Five groups of the Phanerozoic granitoids in South Korea can be deduced from their temporal and spatial distributions: (1) Jurassic granitoids in the Gyeonggi massif, (2) Permo-Jurassic granitoids in the Ogcheon belt, (3) Permo-Jurassic granitoids in the Yeongnam massif, (4) Cretaceous granitoids in the Ogcheon belt, and (5) Cretaceous granitoids in the Gyeongsang basin. Though the granitoids of each group generally show calc-alkaline and orogenic natures, the petrological, geochemical and genetical features are different with each other.The Permo-Jurassic granitoids in the Ogcheon belt have lower contents of Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, P2O5, but higher of FeO, FeOT, MgO, K2O than those in the Yeongnam massif. From higher feature of K2O, Na2O+K2O and K2O/Na2O, the Ogcheon belt seems to have been located at closer continent side relative to the Yeongnam massif during Permo-Jurassic time. From lower values of Fe2O3/FeO and magnetic susceptibility the granitoids of the Ogcheon belt had been solidified under more reducing environment than those of the Yeongnam massif. The Cretaceous granitoids in the Ogcheon belt have lower contents of TiO2, Fe2O3, FeO, FeOT, CaO and P2O5, but higher of MgO, K2O, Na2O+K2O and K2O/Na2O than those in the Gyeongsang basin. This feature indicates that the Ogcheon belt would correspond to the continental environment of magma genesis during Cretaceous time. Higher values of Fe2O3/FeO and magnetic susceptibility in the Cretaceous granitoids in the Gyeongsang basin suggest that the granitoids had been solidified under highly oxidizing environment. From the particular chemical features of K2O, Na2O+K2O and K2O/Na2O, the Permo-Jurassic granitoids in the Ogcheon belt, the Yeongnam massif as well as the Cretaceous ones in the Gyeongsang basin can be categorized to the continental margin type granite. The Jurassic granitoids in the Gyeonggi massif are possibly of collision type, and the Cretaceous granitoids in the Ogcheon belt of post-orogenic, intra-continent type. The Jurassic granitoids in the Gyeonggi massif had been possibly generated by crustal melting during the collision of Gyeonggi massif to the northern Pyeongnam basin block. The Cretaceous granitoids in the Ogcheon belt had been emplaced at the hinterland of the continental margin during post-orogenic stage of the Honam Shear Zone.The Cretaceous granitoids in the Gyeongsang basin are often compared with Japanese Cretaceous~Paleogene granitoids in their geochemical and genetical natures. For the granitoid composition, the granitoids in the Gyeongsang basin are higher in Fe2O3, Fe2O3/FeO, Na2O, K2O, Na2O+K2O and K2O/Na2O, but lower in Al2O3, FeO, MnO, CaO and P2O5 than the Japanese granitoids. The contents of TiO2, FeOT and MgO are similar in both granitoids. This geochemical contrast would imply that the Cretaceous granitoid magmas in the Gyeongsang basin had been originated at closer place to the continent side under more tensional field, and solidified under more oxidizing environment than the coeval Japanese granitoid magmas.

Ultramafic xenoliths found in alkali basalts from Jeju Island, Korea are mostly spinel lherzolites accompanied by subordinate amount of spinel harzburgites and pyroxenites. The combination of results from a two-pyroxene geothermometer and Ca-inolivine geobarometer yields temperature-pressure (T-P) estimates for spinel peridotites that fall in experimentally determined spinel lherzolite field in CaO-Fe-MgO-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 -Cr 2 O 3 (CFMASCr) system. These T-P data sets have been used to construct the Quaternary Jeju Island geotherm, which defines a locus from about 13 kbar at 880°C to 26 kbar at 1040°C. The geothermal gradient of Jeju Island is greater than that of the conventional conductive models, and may be as a result of a thermal perturbation by the heat input into the lithospheric mantle via the passage and emplacement of magma. Spinel-lherzolite is the main constituent rock-type of the lithospheric mantle beneath Jeju Island. Pyroxenites may be intercalated in peridotites at similar depth and temperature as re-equilibrated veins or lenses.

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The exposed Precambrian cratonic crust in South Korea is divided into two massifs -the Gyeonggi massif to the north and the Yeongnam massif to the south. Mesozoic granites intruded into both massifs and are mostly I-types. The Jurassic granites form extensive deep-seated batholiths, the Triassic granites are deep-seated stocks and the Cretaceous granites occur as volcanic-plutonic complexes.

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