velocity anomaly mainly beneath the Proterozoic Yeongnam Massif with large velocity contrasts (dlnVp ≈ 4.0% and dlnVs ≈ 6.0%) at its boundaries, suggesting the presence of a long-lasting cratonic root in the southwestern SKP. On the other hand, low-velocity anomalies were found beneath the Proterozoic Gyeonggi Massif, Gyeongsang arc-back-arc basin, and along the eastern margin of the SKP, indicating significantly modified regions. The possible existence of a remnant cratonic root beneath the SKP and contrasting lithospheric structures across the different Precambrian massifs suggests the highly heterogeneous modification of cratonic lithosphere at the eastern Eurasian plate margin. Strong velocity reductions, which indicate a thermally elevated upper mantle potentially with partial melts, correspond to areas of Cenozoic basalts, high surface heat flow, and high topography along the eastern KP margin. We interpret this coincidence as a result of recent reactivation of a craton margin, which is controlled by intense interaction between the convective upper mantle and heterogeneous continental lithosphere.

AB - Margins of old continental lithosphere are likely prone to ongoing modification processes. Therefore, constraining detailed structures beneath the margin can be essential in understanding the evolution of the continental lithosphere. The eastern margin of the Eurasian plate is a natural laboratory that allows us to study the strong effects from multiple episodes of continental collision and subduction of different oceanic plates since their formation. To reveal the detailed evolution of cratons at their margins, we describe, for the first time, the upper mantle structures beneath the southern Korean Peninsula (SKP) based strictly on teleseismic relative arrival time data from densely deployed local seismic arrays, which allows us to constrain the details of the lithospheric structures beneath the Archean-Proterozoic basement. We imaged a thick (~150 km) high-velocity anomaly mainly beneath the Proterozoic Yeongnam Massif with large velocity contrasts (dlnVp ≈ 4.0% and dlnVs ≈ 6.0%) at its boundaries, suggesting the presence of a long-lasting cratonic root in the southwestern SKP. On the other hand, low-velocity anomalies were found beneath the Proterozoic Gyeonggi Massif, Gyeongsang arc-back-arc basin, and along the eastern margin of the SKP, indicating significantly modified regions. The possible existence of a remnant cratonic root beneath the SKP and contrasting lithospheric structures across the different Precambrian massifs suggests the highly heterogeneous modification of cratonic lithosphere at the eastern Eurasian plate margin. Strong velocity reductions, which indicate a thermally elevated upper mantle potentially with partial melts, correspond to areas of Cenozoic basalts, high surface heat flow, and high topography along the eastern KP margin. We interpret this coincidence as a result of recent reactivation of a craton margin, which is controlled by intense interaction between the convective upper mantle and heterogeneous continental lithosphere.

KW - Continental margin

KW - Cratonic lithosphere

KW - Heterogeneous modification

KW - Korean Peninsula

KW - Seismic tomography

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DO - 10.1016/j.gr.2019.11.016

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85078208437

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VL - 81

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ER -

Heterogeneous modification and reactivation of a craton margin beneath the Korean Peninsula from teleseismic travel time tomography

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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