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Gravity and magnetic field interpretation to detect deep buried paleobasinal

fault lines contributing to intraplate earthquakes: a case study from Pohang
Basin, SE Korea

Article  in  Geophysical Journal International · January 2020

DOI: 10.1093/gji/ggz464

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Geophys. J. Int. (2020) 220, 490–500 doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz464
Advance Access publication 2019 October 14
GJI Gravity, geodesy and tides

Gravity and magnetic field interpretation to detect deep buried

paleobasinal fault lines contributing to intraplate earthquakes: a case
study from Pohang Basin, SE Korea

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/gji/article-abstract/220/1/490/5586994 by Kyungpook Medical Library user on 12 November 2019

Sungchan Choi ,1 In-Chang Ryu,1 Young-Cheol Lee2 and Yujin Son1
1 Department of Geology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Republic of Korea. E-mail: inchang@knu.ac.kr
2 Geometic Research Institute, Pukyong National University, Busan, 45 Yongseo-Ro, Republic of Korea

Accepted 2019 October 12. Received 2019 September 29; in original form 2019 April 13

SUMMARY
Potential field interpretation is a powerful method to locate deep buried tectonic fault lines that
contribute to intraplate earthquakes. A magnitude 5.4 earthquake (2017, M5.4 PO) occurred
in the Middle-Miocene Pohang Basin (PB), SE of the Korean Peninsula on 15 November
2017, in the area where no fault lines appear on geological and tectonic maps. To constrain
fault locations, we calculate the gravity effect of the current basin fill with a gravity stripping
method and used curvature analysis to identify former geological and tectonic structures,
assumed formed in the Early-Miocene. The Early-Miocene PB is divided into two subregions
(northern- and southern sub-basins) by a modelled NW–SE fault line, similar to the other Early-
Miocene basins (e.g. Eoil basin). Fault line trends are NE–SW in the northern sub-basin, and
NNE–SSW in the southern sub-basin. 2017M5.4 PO arose from a tectonic movement along
the eastern boundary of the northern sub-basin, the cross-over area from the isolated high-
magnetic/low-gravity region to low-magnetic/high-gravity region. The largest aftershock of
the 2017M5.4 PO occurred along the NW–SE fault line bordering the northern- and southern
sub-basin.
Key words: Gravity anomalies and Earth structure; Asia; Inverse theory.

basin fill (e.g. Qa in Fig. 2) that formed in Middle-Miocene. In

1 I N T RO D U C T I O N
At 15 November 2017, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4
(hereafter referred to as 2017M5.4 PO) occurred at a depth of
approximately 5 km in the Middle-Miocene Pohang Basin (here-
after referred to as PB), the youngest basin existing in the south-
eastern part of the Korean Peninsula (Fig. 1). The hypocentre of
the 2017M5.4 PO (marked with red star in Fig. 1) is locating
about 50 km NNE of the city Gyeongju, where the earthquake
(2016M5.8 GY marked with blue star in Fig. 1) occurred at 12
September 2016. The both events were large enough to cause public
concern that the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula is tecton-
ically not more stable and that more-destructive shocks may occur
in the future. Comparing the 2017M5.4 PO to the 2016M5.8 GY,
we found a peculiar thing: The locations of the fault lines that
contributed these Pohang earthquakes are obscure in terms with
geological- and tectonic interpretation: Choi et al. (2019) reported
that the 2016M5.8 GY was mainly caused by the combined tectonic
movements of the well-known Yangsan fault (YSF in Fig. 1) and
the adjacent fault lines around it. On the other hand, there were no
certain fault lines that contributed the Pohang earthquakes on the ge-
ological and tectonic map (Figs 1 and 2). This means, the fault lines
that contributed the Pohang earthquakes are covered by the present
other words, the fault lines, which probably formed at earlier epoch
(e.g. Early-Miocene) than the Middle-Miocene and contributed the
earthquakes, are assumed to exist under the present basin. From
that point of view, we calculate, first of all, a gravity effect of the
current basin fill using ‘gravity stripping method’ to eliminate any
gravity effect of the current basin from the measured gravity field.
The calculated gravity field from the gravity stripping method will
show us very important geological and tectonic information about
the traces of the former basin structures beneath the present basin
fill. Then, we try to anticipate fault lines and image of the former
basin structures beneath the present PB using ‘curvature analysis’.
The results are discussed to find out the reason of the 2017M5.4 PO
and its aftershocks.
2 GEOLOGICAL AND TECTONIC
SETTING
2.1 Crustal deformation in SE Korea
A number of sedimentary basins in the southeastern Korean Penin-
sula has been formed by multi-deformations process associated
with changes of global tectonic setting during the Cenozoic (Yoon

490 
C The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Astronomical Society.
 paleobasinal fault lines and Pohang Earthquake 491

Figure 1. The Middle-Miocene Pohang basin locating in the SE of the Korean Peninsula is bounded by the Yangsan fault line (YSF) in the west and north, by Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/gji/article-abstract/220/1/490/5586994 by Kyungpook Medical Library user on 12 November 2019
the East Sea in the east, and separated from the Early-Miocene Changki basin by the Ocheon fault line (OCF) in the south (Son et al. 2015). The location of
the Eoil basin, one of the Early-Miocene basin (black rectangle) is shown.

& Chough 1995; Ryu et al. 2006; Son et al. 2007, 2015). The crustal
deformations in relation to major Cenozoic tectonic events were ini-
tiated by the collision of Indian and Eurasian continents and abrupt
change of movement direction of the Pacific Plate (50–43 Ma): The
collision of Indian and Eurasian continents caused the eastward ex-
trusion of East-Asia as a trench-rollback, and then the movement
direction of the Pacific Plate was abruptly changed from NNW to
WNW direction. As a result, the strong suction-force along the plate
boundary produced a tensional stress field trending E–W or WNW–
ESE in the SE of the Korean Peninsula, which resultantly induced a
passive intrusion of NS or NNE trending mafic dike swarm. Then,
the N–S or NNW–SSE trending opening of the East Sea (25–16
Ma) generated a dextral shear stress regime trending NNW–SSE
along the eastern coast line of the Korean Peninsula. As results
of the East Sea opening process, a number of Miocene pull-apart
basins (e.g. Pohang-, Changki-, Eoil basins in Fig. 1) were devel-
oped in right bending and overstepping parts along major dextral
strike slip faults trending NNW–SSE (Son et al. 2007, 2015). At
about 17 Ma, the Yeonil Tectonic Line (YTL in Fig. 1), which was
the westernmost border fault of the Miocene crustal deformation in
492 S. Choi et al.
Figure 2. Geological map of the Pohang Basin (PB). The PB is covered by the Tertiary Changki- and Yeonil groups (TCg and TYg) and Quaternary Alluvium
(Qa), which overlies the basement such as Jurassic Granites (Jgr), Cretaceous Sindong, Hayang- and Tucheon group (CSg and CYg) as well as Cretaceous
granites (Kgr). The current sedimentary basin (red line) deepen from the west to the southeast into 1000 meters (Song et al. 2011; GPP-report 2012; Son et al.
2015).
the Korean Peninsula, began to move as a major dextral strike slip
fault (Son et al. 2007; 2015). In a time period from 15 to 5 Ma,
there was a collisions process between the Izu-Bonin Arc and the
southeastern part of the Japan Island, which was caused by north-
ward movement of the Philippine Plate. The collision resulted the
basin extension with a counter-clockwise rotation. From 5 Ma to
the current time, decreasing subduction angle of the Pacific Plate
and eastward tectonic movement of the Amurian Plate have made
the top-to-west thrusts and become a major cause for earthquakes
in the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula (Ryu et al. 2006;
Son et al. 2015).
2.2 Early-Miocene basins
The detailed structural mappings of the Early-Miocene basins (e.g.
Changki- and Eoil basins in Fig. 1, Son et al. 2007, 2015) show that
several different basins have similar geometries of a NW-dipping
half-graben and/or a partial graben with NNE- to Ne-trending axes
(Son et al. 2007; 2015). These basins are bordered by a number
of fault segments with several hundred meters to kilometers in
length, which were mainly divided into NNE- to NE-striking normal
faults and NW-striking dextral strike-slip faults. The NW- and SE-
margins were mostly bounded by listric- or domino-type normal
faults, whereas the NE- and SW-margins were bounded by a pair
of master strike-slip faults or displace zones. The bed attitudes of
the Early Miocene basins generally define a synclinal structures
dipping toward the NW, which resulted by tectonic tilting rather
than the initial dip (Son et al. 2015).
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2.3 Middle-miocene basin: Pohang basin
The PB is bounded by the Yangsan fault line (YSF in Fig. 1) in the
west and north, by the East Sea in the east, and separated from the
Early Miocene Changki basin by the Ocheon fault line in the south
(OCF in Fig. 1, Son et al. 2015). As shown in the geological map
(Fig. 2), the PB is covered by the Tertiary Changki- and Yeonil sed-
imentary group (TCg and TYg in Fig. 2) and Quaternary Alluvium
(Qa in Fig. 2), which are overlaying the basement such as Jurassic
Granites (Jgr in Fig. 2), Cretaceous Sindong, Hayang- and Tucheon
group (CSg and CYg in Fig. 2) as well as Cretaceous granites (Kgr
in Fig. 2). It has been regarded that the marine sediments of the PB
were accumulated formation by formation from west to east with
N–S trending strikes and southeast-dipping slope. Accordingly, the
sedimentary deposits at the basin margin in the west should be
stratigraphically older and the sediments at the basin centre in the
East younger (Ryu et al. 2006; Son et al. 2015). The origin and
process of the PB are generally suggested to be pull-apart expan-
sion due to the right lateral movement of the Yangsan fault line
(Yoon & Chough 1995; Son et al. 2015). The ages proposed for
the Pohang basin fills, ranging from about 17 to 10 Ma (Middle-
Miocene), were obtained from bio-stratigraphic studies (Byun 1995;
Son et al. 2015). On the other hand, the radiometric ages of the vol-
canogenic basin fills, distributed in the south of the PB, indicate
an Early-Miocene age (24–18 Ma, Kim et al. 2005; Shin 2013).
That means, the depo-centre abruptly migrated northward owing to
dramatic subsidence of the basin in the late Early-Miocene (about
17 Ma).

From the late 1970s to the present, more than 25 deep drill surveys
have been carried out in the PB associated with oil/gas explorations
and construction of the geothermal power plant (GPP in Fig. 2, Song
et al. 2011). The well log data indicated that the sedimentary basin
deepen from the west to the southeast into 1000 meters, which
was confirmed by the different geological interpretations (Song
et al. 2011; GPP-report 2012; Son et al. 2015). Geophysical well
loggings data obtained from five boreholes (BH1–4 and EXP in
Fig. 2b) provided geological and petrophysical properties up to
2000 m for our studies: The PB consists of four geological layers
from the surface, namely (1) Sandstone and Siltstone (SS in Fig. 3)
with a thickness of about 400 m, (2) lapilli Tuff (LT in Fig. 3)
with an average thickness of 200 m, (3) a mixed layer composed
of Rhyolite (RL in Fig. 3) and Mudstone (MS in Fig. 3) with a
maximum thickness of 1500 m and (4) volcanic rocks (AVB in
Fig. 3) or granodiorites (GD in Fig. 3) as the basement of the PB.
The mean densities of these geological layers are 2300, 2350, 2620
and 2700 kg m–3 , respectively (GPP-report 2012; further details are
provided in Table 1).
3 G E O P H Y S I C A L D ATA
3.1 Ground measured gravity field
As a part of the regional geophysical mapping project, The Korean
Institute of Geoscience and Mineral resources (KIGAM) has con-
ducted a gravimetric survey in the southeastern part of the Korean
Peninsula since 2011 (KIGAM 2014). The instruments used for the
gravity measurement were Lacoste & Romberg (model G, sensi-
tivity: 0.01 × 10−5 m s–2 ) and Scintrex gravimeter (model: CG-5,
sensitivity: 0.001 × 10−5 m s–2 ). For positioning of the measure-
ment points, several GPS receivers (e.g. 4000SSE, Trimble Co.)
were used. About 400 gravity measurements in the PB were ex-
tracted from the national database at KIGAM (black point Fig. 4a)
and used in the gravity field mapping and interpretation.
For the calculation of the complete Bouguer anomaly from the
free-air anomaly, topography and bathymetry data with a variation
between –500 and 850 m in the PB and the East Sea (Fig. 4b)
were obtained from the NIMA (National Imagery and Mapping
Agency) and NORI (National Oceanographic Research Institute
of Korea) data sets (Choi et al. 2007). The Bouguer Plate was
removed assuming constant densities of 2670 kg m–3 for the off-
shore area and 1030 kg m–3 for the East Sea, respectively. We com-
piled both data sets and interpolated a 3 x 3 gridded data set to
calculate terrain effect in and around the investigations area. The
terrain effect was calculated up to the Hayford zone (167 km) us-
ing an in-house software package. The values vary between 0 and
4.5 × 10−5 m s–2 . Most parts of the region have terrain correction
values less than 2.0 × 10−5 m s–2 . Only the highest regions in the
area have values of more than 3.0 × 10−5 m s–2 , while the maxi-
mum terrain effect of the deep sea area in the East Sea is of about
4.0 × 10−5 m s–2 .
Fig. 4(a) shows the complete Bouguer anomaly map with a mean
value of approximately 35 × 10−5 m s–2 and a range from 10 to
60 × 10−5 m s–2 . The relatively higher Bouguer gravity anomalies
more than the mean value, are generally observed to the east of
the Yangsan Fault, while the area to the west of the Yangsan Fault
is characterized by relatively lower anomalies, which are probably
caused by the spatial distribution of the Cretaceous granites (Kgr in
Fig. 4) with an average density of about 2600 kg m–3 as proposed
by Choi et al. (2019).
paleobasinal fault lines and Pohang Earthquake 493
3.2 Pohang earthquakes
The 2017M5.4 PO occurred on 15 November 2017 in southeastern
part of the Korean Peninsula at a depths of 4–5 km, about one year
later after the 2016M5.8 GY, the largest earthquake at 12 Septem-
ber 2016 since 1978 when scientific instrumental observations in
Korean Peninsula began. More than 90 injured and about 50 million
US$ property damages were reported by the 2017M5.4 PO, which
is the second largest in magnitude since 1978. The focal mechanism
solution of the main shock indicated a NE–SW directional reverse
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right lateral strike-slip fault with a dip of about 60◦ . The cluster
of more than 1300 aftershocks registered during three months af-
ter the 2017M5.4 PO was distributed in a NE–SW direction from
the main shock and deepening from the east to the west as shown
in Fig. 4. The depth of the aftershocks varied from 1 to 7 km. In
the other hand, the solution of the 2018M4.6 PO, the largest after-
shock of the 2017M5.4 PO is suggested to be SE–NW directing
strike-slip fault with a dipping direction of about 55◦ , indicating
the 2018M4.6 PO occurred along the other fault line different from
that of the 2017M5.4 PO. Additionally, the focal mechanism so-
lution of moderate-size aftershock (e.g. AS-1 in Fig. 4b), locating
about 3.3 km in NNE direction from the main event, presented a
NW–SE directing strike-slip fault with a dip of about 90◦ . Its means
that the AS-1 occurred also along the different fault line, which was
activated by the influence of the main shock (KIGAM 2018).
3.3 Aeromagnetic field
As a part of the regional geophysical mapping project, The KIGAM
has conducted an airborne magnetic survey on the southern part of
the Korean Peninsula since 1997. For the surveying, G-822A cesium
magnetometer was used, which has an absolute accuracy of about
3.0 nT (KIGAM 2012). The spacing of flight line was mainly 2 km
in west–east direction and 6 km in south–north direction, respec-
tively. The residual aeromagnetic data were processed by removing
the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) from the
observed magnetic field (KIGAM 2012). Fig. 5 shows an aeromag-
netic anomaly map over the PB with a range from –500 to 300 nT.
The higher magnetic anomalies, values greater than 50 nT, are gen-
erally observed to the northwestern part of the Yangsan Fault line
(1 in Fig. 5), that coincide well with the locations of the Cretaceous
granites (Kgr in Fig. 5). In contrast, the area between the Yangsan
fault line and the coast line of the East Sea produces low magnetic
anomalies, which are probably caused by the spatial distribution of
the basement characterized by negative remnant magnetism. The
observed aeromagnetic field over the PB is complicated by local
isolated positive anomaly (HM in Fig. 5b), which may be related
to the volcanic rocks (e.g. Tav in Fig. 5) locating northeastern part
from the HM. Notable is that 2017M5.4 PO and its aftershocks oc-
curred mainly along the eastern boundary of the HM. That indicates
there should be a tectonic fault line along the eastern side of the
HM that does not appear in the geological map.
4 I N T E R P R E TAT I O N O F T H E G R AV I T Y
AND MAGNETIC FIELD
4.1 Gravity stripping method
Now, we calculate a gravity effect of the PB using gravity strip-
ping method to find out certain fault lines, which exist below the
present PB and probably contributed the Pohang earthquakes. In or-
der to separate the gravity effect of the sedimentary thickness (red
494 S. Choi et al.

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Figure 3. Geological and petrophysical properties of different rock types obtained from well log data (GPP-report 2012). The PB consists of four geological
layers from the surface, namely, (1) Sandstone and Siltstone (SS), (2) Lapilli Tuff (LT), (3) a mixed layer composed of Rhyolite (RL) and Mudstone (MS) and
(4) volcanic rocks (AVB) or granodiorites (GD) as the basement of the PB

solid lines in Figs 6a and b) from the Bouguer anomaly, we used a
voxel function model developed by Schmidt et al. (2010). The voxel
model or voxel cube is generally used with the intention of verti-
cally changing the density structure (or model geometry) defined
by a conventional triangulated model (e.g. IGMAS+, Schmidt et al.
2010). The basin model polygon for the entire PB (20 km x 20 km
x 2 km) is approximated with a voxel cell size of 0.2 km × 0.2 km
× 0.2 km, resulting in a voxel cube with 1.0 × 105 cells.
Fig. 6(b) shows the gravity effect of the basin thickness calcu-
lated by voxel modelling. Because an average density of the current
 paleobasinal fault lines and Pohang Earthquake 495

Table 1. Physical properties of the different rock types obtained from the well log data (source 1: GPP-report 2012,
source 2: Park et al. 2009).
Layer Rocks Density (kg m–3 ) Source
SS Sandstone and Siltstone 2300 1
LT Lapilli Tuff 2350 1
Mixed Mudstone (MS) 2650 1
Rhyolite (RL) 2600 1, 2
Basement Volcanic (AVB) 2630 2
Granite (Kgr) 2600 2

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Granodiorite (GD) 2700 2

Figure 4. The complete Bouguer anomaly map over the PB (a) is presented, which has a mean value of approximately 35 × 10−5 m s–2 and a range from 10
to 60 × 10−5 m s–2 . The higher Bouguer gravity anomalies relative to the mean value (35 × 10−5 m s–2 ) are generally observed to the east from the Yangsan
Fault, while the area to the west is characterized by relatively lower anomalies. (b) Hypocentres of the Pohang earthquakes (KIGAM 2018) over a topography
map. The focal mechanism solution of the main shock (2017M5.4 PO) indicated a NE–SW directional reverse right lateral strike-slip fault. The cluster of more
than 1300 aftershocks was distributed in a NE–SW direction. The solution of the 2018M4.6 PO, the largest aftershock of the 2017M5.4 PO is mainly SE–NW
directing strike-slip fault. The focal mechanism solution of moderate-size aftershock (AS-1) presented a NW–SE directing strike-slip fault.

basin (2300 kg m–3 from the Table 1) is lower than the reference
density (2670 kg m–3 ), the gravity effect of the basin is negative,
ranging from –2 to –12 × 10−5 m s–2 depending on the thicknesses.
The very low negative gravity effect with less than -10 × 10−5 m s–2
is associated with the southeastern part of the basin, where the
deepest basin structures along the coast exist. Subtracting the effect
of the basin thicknesses (Fig. 6b) from the Bouguer anomaly field
(Fig. 6a), we obtained the gravity effect, which is mainly due to
density heterogeneities under the present PB. Fig. 6(c) shows the
calculated gravity field affected by the density heterogeneities under
the basin only. The calculated gravity field has a mean value of ap-
proximately 35 × 10−5 m s–2 and varies from 20 to 50 × 10−5 m s–2 .
The prominent gravity highs of more than 40 × 10−5 m s–2 are found
in eastern part of the PB along the coast. The reason of these gravity
highs can be explained by high density material such as granodi-
orites (Fig. 3 and Table 1). In contrast, lower anomalies than the
mean value (35 × 10−5 m s–2 ) are mainly revealed in the western
part of the PB. The reason of these gravity lows may be associated
with the Cretaceous granites (Kgr in Fig. 6) with an average density
of about 2600 kg m–3 as proposed by Choi et al. (2019), definitely
lower than the reference density (2670 kg m–3 ). The new calculated
gravity field (Fig. 6c) is used to anticipate fault lines under the
present basin fill.
4.2 Curvature analysis
We applied dip curvature analysis to enhance the imaging of the
gravity field caused by prominent subsurface density discontinu-
ities (e.g. tectonic boundaries). Originally, curvature analysis was
applied for interpretation of 3-D seismic data (Roberts 2001; Li
2015) and has already been tested with gravity and magnetic data
(e.g. Schmidt et al. 2010; Choi et al. 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019).
Curvature analysis is particularly useful for enhancement of linear
elements (e.g. lineaments of potential fields) and helps identify ori-
entations of tectonic elements that cause gravitational anomalies. To
get a better understanding of the curvature calculations of a field, the
basic concept is shown in Fig. 7(a). A gravity profile in a plane that
496 S. Choi et al.

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Figure 5. The aeromagnetic anomaly map over the research area is presented. Panel (B) shows that the Pohang earthquakes are mainly occurred along the
eastern boundary of the local isolated high magnetic anomaly (HM in B).

Figure 6. Gravity field (C) affected by the density heterogeneities under the basin only, which is calculated by subtracting the effect of the current basin
thicknesses (red lines in A and B) from the complete Bouguer anomaly field (A). Figure C presents the calculated gravity field from the ‘gravity stripping method’.

is caused by the density contrast in the crust (e.g. density distribu-
tion: RHO1 > RHO2 < RHO3) can be thought of as a consecutive
string of arcs of circles with variable centres and radii. Therefore,
curvature k at any given point on this curve can be defined as the
reciprocal of the radius (R in Fig. 7a) of the particular arc segment at
this point. Curvature k can be determined directly by evaluating the
derivative dω/ds (the rate of change of angle dω with respect to the
√
arc length ds) as follows: k = [d2 Y/dX2 ]/ [1 + (dY/dX)2 ]3/2 (refer to
Roberts 2001).
From the equation above, the curvature can be simply defined
as the second derivative, k = d2 Y/dX2 . Following the convention
proposed by Roberts (2001), normal vectors illustrate the curva-
ture. It follows that planar surfaces have zero curvature (e.g. yellow
or green colors in Fig. 7a), antiformal curves have positive curva-
ture (red lines in Fig. 7a), and syn-formal curves display negative
curvature (blue line in Fig. 7a). This information is expected to
provide information on crustal density structures that cause gravity
anomalies (Roberts 2001).

Figure 7. Simplified schema of dip-curvature analysis (a) to enhance imaging of the calculated gravity field (Fig. 6c). Panel (b) shows the mapped dip curvatures,
which are calculated with an in-house program ‘Curvature’ (Schmidt, personal commend). Several SW–NE and SE–NE trending density discontinuities (black
dotted lines) are observed in the PB, which are assumed to be fault lines existing under the current basin fill in the PB. Hypocentres of aftershocks (red circle
in B) are mainly clustered in the area between N2 and N3.
Figs 7(b) shows the mapped dip curvature, which is calculated
in the direction of the largest dip of the combined gravitational
subsurface. As mentioned above, the parallel pairs of positive (red
features in Fig. 7b) and negative values (blue features in Fig. 7b)
of the dip curvature indicate areas where strong density contrasts
occur in the crust: The structure of the former PB (probably Early-
Miocene, hereafter EM-PB) can be divided into two sub-basins
(namely, northern- and southern sub-basin) by an anticipated fault
line marked with WE in Fig. 7(b), which has a NW–SE direction.
The northern sub-basin is mainly characterized by NE–SW directing
fault lines (N1–N5 in Fig. 7b), while the anticipated fault lines (S1–
S5 in Fig. 7b) in the southern sub-basin are directing from NNE
to SSW. The western boundary of the EM–PB is separated from
the Yangsan fault line (1 in Fig. 7b) by the anticipated lines with
a NE–SW direction (S5 and N5 in Fig. 7b). The northern and
eastern margin of the EM-PB are, meanwhile, bordered by NW–SE
directing faults (NWE1 and NWE 2) and NE–SW directing fault
lines (S1 and N1) parallel to the Gockgang fault line (3 in Fig. 7b),
respectively.
4.3 Combined interpretation and results
From the analysis and interpretation presented so far, the EM-PB
can be divided into two sub-regions (namely, northern- and southern
sub-basin) by an anticipated NW–SE directing fault line marked
paleobasinal fault lines and Pohang Earthquake 497
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with WE (Fig. 8a). The northern sub-basin is mainly characterized
by SW–NE directing fault lines (N1–N5 in Fig. 8a), meanwhile the
fault lines (S1–S5 in Fig. 8a) in the southern sub-basin are directing
from SSW to NNE. Comparing the sub-basins to the calculated
gravity- (Fig. 8b) and aeromagnetic field (Fig. 8c), the northern
sub-basin can be again divided into three blocks, namely NW-, NM-
and NE-block, respectively: The NW-block enclosed by fault lines
(marked with N5 and N4) is characterized by very low gravity- and
low magnetic anomalies, whereas the NE-block locating between
fault lines (marked with N2 and N1) is characterized by very high
gravity- and low magnetic anomalies. The NM-block bordered with
lines marked with N4 and N2 is clearly differenced from the adjacent
area by prominent magnetic high with a mean value of about 50
nT. It means that an isolated crustal structure exists in that block,
which has a high remnant magnetism causing such high magnetic
anomalies. The southern sub-basin can be also divided into three
blocks, namely SW-block, SM-block and SE-block, respectively:
The SW-block enclosed by fault lines (marked with S5 and S4) is
characterized by very low gravity- and low magnetic anomalies,
whereas the SE-block locating between fault lines (marked with
S2 and S3) is characterized by very high gravity- and low magnetic
anomalies similar to the NE block. The middle block of the southern
sub-basin (SM-block in Fig. 8a) is differentiated from the NM-
block along the SE–NW directing fault line (WE in Fig. 8a) by the
prominent magnetic difference between both blocks.
498 S. Choi et al.

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Figure 8. Anticipated basin geometries obtained from the ‘curvature analysis’ (see also Fig. 7b) shows that the PB is divided into two regions by an anticipated
fault line marked with WE. Comparing the geometries to the gravity field (b) and aeromagnetic field (c), we found that the NM-block is clearly differenced
from the adjacent area by low gravity- and high magnetic anomalies. Hypocentres of aftershocks (red circle in b and c) are clustered along the eastern margin
of the prominent magnetic high between N2 and N3.

5 DISCUSSION tectonic and geological interpretation of the Eoil Basin to the EM-
PB: The isolated high magnetic anomalies in the NM-block (Fig. 9a)
In other to verify whether the anticipated basin structure of the EM-
should be caused by volcanic rocks similar to that of the NE-sub-
PB (Fig. 9a) is reliable, we compared it to the well-studied basin
basin of the Eoil basin. The eastern border of the NM-block (N2 in
structure of the Eoil basin, one of the Early-Miocene basins, which
Fig. 9a) can also be dipping from east to west, as like as the eastern
is obtained from different geological and petrophysical studies (e.g.
margin of the Eoil basin (NE1 in Fig. 9b). In contrast, the western
Ryu et al. 2006; Son et al. 2007; 2015). The geometry of the Eoil
margin of the NM-block (N4 in Fig. 9a) can be dipping to the east.
basin is divided into two sub-basins (marked with SW- and NE-sub-
Son et al. (2007, 2015) reported that the formation of the Eoil Basin
basin in Fig. 9b, Son et al. 2007) by a NW–SE directing fault line
was caused by left lateral strike slip movements along the NW-SE
(NS1 in Fig. 9b). NE-sub-basin is mainly covered by volcanic rocks
directing fault lines (e.g. black arrows in Fig. 9b). When these tec-
and its northern margin is bordered by a NW–SE trending fault line
tonic movements are applied to the EM-PB, the north- (NWE2 in
(NS2 in Fig. 9b), meanwhile the SW-sub-basin is covered by sedi-
Fig. 9a) and the middle fault lines (WE in Fig. 9a) should also
mentary basin only (Son et al. 2007). The eastern margin of the Eoil
affected left-lateral strike-slip movements, which played a tectonic
basin is bounded by east–west dipping normal fault (e.g. NE1 in
role for the occurrences of the moderate- (AS-2 in Fig. 9a) and
Fig. 9b). The western margin is boarded by west–east dipping nor-
the largest aftershock (2018M4.6 PO in Fig. 9a). These assump-
mal fault (e.g. NW1 in Fig. 9b, Son et al. 2007; 2015). As presented
tions are proved by focal mechanism solutions (KIGAM 2018):
in fig. 9, we found that both basins are geometrically very similar.
The solution of the largest aftershock (2018M4.6 PO in Fig. 9a)
From that point of view, it is reasonable to apply the well-studied
and moderate-size aftershock (AS-2 in Fig. 9a) indecated that both

Figure 9. Comparing basin structures of the Early-Miocene PB (a) to the Eoil basin (b) locating about 60 km from the PB in SE direction, we found that both
basins are geometrically very similar. Therefore, it is reasonable to apply the tectonic movement of each fault line obtained from the Eoil Basin to those in the
PB: The anticipated fault line (N2), along which the main shock (2017M5.4 PO) occurred, and the fault line (S3), where the largest aftershock (2018M4.6 PO)
occurred, should be dipping from east to west.
events were occurred by NW–SE directing strike-slip movement
(KIGAM 2018). The focal mechanism solution of the main shock
indicated a NE–SW directional reverse right lateral strike-slip fault
(KIGAM 2018) along the anticipated fault line (N2 in Fig. 9a), the
cross-over zone from the isolated High-magnetic/Low-gravity re-
gion (NM-block) to Low-magnetic/High-gravity region (NE-block).
As mentioned here above, the isolated high-magnetic/low-gravity
characteristics should be associated with volcanic rocks, which has
high susceptibility and low density with a mean value of about 2630
kg m–3 (Table 1). In contrast, the low-magnetic/high-gravity region
(NE-block) can be explained by Granodiorite with a higher density
(2700 kg m–3 , Table 1) than that of the volcanic rocks. Based on all
interpretations results so far, we believe that the reason of the main
shock (2017M5.4 PO in Fig. 9a) is the ascending movement of vol-
canic rocks from the NM-block (Fig. 8a) to the NE-block along the
anticipated fault line (N2 in Fig. 9a).
6 C O N C LU S I O N
To find out fault lines in the PB that contributed the second largest
earthquake (2017M5.4 PO) and its aftershocks occurred in the
SE Korean Peninsula, we interpreted aeromagnetic- and ground-
measured gravity field using ‘gravity stripping method’ and ‘cur-
vature analysis’. Synthesizing all results, we conclude as follows:
(1) The anticipated Early-Miocene PB (EM-PB) is divided into
two regions by NW–SE directing fault line. (2) The northern sub-
basin is mainly characterized by NE–SW directing fault lines,
meanwhile the fault lines in the southern sub-basin are directing
from NNE to SSW. (3) The geometry of the EM-PB covered by
current Middle-Miocene basin fill is very similar to that of the
well-studied Eoil basin, one of the Early-Miocene basins. (4) The
paleobasinal fault lines and Pohang Earthquake 499
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largest aftershock (2018M4.6 PO) is caused by left lateral strike
slip tectonic movement along the NW–SE directing fault line, the
boundary between the northern- and the southern sub-basin. (5)
2017M5.4 PO occurred along the NE–SW directing fault line, the
cross-over zone from the isolated high-magnetic/low-gravity region
to low-magnetic/high-gravity region. (6) The reason of the main
shock (2017M5.4 PO) can be explained by ascending movement
of volcanic rocks from the NM-block to the NE-block along the
NE–SW directing fault line, the cross-over area from the isolated
high-magnetic/low-gravity region to low-magnetic/high-gravity re-
gion.
AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S
The Korea Meteorological Administration Research and Devel-
opment Program (KMI2017–9090) support this study. This study
was also supported in part by the Korea National Research Foun-
dation (NRF-2016R1A6A3A11935995). We would like to thank
Prof Götze and Dr Schmidt, who provided the software package
(IGMAS+) for the gravity stripping method and program (CUR-
VATURE) for the curvature analysis.
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