Tectonic evolution of Korean Peninsula and adjacent crustal fragments in Asia: Introduction

The tectonic relationship between Korea, China and Japan has been a topic of debate since several decades. Several recent studies have brought to light new aspects of Korean geology including the finding of Late Permian to Triassic eclogite facies metamorphism from the Hongseong area. There has also been substantial progress on the understanding of the tectonic history of East China. New reports of Paleozoic and Triassic high-P/T metamorphic belts have also come from Japan. This thematic issue of Gondwana Research presents a timely integration of new information that aids in reconstructing the tectonic relationship between Korea, China and Japan. This issue begins with a set of four papers dealing with the tectonic relationship between Korea, China and Japan. The next five papers deal with various aspects of Korean geology from Late Proterozoic to Cenozoic. Subsequent five papers are related to the geology of Japan. The next three papers deal with the tectonic interpretation of the Sino-Korean plate. Evidence for Permo-Triassic collision between the Indo-china and South China blocks is reported in the next paper. We thank reviewers for providing thorough and constructive reviews on the manuscripts for this issue. We also thank the International Association for Gondwana Research for providing us the opportunity to publish this thematic issue.