Notes on the Geology of the Corean Archipelago ¹

Abstract

THIS archipelago, which consists of a number of smaller groups of islands separated by a depth of water varying from twenty to fifty fathoms, lies off the south-west coast of the peninsula of Corea. Whilst many of the larger islands vary from two to six miles in their extreme length, they are all of considerable height: their highest summits attain an elevation generally ranging between 600 and 1000 feet above the sea—Ross or Alceste Island, in the south-west corner of the archipelago, reaching to a height of as much as 1935 feet. The large and naked masses of rock which crown their summits give to these islands a somewhat rugged and uninviting aspect; and their quaint inhabitants view with ill-concealed dislike the presence of foreign ships within their waters.