Maurice Ewing Series Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-Arc Basins Vol.

METALLOGENY OF AN ANDEAN-TYPE CONTINENTAL MARGIN IN SOUTH

KOREA: IMPLICATIONS FOR OPENING OF THE JAPAN SEA

Richard H. Sillitoe

Department of Mining Geology, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College of

Science and Technology, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP, England

Abstract. In the Kyongsang basin of south-
east Korea, a belt of copper and tungsten
deposits, including a low-grade porphyry copper
occurrence, breccia pipes and veins, give way
northwards to lead-zinc vein deposits and, still
further north, to fluorite, tungsten and molyb-
denum deposits. This metallogenic pattern was
generated by Upper Cretaceous calc-alkaline
magmatism which, by analogy with central Andean
metallogeny, occurred above a shallow, northward-
dipping subduction zone. The copper-tungsten and
lead-zinc belts appear to be offset continuations
of those generated at the same time in southwest
Japan, thereby demonstrating a cumulative offset
of about 250 km between southeast Korea and
southwest Japan as a result of opening of the
Japan Sea. In southwest Japan, molybdenum
mineralization was superimposed on the lead-zinc
belt in the Paleocene to mid-Eocene interval.
Two groups of minor molybdenum occurrences in the
coastal region of southeast Korea are believed
originally to have constituted a single cluster
prior to 100 km of dextral, strike-slip displace-
ment on the Yangsan fault. This cluster is
thought to be the offset extension of the Japan-
ese molybdenum belt. The transition from an
Andean-type metallogenic pattern to molybdenum
mineralization may have been induced by sub-
duction of the Kula Ridge. Therefore southward
rafting of the Japanese islands and generation
of oceanic crust in the Japan and Yamato basins
began after the end of the Cretaceous (64 m.y.
B.P.) and, if molybdenum mineralization in Japan
and South Korea is correctly correlated, not
until later than the mid-Eocene (46 m.y. B.P.).
Introduction
A marked contrast is apparent between our
knowledge and understanding of metallogeny on the
east and west sides of the Pacific ocean: West-
ern North America and the Andes have been well
studied and the latter region has become a type
area for metallogeny at a convergent continental
margin, whereas readily available metallogenic
information for the eastern margin of mainland
Asia is rather limited. In this context a brief
description of the Upper Cretaceous metallogeny
of South Korea should prove useful.
Unlike the case of the mainland Asian margin,
metallogenic knowledge of the Japanese islands
is relatively advanced. Bearing in mind that
South Korea and Japan are accepted generally as
having been united prior to the opening of the
Japan Sea, a correlation of South Korean and
southwest Japanese metallogeny should prove
instructive: It can be utilized for the develop-
ment of mineral exploration strategy in both
South Korea and southwest Japan, and also to
provide additional information concerning the
distance and timing of separation of the two
countries.
Regional Geological Setting
South Korea is divisible into four main mor-
phostructural elements (Kim, 1974; Reedman and
Urn, 1975) (Fig. 1): The northeasterly-trending
Okchon zone across the center of the peninsula
that consists of unmetamorphosed Cambrian to
Cretaceous systems in the northeast and largely
of late Precambrian metamorphics in the south-
west; the Kyonggi and Ryongnam massifs composed
of Precambrian schists and granite-gneiss,
2000 + 500 m.y. in age (Hurley et al., 1973),
that are located to the north and south, respect-
ively, of the Okchon zone; and the Kyongsang
basin to the southeast of the Ryongnam massif and
consisting of continental sedimentary and
volcanic rocks of Cretaceous age. This paper
focuses on the metallogeny of the last zone and
adjacent areas.
In South Korea, major granitic intrusion (the
Daebo granites) took place in the Jurassic in the
Okchon zone and in the Kyonggi and Ryongnam
massifs (Kim, 1971a). The Upper Cretaceous
Bulkuksa granites are largely restricted to the
Kyongsang basin but extend northwards as far as
the Okchon zone. The known occurrences of
Triassic granitic rocks in North Korea complete
the definition of a southward-younging igneous
suite that suggests a north-south retreat with
time of a subduction system.
Precambrian trends are chiefly north-north-
SILLITOE 303

Copyright American Geophysical Union

Maurice Ewing Series Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-Arc Basins
easterly. Some Phanerozoic deformation in pre-
Triassic times has been recognized (Kim, 1974)
but the major tectonic event is the Jurassic
Daebo orogeny that follows a northeasterly,
Sinian direction and is particularly intense in
the Ok chon zone, where overthrusting and iso-
clinal folding are widespread (Reedman et al.,
1974). Ophiolites, indicative of sutured oceans,
are absent. In the southeast of the Kyongsang
basin, major north-northeast-trending wrench
faulting post-dated the Bulkuksa intrusives
(Figs. 2 and 3) and is related by Reedman and Urn
(1975) and the present writer to opening of the
Japan Sea.
Geology of the Kyongsang Basin
In the Kyongsang basin and adjoining areas
extending as far as the Okchon zone (Fig. 1),
calc-alkaline intrusive and volcanic rocks cut
and unconformably overlie buried Precambrian
basement and younger formations in a northeast-
trending belt some 400 x 200 km in area. These
magmatic rocks are part of the more extensive,
but now disrupted, Chukotsk-Cathasia volcanic
I easterly and exhibits little structural complex-
r-
\ '-
('"--~
\ morphism.
I 0
~ PO-
I ~ HANG
I c.,
.....
c.,
~
~ south of lat. 36 0 N, copper and tungsten are the
JAEJU
. Km.
O'~70
Fig. 1. Morphostructura1 provinces, including
the Kyongsang basin, in South Korea.
304 SILLITOE
Copyright American Geophysical Union
Vol. 1
belt of Cretaceous age along the eastern edge of
the Asian continent from the Bering straits to
the southern part of the East China Sea
(Ustiyev, 1965). The belt includes the Fukien-
Reinan massif of southern China and its north-
eastward continuation beneath the Yellow Sea
(Wageman et al., 1970) to the Kyongsang basin,
the Japan-Sea (Inner) side of southwest Japan,
and the Sikhote-Alin zone of the eastern U.S.S.R.
Following a recent summary by Chang (1975),
the stratigraphic sequence in the Kyongsang basin
is assignable to the Kyongsang System which spans
the Cretaceous and attains a maximum thickness of
10,000 m. The Lower Cretaceous part consists
entirely of post-orogenic, molasse-type
sediments, found chiefly on the west side of the
basin. The Middle Cretaceous is also largely
non-marine sediments, with a few volcanic and
volcaniclastic intercalations. The Upper Creta-
ceous Yuchon Group is mainly volcanic with
andesitic pyroclastics and flows below and felsic
lithic tuffs and ash flows above. Most of these
rocks are intruded by stocks and larger plutons
of probably comagmatic intrusive rocks (Fig. 2),
mainly of granodioritic and adamellitic compo-
sition but also including granites and diorites.
As a result of radiometric dating, mainly by the
K-Ar method, these Bulkuksa intrusives have been
shown to be late Cretaceous, ranging in age from
88 to 68 m.y. (Kim, 1971a; Seo and Ju, 1971).
As in southwest Japan, Lower Tertiary plutons are
suspected but so far have not been proven.
The Kyongsang System strikes north-north-
ity. Dips are southeasterly and the few folds
are gentle. Igneous intrusion induced limited
contact metamorphism but virtually no structural
disturbance. The Kyongsang System has also been
subjected to a regional greenschist facies meta-
Metallogeny of the Kyongsang Basin
~ and Adjoining Areas
In the southern part of the Kyongsang basin,
principal metals although some gold, iron and
molybdenum are also present (Fig. 2). Ore
deposits intimately associated with intrusive
rocks include a low-grade porphyry copper occur-
rence at Red Hill, Dongjom (Kim and Kim, 1974),
copper-tungsten-bearing breccia pipes of collapse
type at Dalsung (Jordt, 1966; Won and Kim, 1966)
and Ilkwang (Flet~and Park, 1974), and a
tungsten-molybdenum vein at Sannae. The Dongjom
occurrence is centered on a granodiorite porphyry
100
stock, at least 750 x 450 m at surface, emplaced
,
in fine-grained Cretaceous clastics. Observa-
tions made on drill core show the stock to have
been potassium silicate altered and subsequently
sericite altered, with a tendency for sericitic
alteration to be more widespread towards the
stock margins. Both alteration types contain
Maurice Ewing Series Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-Arc Basins
....
~
f" "."
I~
..:' :.~
TAEGU4ll1
.o
128
R',\'-,:I INTRUSIVE
POST-JURASSIC (BULKUKSA) BRECCIA PIPE (Cu-W)
ROCKS
ADVANCED ARGILLIC ALTERATION
CRETACEOUS VOLCANIC and VEIN DEPOSIT (CuI
O SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
(KYONGSANG SYSTEM) VEIN DEPOSIT (W-Mo)
Mo MINERALISATION
b<:1 OTHER ROCKS PORPHYRY COPPER OCCURRENCE
Fig. 2. Distribution of post-Jurassic intru-
sive (Bulkuksa) and volcano-sedimentary (Kyong-
sang System) rocks in the central part of the
Kyongsang basin. The location and types of
mineral deposits are also shown.
chalcopyrite and molybdenite but pyrite is far
more abundant in the sericitic facies. Propyl-
itic alteration constitutes a fringe in the
sedimentary host rocks.
The Dalsung and Ilkwang breccia pipes are
somewhat different in that the former is emplaced
in andesitic rocks, although with an adamellite
intrus~ve 1.5 km to the west, and the latter in
a 1 km adamellite stock. Both pipes are oval,
possess sheeted contacts and are filled with
angular, commonly tabular, wall-rock fragments
that are sericitized and propylitized at Dalsung
and sericitized (with tourmaline and garnet) at
Ilkwang. Most mineralization occurs as a
filling of open space between fragments,
especially in a narrow, annular zone abutting
the pipe contacts. It consists of chalcopyrite,
scheelite and wolframite, accompanied by quartz,
pyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and bismuth-
LnLte. Specularite, calcite, siderite and K-
feldspar also occur at Dalsung and tourmaline
Copyright American Geophysical Union
Vol. 1
with minor galena and sphalerite at Ilkwang. The
overall characteristics of these two pipes are
similar to those described from Chilean examples
by Sillitoe and Sawkins (1971).
The Sannae deposit is a l-km-long vein in an
adamellite pluton emplaced in flat-lying
volcanics. The vein consists of quartz stringers
carrying wolframite, scheelite and molybdenite,
accompanied by pyrite, muscovite and K-feldspar.
Apart from Sannae, most other vein deposits, such
as those at Kuryong (Jordt, 1966), Dongsung
(Kim, 1972), Kosong (~t al., 1969),
Samsanjaeil and Yong-ho, are of "epithermal"
type, cut volcanic or sedimentary rocks (Fig. 2),
carry chalcopyrite, pyrite and in some cases
bornite, and are accompanied by a propylitic
gangue assemblage that includes chlorite,
epidote, calcite, quartz, specularite and magnet-
ite. Tourmaline is also a gangue phase locally,
as at Yong-ho. There veins also possess an
JS exploitable gold content and other veins in the
region are copper-poor and were once worked for
gold. In the extreme southeast of the Basin, two
small contact-metasomatic magnetite deposits in
Km so
. andesitic volcanics are known (Fig. 3)
Apart from these metal deposits, a number of
zones of advanced argillic alteration are found
in the volcanic rocks in the southern part of the
Basin and further west as far as long. l26 oE.
The alteration consists of a pervasive develop-
.. ment of several of pyrophyllite, alunite,
... diaspore, chalcedonic silica, dickite, kaolinite,
tourmaline, dumortierite, pyrite and marcasite;
the first three minerals are worked at several
localities. At Kuryong, the writer discovered
chalcopyrite and minor molybdenite in a zone of
advanced argillic alteration on the margin of
which the copper-bearing vein deposits are
located, and in one of the zones in the Tongnae
district molybdenite was found (Fig. 2). The
presence of chalcopyrite and molybdenite in these
zones of advanced argillic alteration suggests
that they are in some way related to the upper
parts of porphyry copper systems, above generator
stocks.
In the northern part of the Kyongsang basin
0 0
between lats. 36 and 37 N, a concentration of
lead-zinc-bearing veins occurs (Fig. 3). They
are probably late Cretaceous, and certainly not
earlier, in age since they cut the Kyongsang
System. Intrusive rocks and related mineral
deposits north of this group of lead-zinc veins
are apparently pre-Cretaceous in age, except for
those in the Hwanggangni district (approximately
long. 128E and lat. 37 0 N) (Fig. 3) that have
yielded late Cretaceous ages. Mineral deposits
are principally tungsten-, molybdenum- and
fluorite-bearing veins and fluorite-bearing
replacement deposits in limestone, but lead, zinc
and copper ores also occur (Reedman et al.,
1974).
At Kyongju (Jordt, 1968) and Ulsan (C. J. N.
Fletcher, pers.~., 1975), near to the east
SILLITOE 305
Maurice Ewing Series
o, Km.
HWANGGANGNI
DISTRICT .""'!!""
.~l~
. " .~
~"I""'"
POST-JURASSIC MINERAL DEPOSITS
... Cu~W '" Pb-Zn ... Fe
{""'< F-Mo-W (.Cu-Pb-Zn)
.-::':::, Limit bctWOWl Cu-Wand Pb-Zn belts
Fig. 3. Locations of mineral deposits in
the Kyongsang basin and adjoining areas (after
Geological and Mineral Institute of Korea, 1974)
indicating the copper-tungsten and lead-zinc
belts, the two groups of molybdenum occurrences
believed to have been displaced by the Yangsan
fault, and the fluorite-molybdenum-tungsten
deposits of the Hwanggangni district.
0 duction zone. In Korea, subduction of the Kula
coast south of lat. 36 N (Figs. 2 and 3),
granitic to adamellitic intrusives carry very
low-grade molybdenum mineralization. The Kyongju
intrusive is largely a biotite granite, 9 x 5 km
at surface, that is associated with leucogranite
and aplite and designated as anomalous for moly-
bdenum throughout by analysis of stream-sediment
heavy mineral concentrates (Jordt, 1968). Moly-
bdenite occurs as veinlets with or without
pyrite, quartz and sericite, and locally in
quartz veins, at scattered localities in leuco-
granite, At Ulsan, a stockwork of molybdenite-
quartz veinlets is present in the southern part
of a small adamellite stock. Several small
molybdenum deposits are also known on the north-
ern edge of the Basin within the lead-zinc belt
(Fig. 3). They are believed to have adjoined the
Kyongju-Ulsan district prior to transcurrent
faulting in southeast Korea, as amplified below.
Therefore an Upper Cretaceous metal zoning is
;106 SILLITOE
Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-Arc Basins Vol. 1
apparent in the Kyongsang basin and adjoining
regions (Fig. 3), as previously observed by Kim
(197lb, 1973, 1974). Deposits in the southern-
part of the Basin are dominated by copper with
minor tungsten and, in the southernmost part,
small concentrations of iron are also present.
Molybdenum occurs in the extreme southeast but is
believed to be present as a result of later
transcurrent faulting (see below). Further
:
north, lead and zinc occur instead of copper and
at the most northerly extent of Upper Cretaceous
magmatism fluorite, tungsten and molybdenum
predominate.
This metallogenic pattern and the ore types
involved are closely comparable to those descri-
bed from the central Andes (Sillitoe, 1975).
There a copper belt lies oceanwards of a belt
containing copper-lead-zinc-silver and is
typified by porphyry copper deposits, breccia
pipes (carrying copper and tungsten) and veins.
A narrow belt of contact-metasomatic magnetite
deposits occurs in the western part of the
copper belt, in a position comparable to that
occupied by the South Korean iron deposits . The
central Andean copper-lead-zinc-silver belt is
bordered eastwards in Bolivia by a tin-tungsten-
silver belt. The northern portion of this belt
in the Cordillera Real is typified by early
Mo
Mesozoic tungsten deposits with peripheral lead
and zinc mineralization, in some ways comparable
to the Hwanggangni district in South Korea. In
Bolivia, however, fluorite is scarce, although
fluorite deposits typify the landward extremity
of the Mexican metallogenic province. A marked
difference is provided, however, by the zones of
advanced argillic alteration that are uncommon in
the central Andes.
The similarities between the Upper Cretaceous
metallogeny of South Korea and the Meso-Cenozoic
pattern described from the central Andes prompts
the suggestion that the Korean province, like the
central Andes, was generated on continental
basement above a shallow-dipping (20-25 0 ) sub-
plate (Larson and Chase, 1972) was clearly north-
wards from a trench bordering the Asian mainland
in a fashion similar to the present-day central
Andes. The shallow dip of the underthrust slab
is corroborated by the wide expanse of the Upper
Cretaceous metallogenic province in South Korea,
at least 250 km inland from the present coast.
This distance could be somewhat greater if the
submerged continental crust south of the
Peninsula and its continuation into northern
Kyushu is taken into consideration, although
much of this area was probably occupied by the
arc-trench gap.
Metallogenic Comparison with Southwest Japan
The geological similarity between southwest
Japan and southeast Korea has been realized for
some cons iderable. time (Kato, 1927). In south-
Copyright American Geophysical Union
Maurice Ewing Series Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-Arc Basins
west Japan, on the Japan-Sea or Inner side of
Honshu, a sequence of non-marine, Lower Cretac-
eous sedimentary rocks is overlain by Upper
Cretaceous andesitic and then more felsic calc-
alkaline volcanics, including voluminous ash-
flow tuffs (Ichikawa et al., 1968). Granodiori-
tic to adamellitic intrusives, probably comag-
matic with the volcanics, also occur in an east-
northeasterly belt. Intrusives have been dated
at 96 to 64 m.y. (Shibata and Ishihara, 1974),
closely comparable to the ages (88 to 68 m.y.)
obtained for the southeast Korean intrusives.
According to recent work by Ishihara (1973),
Shibata and Ishihara (1974) and Shimazaki (1975),
in southwest Japan a copper belt is bordered
northwards by a lead-zinc belt that extends at
least as far as the Japan-Sea coast. Tungsten
deposits are important in the copper belt and it
was in fact designated as a tungsten belt by
Ishihara (1973). These ore deposits are all
related to the Upper Cretaceous (96 to 64 m.y.)
intrusives. Copper and lead-zinc deposits are of
contact-metasomatic (skarn) and vein types. The
absence of Paleozoic limestones as inliers in the
Kyongsang basin precludes the presence there of
outcropping contact-metasomatic deposits. The
tungsten deposits are wolframite- and/or
scheelite-bearing quartz veins (cf., Sannae,
Kyongsang basin) and contact-metasomatic types.
Therefore, the copper-tungsten and lead-zinc
belts of southwest Japan appear to be the offset
continuations of those defined above for south-
east Korea (Fig. 4), notwithstanding the absence
of known breccia pipe and porphyry deposits from
the former region. Moreover, to further enhance
the similarity, the volcanics in the copper-
tungsten province of southwest Japan also carry
zones of advanced argillic alteration
(S. Ishihara, written comm., 1975). If ore
deposits comparable to those in the Hwanggangni
district once occurred north of the lead-zinc
belt in southwest Japan, then they must now be
present in continental fragments in the Japan
Sea.
In southwest Japan, Ishihara (1973) and
Shibata and Ishihara (1974) defined a molybdenum
belt characterized by molybdenite-bearing quartz
veins in leucogranite or aplite associated with
adamellitic intrusives, north of the copper-
tungsten belt and more or less coincident with
the lead-zinc belt (Fig. 4). The molybdenum
mineralization is, however, distinctly younger
(65 to 46 m. y.) and related to more sodic and
magnetite-rich intrusives than the earlier miner-
alization (Shibata and Ishihara, 1974). A well-
defined molybdenum belt is absent from South
Korea, a fact that led Shibata and Ishihara
(1974) to conclude that further information was
required before a correlation of the geology of
South Korea and southwest Japan could be confir-
med. Here it is suggested, however, that a
correlation may in fact be made with the low-
grade molybdenum mineralization in the lead-zinc
Copyright American Geophysical Union
Vol. 1
,, J A
pAN
.. ~ ~)
; 'YA MA ~6 ---:
: RISE '
'-: " YA;;~~O ," ,/
, -_ / ' :, 13ASIN ': '.'
}
~_"' -~ "' vJ:' "
o
Fig. 4. Positions of copper-tungsten, lead-
zinc and molybdenum belts in southeast Korea
and southwest Japan, and inferred faults, in-
cluding the Yangsan fault, between the two re-
gions. Japanese data from Ishihara (1973) ,
Shibata and I s hihara (1974) and Shimazaki (19 75).
belt and in the Kyongju-Ulsan district, now
further south in the copper-tungsten belt. The
Kyongju mineralization bears many similarities to
the molybdenum deposits in southwest Japan but
chemical and radiometric evidence from the host
intrusives is required before their correlation
can be confirm~d.
Reconstructions of South Korea and Japan
It is now widely acr.epted that the Korean
peninsula and southwest Japan were once united
and that their separation was due to the south-
ward rafting of the Japanese arc resulting in the
opening of the Japan Sea. Some marginal ocean
basins, including the Japan Sea, are now gener-
ally believed to have been generated by back-arc
spreading, a process of symmetrical sea-floor
spreading comparable to that at ocean rises
(Karig, 1971). In the Japan Sea, the generation
of oceanic crust is thought to have taken place
in the Japan and Yamato basins, formation of the
latter splitting off the Yamato rise from Honshu
as a remnant arc (Fig. 5) (Hilde and Wageman,
1973). If the now-separated copper-tungsten and
lead-zinc belts in South Korea and southwest
Japan are reconstructed it can be seen that back-
arc spreading at these two sites in the Japan Sea
has resulted in a total extension of about 250
km, between the extreme southeast of the Korean
peninsula and the extreme northwest of Honshu
(Fig. 4). There was clearly little overlap
between the two land masses prior to separation .
Separation is considered to have been on a series
SILLITOE ;107
Maurice Ewing Series Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-Arc Basins
MIDDLE
MIOCENE
LEGEND:
Fig. 5. Idealized reconstructions depicting
the development and subsequent displacement of
Upper Cretaceous-Lower Tertiary metallogenic
belts in southeast Korea and southwest Japan.
The Upper Cretacious time-frame shows develop-
ment of the Andean-type copper-tungsten and lead-
zinc belts during subduction of the Kula plate
at a trench that may be now represented by the
Shimanto zone. The Paleocene-Lower Eocene time-
frame shows the super-position of the molybdenum
belt on the earlier lead-zinc belt, perhaps in-
duced by subduction of the Kula Ridge between
the Kula and Pacific plates. The Middle Miocene
time-frame assumes the region to be in essentially
its present form with the metallogenic belts
displaced by a dextral transcurrent (transform)
fault system consequent upon spreading in the
Japan and Yamato basins. The extreme southeastern
sliver of South Korea, southeast of the Yangsan
fault, and southwest Japan have undergone south-
ward displacement by some 100 and 250 km, respec-
tively. (The molybdenum belt is omitted from the
Middle Miocene time -frame for the sake of simplic-
ity. )
of north-northeast-trending faults, currently
submerged beneath the Japan Sea and the Tsushima
straits between Korea and Japan. One of the
faults is schematized on Figs. 4 and 5, parallel
to the wrench faults, including the major
Yangsan fault (Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5), in southeast
Korea. The latter, considered here as part of
the main fault system, underwent dextral strike-
slip and eastward down throw in the early Miocene
(Reedman and Urn, 1975). If the two groups of
molybdenum deposits in southeast Korea were once
a single cluster as suggested by their disposi-
tion with relation to the Yangsan fault (Figs. 4
and 5), then lateral dextral offset has totalled
about 100 km.
308 SILLITOE
Copyright American Geophysical Union
Vol. 1
This reconstruction of South Korea and south-
west Japan is similar to that proposed by Hurley
et al. (1973) on the basis of a comparison of
Precambrian basement terrains, that based on
paleomagnetic studies by Yaskawa and Nakajima
(1972), and those based on general geology by
Kimura (1974) and Reedman and Urn (1975).
~ clear separation of the copper-tungsten
and lead-zinc belts in South Korea and Japan
confirms that back-arc spreading began after
their formation was completed 64 m.y. ago.
Furthermore, if the correlation of the southeast
Korean and southwest Japanese molybdenum belts is
proved to be correct, then separation did not
commence prior to 46 m.y. ago or the mid-Eocene
on Berggren's (1969) time-scale. If back-arc
spreading had begun before 46 m.y. ago, it would
have been difficult to superimpose molybdenum
mineralization on the older lead-zinc belt in
both South Korea and Japan, as can be appreciated
from Figure 5. In the mid- to late Cenozoic, the
Korean peninsula was too far north to be under-
lain by a northward-dipping subduction zone (Fig.
5), and calc-alkaline magmatism was restricted to
the Ryukyu and southern Japanese arcs. Alkaline
basaltic volcanics interbedded with early Miocene
sediments in the Pohang basin in coastal south-
east Korea (Fig. 2) and similar volcanics as
young as Quaternary in age on Jaeju island, south
of the Peninsula (Fig. 1) (Reedman and Urn, 1975),
are believed to have been erupted through contin-
ental crust during the rifting, in regions where
oceanic tholeiite was not generated.
The mid-Eocene age propo s ed here as the
maximum age for the commencement of Japan-Sea
opening accords reasonably well with the conclu-
sions of a number of recent workers: A post-
Cretaceous opening was affirmed hy HcElhinny
(1973) on the basis of paleomagnetic data, and
Murauchi (1972) and Kimura (1974) favored a
beginning of opening in the Paleogene, the latter
writer summarizing evidence for the Tsushima
straits being open by late Paleogene times.
Kaseno (1972) concluded that opening began in the
early Miocene, whereas Ludwig et al. (1975)
concluded that the Sea was in essentially its
present form by late Oligocene times. Hilde and
Wageman (1973) proposed a two-stage opening on
the basis of magnetic signatures, the Japan basin
forming from the late Hesozoic and the Yamato
basin from the early Miocene. The conclusions
reached here preclude a late Hesozoic initiation
of back-arc spreading, as also favored by Uyeda
and Miyashiro (1974), unless it wa s accomplished
without significant relative displacement
between South Korea and southwest Japan. It is
considered more probable that at this time only
basins floored by continental crust, like the
Kyongsang basin and its continuation in southlvest
Japan, existed. Unfortunately the Deep Sea
Drilling Program holes drilled on leg 31 were not
deep enough to demonstrate that no pre-mid-
Eocene marine sediments are present on the floor
of the Japan Sea (Scientific Staff, 1973). The
Maurice Ewing Series Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-Arc Basins
alkali basalts in southeast Korea may, however,
correlate with the early Miocene spreading in the
Yamato basin proposed by Hilde and Wageman (1973),
opening of the Japan basin having taken place
somewhat earlier from the mid-Eocene onwards.
Concluding Remarks
In South Korea and southwest Japan, a normal
Andean-type metal zonation from copper-tungsten
northwards to lead-zinc was generated during the
Upper Cretaceous, with a possible fluorite-
tungsten-molybdenum zone even further north.
This pattern is attributed to a shallow, north-
ward-dipping subduction zone, the outcrop of
which is perhaps now represented by the Shimanto
zone, a possible trench assemblage on the Outer,
Pacific side of Japan (Sugimura and Uyeda, 1973)
(Fig. 5). However, 64 m.y. ago this metallogenic
pattern became inactive and was replaced in
southwest Japan, and probably also in South
Korea, by molybdenum mineralization.
From a compilation of data on the spreading
history of the northwest Pacific, Uyeda and
Miyashiro (1974) concluded that in late
Cretaceous times an ocean rise, the Kula Ridge,
intersected the trench system along the Asian
mainland and was subducted. Using western North
America as an example, the change from a normal,
Andean pattern of mineralization, above a
shallow-dipping subduction zone, to the emplace-
ment of molybdenum deposits is attributed to the
intersection of an ocean rise and a trench,
whether or not the rise is subducted (Sillitoe,
1976). Off southwest Japan, Uyeda and Miyashiro
(1974) tentatively dated the intersection at
80 m.y. but since the ocean-floor magnetic
anomalies for the late Cretaceous have been
subducted and are therefore no longer observable,
a precise estimate of the timing of the event
cannot be given. Might not therefore the inter-
section of the Kula Ridge and the trench off
southwest Japan have taken place 65 to 70 m.y.
ago (Fig. 5) just before, and giving rise to, the
molybdenum mineralization?
Acknowledgments. This paper stems from an
assignment with the Geological and Mineral
Institute of Korea (GMIK) that constituted part
of the first phase of a United Nations mineral
exploration program. Mr. F. A. Seward, Jr. of
United Nations, New York, is thanked for the
invitation to participate 1.n the program and for
providing an introduction to field areas in the
Kyongs ang basin. Mssrs. Kim, Jong Hwan, Kim,
Sun Ok, and Kim, Kil Sun, of GMIK and Dr. C. J .
N. Fletcher of the Institute of Geological
Sciences, U.K., are gratefully acknowledged for
their help in the field and, along with Drs.
K. Burke, B. F. Scales and M. J. Terman, for
discussions. Written communications with Dr. S.
Ishihara of the Geological Survey of Japan
greatly aided the comparison with southwest
Japan.
Copyright American Geophysical Union
Vol. 1
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