Collapse Type and Processes of the Geumosan Caldera in the Southern Gumi, Korea

Abstract

The Gumi basin, situated in the mid-southeastern Yeongnam Massif, has the Cretaceous stratigraphy that is divided into Gumi Formation, andesitic rocks (Yeongamsan Tuff, Busangni Andesite), rhyolitic rocks (Obongni Tuff, Doseongul Rhyolite, Geumosan Tuff) and Intrusives (ring dikes, other dikes) in ascending order. The Geumosan Tuff is composed mostly of many ash-flow tuffs which are associated with Geumosan caldera along with the ring dikes. The caldera is outlined by ring faults and dikes and has about 3.5 × 5.6 km in diameters. The intracaldera volcanics show a downsag structure that is dipped inward in their flow and welding foliations. The caldera block represent an asymmetric subsidence, which drops 350 m in the northern margin and 600 m in the southern one. Based on these data, the Geumosan caldera is geometrically classified as an asymmetric piston subsidence caldera that suggests a single caldera cycle. The caldera reflects the piston subsidence of the caldera block bounded by the outward-dipping ring faults following a voluminous eruption of magma from the chamber. The downsag in the caldera block refers to the downsagging during the initial subsidence at the same time as the full development of the bound fault. In the ring fissures following the sagging, magma was injected due to the overpressure of magma chamber caused by subsidence.