A preliminary study on the exhumation mechanism of the paleozoic gwangcheon gneiss in the southwestern margin of the Gyeonggi massif

Exhumation mechanism of migmatite in orogenic belts provides insights into thermo-mechanical evolution of lithosphere in association with orogeny. This study deals with kinematics of structures in and around the Gwangcheon Gneiss, as a preliminary study on exhumation mechanism, which is a main constituent of a domal structure (viz., Oseosan Dome) in the Hongseong area, southwestern margin of the Gyeonggi massif. Geological structures in the Gwangcheon Gneiss, which mainly comprises southern and northwestern part of the Oseosan Dome, generally have kinematic component of top-outward shear. This feature is likely to represent diapiric domeup movement. In addition, a high strain zone, by which the tectonic domain involving the Gwangcheon Gneiss is bounded on the west, show structural features with normal sense of shear component. Taking available (thermo)chronological data into account, it is interpreted that activation of the high strain zone and exhumation of the Gwangcheon Gneiss occurred during Late Triassic, when the Gyeonggi massif was widely affected by postcollisional processes. It means that the Gwangcheon Gneiss was diapirically moved up and exhumed in the footwall of extensional high strain zone in association with Triassic post-collisional processes.