Permo-Triassic changes in bulk crustal shortening direction during deformation and metamorphism of the Taebaeksan Basin, South Korea using foliation intersection/inflection axes: Implications for tectonic movement at the eastern margin of Eurasia during the Songrim (Indosinian) orogeny

Abstract

The Permo-Triassic Songrim (Indosinian) orogeny in South Korea was a major tectonic event involving complicated continental collisions at the eastern margin of Eurasia. Previous studies have examined the structural and metamorphic features of the Songrim orogeny in each of the Paleozoic terranes of the orogenic belt (i.e., the Taebaeksan Basin, the Okcheon Basin, and the Imjingang Belt), but correlations of these features among the terranes remain uncertain. The aim of this paper is to reveal deformation history including bulk crustal shortening directions in the Taebaeksan Basin, and to correlate the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Taebaeksan Basin with other Phanerozoic mobile belts in eastern Asia based on a combined analysis of foliation intersection/inflection axes (FIA) trends and metamorphic P–T and T–t (time) paths. The orientations and relative timing of FIA preserved as inclusion trails within porphyroblasts of andalusite, chloritoid, garnet, and staurolite reveal two age groups of inclusion trails in the Pyeongan Supergroup at the northeastern margin of the Taebaeksan Basin. These microstructures indicate the development of early NNW–NNE-trending structures and fabrics, followed by later E–W-trending ones. These observations suggest a change in the orientation of bulk crustal shortening from E–W to N–S during the Songrim orogeny. Based on the similar microstructures and temperature–time paths of the three Paleozoic terranes, we interpret that the E–W bulk crustal shortening influenced the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula during the early stages of the Songrim orogeny, presumably related to amalgamation between the proto-Japan terrane and the eastern margin of Eurasia, whereas the N–S bulk crustal shortening was stronger in the western part of the peninsula during the later stages of the orogeny, related to collision between the South and North China blocks.