JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN GEOMORPHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION Vol. 18. No. 4(2011) 235~246 Holocene climate characteristics in Korean Peninsula with the special reference to sea level changes Sangill Hwang* Soon-Ock Yoon** Abstract : Sea level fluctuations during the Holocene reconstructed by the results of age dating, microfossils researches and sedimentary facies from coastal alluvial plains contain the valuable informations on climatic changes. The sea level during maximum phase of transgression during 6,000~5,000 yr BP was slightly higher than the present by approximately 0.8~1.0 m and the summer temperature conditions seemed to be higher than those of the present by 2~3 in the Central Europe when the period of Climatic Optimum might be dominant. The sea level in Korean Peninsula was assumed by 0.8~1.0 m higher at that time compared to the present and climate seemed to be warmer. At 2,000~1,800 yr BP in Korean Peninsula, the sea level reached the higher stand than the present by approximately 1.1~1.3 m and the climatic conditions might be warm similar to the period of Climatic Optimum. Although the temperature in the Central Europe during the period of Subboreal was about 2~3 cooler, it is supposed that the sea level in Korean Peninsula was relatively higher than the present. The sea level at 2,300 yr BP might be similar to that of the present, which was the lowest level since the mid-holocene. From the fact, climatic environment during the cold period might not be reflected exactly in the sea level. Key Words : Korean Peninsula, maximum phase of transgression, Climatic Optimum, sea-level change in Holocene, climatic change Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Kyungpook National University hwangsi@knu.ac.kr Professor, Department of Geography and Research Institute for Basic Sciences, Kyung Hee University soyoon@khu.ac.kr - 235 -
- 236 -
- 237 -
- 238 -
1. approximate sea level curve 2. sea level curve by grain-size analysis 3. sea level curve by pollen analysis - 239 -
- 240 -
- 241 -
- 242 -
- 243 -
- 244 -
Banerjee, P.K., 2000, Holocene and Late Pleistocene relative sea level fluctuations along the east coast of India, Marine Geology, 167, 243-260. Bird, M.I., Fifield, L.K., Teh, T.S., Chang C.H., Shirlaw, N., Lambeck, K., 2007, An inflection in the rate of early mid- Holocene eustatic sea-level rise. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 71, 523-536. Bloom, A.L. and Park, Y.A., 1985, Holocene sealevel history and tectonic movements. Republic of Korea, Quaternary Research, 24, 77-84. Chang, C. H., Kim, J. M., 1982, Late Quaternary vegetation in the lake Younglangho of Korea, Korean jour. bot., 25(1), 37-53. Clark, P.U., Mix, A.C., 2002, Ice sheets and sea level of the Last Glacial Maximum, Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 1-7. Dillon and Oldale, 1978, Late Quaternary sealevel curve, In (Ed.) 1998, Sea-Level Changes, the last 20,000 Years, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester. Fairbanks, R.G., 1989, A 17,000-year glacioeustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation, Nature, 342, 639-642. Fairbridge, R. W., 1961, Eustatic changes in sealevel, Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 4, 99-185. Fernandez-Salasa, L.M., Lobo, F.J., Hernandez- Molina, F.J., Somoza, L., Rodero, J., D az del R! oa, V., Maldonado, A., 2003, High-resolution architecture of late Holocene highstand prodeltaic deposits from southern Spain: the imprint of highfrequency climatic and relative sea-level changes, Continental Shelf Research, 23, 1037-1054 Firbas, F., 1949, Spät- und Nacheiszeitliche Waldgeschichte Mitteleuropas nördlich der Alpen. Bd. I, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena. Lambeck, K., Esat, T.M., Potter, E., 2002a, Links between climate and sea levels for the past three million years, Nature, 419, 199-206. Lambeck, K., Yokoyama, Y., Purcell, T., 2002b, Into and out of the Last Glacial Maximum: sea-level change during oxygen-isotope stages 3 and 2, Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 343-360. Liu, J.P., Milliman, J.D., Gao, S., Cheng, P., 2004, Holocene development of the Yellow River s subaqueous delta, North Yellow Sea, Marine Geology, 209, 45-67. Murawski, H., 1992, Geologisches Woerterbuch, 9, Aufl.. Enke, Stuttgart. Nakamura, J., 1952, A comparative study of Japanese pollen records, Research reports of the Kohi University, 1, 1-20. Park, Y.A., 1969, Submergence of the Yellow Sea Coast of Korea and stratigraphy of the Sinpyeong-Cheon Marsh, Kimje, Korea, Journal of Korean Geological Survey, 5, 57-66. Park, Y.A. and Bloom, A.L., 1984, Holocene sealevel history in Yellow Sea, Korea.Journal of Korean Geological Survey, 20-3, 189-194. Pirazzoli, P.A., 1991, World atlas of Holocene Sea- - 245 -
level changes, Elsevier, Armsterdam. Pirazzoli, P.A., 1998, Sea-Level Changes, the last 20000 Years, John Wiley andsons, Chichester. Shepard, F.P., 1963, Thirty-five years of sealevel. In: Essays in Marine Geology in Honor of K. O. Emery, Univ. South Cali. Press, Los Angeles, 1-10. Woodroffea, S.A., Horton, B.P., 2005, Holocene sea-level changes in the Indo-Pacific, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 25, 29-43. Yasuda, Y., Tsukada, M., Kim, J.M., Lee, S.T. and Yim, Y.J., 1980, The environment changes and the agriculture origin in Korea, Japanese Ministry of Education Overseas Research Reports, 1-19. Yoon, S. O., 1994, Untersuchungen zur jungquartären Vegetationsentwicklung in den Flussgebieten des Gawaji-, Dodaecheon-, Youngyang-, Unsan- und Jumunjin- Gebietes Suedkoreas., Dissertation. Freiburg Univ. Zazo, C., Goy, J.L., Somoza, L., Dabrio, C.J., Belluomini, G., Improta, J., Lario, J., Bardaji, T., Silva, P.G., 1994, Holocene sequence of sea-level fluctuations in relation to climatic trends in the Atlantic- Mediterranean linkage coast, J. Coastal Res, 10, 933-945. - 246 -