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| Titel |
On the Geomorphological Status of the Central Mountain Range, Korean Peninsula |
| VerfasserIn |
Jongmin Byun, Kyungrock Paik |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2015
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 17 (2015) |
| Datensatznummer |
250107985
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2015-10474.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| It has been known that the tectonic uplift forming the central mountain range (Taebaek Mtn.)
in the Korean Peninsula has begun since the Tertiary (Kim, 1961). Recent studies suggest that
most uplift events have occurred during the mid Miocene (Min et al., 2008). On the summits
of the Taebaek mountain range are low-relief plateaus. They have long been interpreted as
paleo erosional surfaces, and thus are considered as transient landscape. In other words,
low-relief plateaus have been considered as evidences that the landscape has not responded to
the tectonic uplift events yet. However, a recent study on the denudation rates of a
plateau reported that the erosion rate of the plateau is much greater than several
paleo surfaces reported in other parts of the world (Byun et al., under revision).
Such high denudation rate raises a question on the previous hypothesis of paleo
surfaces.
To test these two contrasting hypotheses, we first identify characteristic features of the
plateau landscape using topographic position index (Weiss, 2001). Then, we numerically
evaluate the required time for the development into the plateau landscape starting from
various initial reliefs. Our quantitative analysis shows that dominant features that compose
the plateau are flat-convex ridge, straight mid slope, and slightly concave lower slope.
Simulation results show that the highly weathered saprolite observed in the plateau
accelerates the development into the representative hillslope profiles. As a result, we find that
development from different initial reliefs into the representative profiles takes time less than
expected by the previous paleo surfaces hypothesis. Such results reconfirm that the plateau is
not originated from paleo surfaces, but from recent geomorphic processes aided by highly
weathered saprolites. This can also imply that the plateau topography is not in transient
state.
References
Byun, J., Heimsath, A. M., Seong, Y. B., and Lee, S. Y., Erosion of a high-altitude,
low-relief area on the Korean Peninsula: Implications for its development processes and
evolution, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (under revision).
Kim, S, 1961, Topographic development of the Central Korea, Seoul University Journal,
10, 111-123 (in Korean with an abstract in English).
Min, K. K., Cho, M., and Reiners, P. W., 2008, Exhumation history of the Taebaek
Mountain Range in Korean Peninsula: Impliations for Miocene tectonic evolution of east
Asia, AGU, 89(53), Fall Meet. Suppl, Abstract #T53B-1922.
Weiss, A. D., 2001, Topographic position and landform analysis, ESRI User Conference. |
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