The Characteristics on the Faults around the Korean Peninsula for a Suitability of High level Radioactive Waste Disposal in Korea

More than forty outcrops of the Quaternary fault are reported in the south - eastern Korean peninsular. Generally most faults show N-S or NNE-SSW strike and ESE dipping with eastern plunging fault striation. Reverse fault motion is very common in this fault population except a few strike-slip faults. Those attitudes and characteristics of the Quaternary faults reveal reactivation of pre-existing old faults which have preferred orientation on the east-west compressional tectonic regime. Although many studies on the Quaternary faults, the recurrence interval, slip rate and maximum earthquake magnitude are still uncertain. Therefore more detailed study is needed. The characteristics of pre-Quaternary faults can be obtained from previous studies. However, the great problem of previous work about the pre-Quaternary faults is lack of the clear definition such as location, extension, fault type, displacement, fault movement age and so on. Consequently to select best siting for HLW repository it requires a new precise study of the major pre-Quaternary faults