R&D Activities Geological Research Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources
Investigation of Subtropicalization on the Korean Peninsula using A Geological Proxy

INVESTIGATION OF SUBTROPICALIZATION ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA USING A GEOLOGICAL PROXY: A CLIMATE-GEOECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT OF THE MID-HOLOCENE PERIOD

Nowadays, climate change on the Korean Peninsula is going on faster than in the rest of the world. The trend in climate warming and subtropicalization in Korea can be verified by multi-proxies of physical properties, and geo (bio)chemical, and micropaleontological analyses of different archives of wetlands, lacustrine areas, and caves in Korea and neighboring country. The optimized multi-proxy can be used for more reliable paleoenvironmental reconstruction during the Holocene climatic optimum. The reconstructed paleohydroclimate-geoecosystem will be compared with future climate model scenarios, and will provide a valuable dataset to confirm Korean climate warming trends in the near future.  

The main qualitative achievements of 2019 research summarized as follows: an analysis of topography position index and unconsolidated sediments from the rivermouths of the four main rivers (Geum R., Yeongsan R., Seomjin R. and Nakdong R.) was performed. The rivermouths of the Geum and the Yeongsan rivers show similarities in modern geomorphology and paleosediments distribution, but those of the Seomjin and Nakdong rivers are very different. Distribution reconstruction of warm-temperate pollen indices on the Korean Peninsula during the mid-Holocene shows that the index taxa were strongly controlled by precipitation during drought season, maximum temperature of warmest month, and elevation. The warm-temperate plant indices during the mid-Holocene were present across Korea except inland of North Korea. Pollen-based quantitative temperature and precipitation reconstruction of the Holocene period is depicted (Fig.1).  

Contact: Sangheon Yi (shyi@kigam.re.kr)



Fig. 1.