Permo-Triassic continental collision process in the Northeast Asia during the final amalgamation stage of Pangea supercontinent and the geological correlations between Korea, China, and Japan

The Permo-Triassic amalgamation of Northeast Asia began to receive much attention after discovering HP and UHP eclogites in the Dabie and Sulu areas in China. However, the Permo-Triassic tectonic evolution of Northeast Asia is still under argument. Over the past 30 years, several critical geological discoveries were reported from the Korean Peninsula; 1) The Permo-Triassic eclogite in the Hongseong area, 2) the Triassic post-collisional igneous rocks in the northern Gyeonggi Massif, Imjingang Belt, and the southern Nangrim Massif, 3) the Permo-Triassic intermediate-P/T metamorphism in the Imjingang and Okcheon Belts and the Gyeonggi Massif, 4) the strongest Permo-Triassic metamorphism along the E-W trending Hongseong-Yangpyeong-Odaesan Belt, and 5) the Devonian back arc origin for the Imjingang Belt. Besides these, the Honam Shear Zone was confirmed to be initiated in the early Jurassic. These dates indicate that the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu Continental Collision Belt in China extends not into the Imjingang Belt but into the Hongseong-Odaesan Belt within the Korean Peninsula. The Hongseong-Odaesan Belt extends into the inner part of southwest Japan and then into the Dumangang Belt in the northeast Korean Peninsula.