Category: News

We are pleased to announce that our research proposal has been selected for the Mid-Career Researcher Program by National Research Foundation of Korea, with annual funding of approximately $14,660 (2,000만원) for a total three years). Through this program, we aim to deepen our understanding of the interaction between neo-tectonics and geomorphology along the eastern margin of Korean Peninsula. For more details, please refer to the following project outline:

Enhancing the Understanding of Neo-Tectonics in the Yeongdong Drainage Basins through Quantitative Analysis of Transient Landscape Features (점이적 지형 변화과정 분석을 통한 영동유역 신기 지구조 운동 이해의 확대)

The geological setting of the Korean Peninsula has traditionally been regarded as stable. However, several flights of coastal terraces are developed along the eastern margin of the peninsula. With the advancement of absolute dating methods, including optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, it has been revealed that the eastern margin has experienced relatively rapid tectonic uplift, comparable to that of tectonically active areas, at least since approximately 150 Ka. Therefore, the Yeongdong drainage basin (영동유역) region, which is adjacent to the backbone mountain range (태백산맥) of the Korean Peninsula, has not been in a topographic steady state but has been undergoing a transient state in response to these neo-tectonic movements.

Despite these findings, few attempts have been made to understand how the Yeondong drainage basins have responded spatially to neo-tectonics or to extend the tectonic history beyond the upper dating limit of approximately 150 ka set by the OSL method. Consequently, the spatial distribution of neo-tectonic activities and the timing of the acceleration of tectonic uplift remain understudied.

Our research proposal aims to advance the understanding of neotectonics in both spatial and temporal dimensions. To address it, our research group will conduct quantitative terrain analyses for various transient landscape features in the Yeongdong area, extending beyond the coastal regions, and quantitatively measure surface process rates.

More specifically, in the first year, we’ll extract geomorphic surfaces from interfluves along watershed divide ridges, reconstruct paleo-river profiles in each study drainage basin based on the extracted surfaces, and ultimately reconstruct the tectonic uplift history of the Yeongdong areas by analyzing the steepness of paleo river longitudinal profiles.

In the second year, we’ll determine the rates of bedrock incision and knickpoint retreat through determination of the exposure ages of higher strath terraces, using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides, developed along the main trunk with knickpoints in each drainage basin.

In the third year, we’ll assess transitional responses within a selected drainage basin by determining catchment wide denudation rates for tributary catchments with different elevation, hilltop denudation rates based on their curvatures, and soil production rates across soil mantled hillslopes.

Each year, we’ll complete our field and analytical work with application of landscape evolution modeling to validate the collected data.

On May 26, 2025, doctoral student Seungwoo Ha led a geomorphology education field trip for middle school students as a part of dissertation work, which aims to develop a field trip program to enhance students’ awareness of geomorphological landscapes across their surrounding everyday space. Great job!

From May 12 to 15, 2025, Jongmin attended the “2025 CSDMS Annual Meeting: Exploring Earth’s Surface with Models, Data & AI” and presented a poster “Effects of Relief on Headwater Catchment Landscapes (Link)”. CSDMS stands for the Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System, an organization of researchers interested in earth surface processes and dynamics, particularly emphasizing the use, development, and interoperability of models. The conference featured many keynote talks related to these topics, as well as clinics for the practical use and introduction of various models.

From April 29 to 30, 2025, Jongmin participated a field trip across the Driftless Area in Minnesota and Wisconsin, a region traditionally regarded as unglaciated but nonetheless influenced by past glacial processes. The field sites were organic farms, where soils have been studied by Azucena, Ph.D. student in Yoo Lab at UMN, to investigate soil characteristics and soil erosion vulnerability. The primary purpose of the field trip was to retrieve installed temperate sensors buried beneath soils on the organic farms. However, we discovered a deep, trench-like gully running across one of the fields.

On April 17, 2025, Jongmin attended the Workshop: Launching Sandpiper — How to Better Collaborate and Exchange Data Across Geomorphology (link) held at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory in Minnesota. This workshop was designed to establish guidelines for effectively sharing geospatial data, particularly raster DEMs, among geomorphologists, including those focused on modeling, observation, and experimentation.

I often feel the need to identify metadata for the DEMs I use, such as creation date, georeferencing information, and sensor details. However, organizing these needs for collaborative research had not been my concern. This community, however, has taken a real step toward addressing this issue, and I found it very interesting.