Strike–slip fault tectonics and basin formation during the Cretaceous in the Korean Peninsula

An integrated description and interpretation of depositional, magmatic, and tectonic development of the Cretaceous sedimentary basins is presented in the present paper to reveal the role of strike–slip faults in basin formation. Non‐marine Cretaceous sedimentary basins in the Korean Peninsula originated from an oblique subduction of the Kula–Pacific oceanic plates beneath the Asian plate. The obliqueness of the subduction developed northeast–southwest‐trending sinistral strike–slip faults along the margin of the Asian continent. In the continental plate, short‐lived intra‐arc basins developed during the Cretaceous which were destroyed by polyphase tectonic force during the Tertiary. Strands of en echelon strike–slip faults produced grabens and they coalesced into composite grabens, forming large sedimentary basins from place to place in the Korean Peninsula. The basins are characterized by abundant volcanic sediments, terrigenous sediments, and were formed by similar tectonic environments. Oblique consumption of ridge during the subduction of the Kula–Pacific plate beneath the Asian plate produced eastward migration of volcanic activity during the Cretaceous. Volcanic activity was confined in central China, then migrated to the east, yielding a temporal and spatial volcanic gap between China and Korea. The Cretaceous sedimentary basins in the Korean Peninsula can be explained in terms of continuous and intermittent trans‐tensional tectonic movements of the sinistral strike–slip faults.