Kotelny/Faddeyevsky Island

Kotelny Island ( _ru. Остров Котельный) and Faddeyevsky Island (О. Фаддеевский) are part of the Anzhu Islands subgroup of the New Siberian Islands located between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea in the Russian Arctic.

They are usually named as separate islands on average maps, although sometimes the name "Kotelny" is applied to refer to the whole actual island. A flat, low-lying, plain connecting both is known as Bunge Land (Земля Бунге). Taken as a single geographical whole, Kotelny/Bunge/Faddeyevsky is one of the 50 largest islands in the world.anonymous, 1911, [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/New_Siberia_Archipelago New Siberia Archipelago] ] These merged islands are a practically uninhabited territory belonging to the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) of the Russian Federation.

Kotelny

Kotelny Island proper, also known as “Kettle Island”,Mills, W. J., 2003, "Exploring polar frontiers: a historical encyclopedia." ABC CLIO Publishers, Oxford, United Kingdom.] is the largest section of the group, with an area of 11,665 km². It is rocky and hilly, rising to 374 m on Mt. Malakatyn-Tas. The Chukochya River flows westwards to the Laptev Sea. The Anisiy Cape coord|76.200|N|139.1167|E is the northenmost headland of Kotelny and it is an important geographical point for it marks the NW limit of the Laptev Sea. The total area of the geographic whole adjacent to Kotelny Island, that is including Bunge Land and Faddeyevsky, is 23,165 km².Great Soviet Encyclopedia]

Bunge Land

Bunge Land or Zemlya Bunge is a huge empty and almost barren intermediate zone. It is located between Kotelny and Faddeyevsky, which, unlike Bunge Land, could be described as proper islands. Sandy and flat, its area is 6,200 km². Since it rises only to a maximum height of 8 m above sea level, Bunge Land is flooded during storm surges, except for a very small area in the southeast that rises to an elevation of 11 to 21 m above sea level. The area that is periodically submerged accounts for over 80% of the total surface and is practically devoid of vegetation. Bunge Land is named after Russian zoologist and explorer Alexander von Bunge.

Faddeyevsky

Faddeyevsky could be described as a large peninsula projecting from the northern end of Bunge Land eastwards with its isthmus in the north. There is a deep inlet on Faddeyevski between its western coast and adjoining Bunge Land. Unlike Kotelny this island is relatively flat despite its size, its highest point being only 65 m. Its area is 5,300 km². Faddeyevsky is covered with tundra vegetation and dotted with small lakes. This island was named after a fur trader called Faddeyev who built the first habitation there.

Geology

Kotelny Island consists of sedimentary rocks and sediments ranging in age from Early Paleozoic to Late Cenozoic. The oldest rocks fossiliferous shallow- to deep-water marine, Ordovician to Early Devonian limestones and dolomites. Middle Devonian to Carboniferous interbedded limestones, dolomites, sandstones, and conglomerates overlie these sedimentary strata. The Permian to Jurassic strata exposed within Kotelny Island consist of interbedded, fossiliferous mudstones, siltstones, and sandstones. All of these sedimentary rocks are faulted, folded into complex anticlines and synclines, and intruded by thin diabase dikes.Kos’ko, M.K., B.G. Lopatin, and V.G. Ganelin, 1990, "Major geological features of the islands of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas and the Northern Coast of Chukotka." Marine Geology. vol. 93, pp. 349–367.] Fujita, K., and D.B. Cook, 1990, "The Arctic continental margin of eastern Siberia", in A. Grantz, L. Johnson, and J. F. Sweeney, eds., pp. 289-304, The Arctic Ocean Region. Geology of North America, vol L, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado.] Pleistocene to Holocene fluvial sediments, which range in age from 1,500 to greater than 55,000 radiocarbon years BP, underlie terraces that lie within the Balyktakh and Dragotsennaya River valleys. Thick permafrost has developed in these sediments.Makeyev, V.M., D.P. Ponomareva, V.V. Pitulko, G.M. Chernova and D.V. Solovyeva, 2003, [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1552329 "Vegetation and Climate of the New Siberian Islands for the past 15,000 Years"] . Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 56-66.]

Within Bunge Land and the southwest corner of Kotelny Island, relatively unconsolidated sediments ranging in age from Early Cretaceous to Pleistocene overlie the above folded and faulted sedimentary rocks. The oldest of these sediments are Early Cretaceous alluvial clays, silts, and sands that contain layers of conglomerate, tuff, tuffaceous sandstone, coal, and, at top, rhyolite. The Late Cretaceous sediments are overlain by Late Eocene to Pliocene alluvial sands that contain layers of clay, silt, gravel, brown coal, and lignitized wood.Kos’ko, M.K., and G.V. Trufanov, 2002, [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9Y-47426HP-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0c2ea2411cc5f011fb2dc7382df73d62 "Middle Cretaceous to Eopleistocene Sequences on the New Siberian Islands: an approach to interpret offshore seismic".] Marine and Petroleum Geology. vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 901–919.]

Faddeyevsky Island and Bunge Land is underlain by unconsolidated sediments ranging in age from Early Cretaceous to Pleistocene. Three very small and isolated exposures indicate that the Early Cretaceous strata are similar to those found in the southwest corner of Kotelny Island. Overlying the Early Cretaceous sediments are alluvial and lacustrine Eocene clays and silts that contains rare beds of sands, brown coal, and gravel. To the north these sediments grade laterally into nearshore marine clays with fossil pelecypods. The Eocene sediments are overlain by fossiliferous, terrestrial and marine Oligocene to Miocene sands that contain subordinate beds of mud, clay, gravel, and brown coal. The Oligocene-Miocene sands accumulated in alluvial, lacustrine, and nearshore marine environments. Overlying the Oligocene-Miocene sands are Pliocene alluvial, lacustrine, and nearshore marine, muds, silts, and sands.

Pleistocene deposits blanket most of the surface of Faddeyevsky Island and Bunge Land. A layer of Late Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial and lacustrine deposits largely cover the central and southern parts of Faddeyevsky Island. Middle and Late Pleistocene deposits largely cover the northern part of this island. The permafrost is about 400 to 500 m thick. The central plain of Faddeyevsky Island has been highly altered by thermokarst processes. It contains numerous deep erosive cuts created by the seasonal melting of the permafrost. Numerous baydzharakhs, thermokarst mounds, dot landscape, They are the result of the melting of polygonal ice wedges within the permafrost.Andreev, A. A., D. M. Peteet, P. E. Tarasov, F. A. Romanenko, L. V. Filimonova and L. D. Sulerzhitsky, 2001, [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1552274 "Late Pleistocene Interstadial Environment on Faddeyevskiy Island, East-Siberian Sea, Russia ."] Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research. vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 28-35,]

Vegetation

Rush/grass, forb, cryptogam tundra covers all of Faddeyevsky Island and most of Kotelny Island. It is tundra consisting mostly of very low-growing grasses, rushes, forbs, mosses, lichens, and liverworts. These plants either mostly or completely cover the surface of the ground. The soils are typically moist, fine-grained, and often hummocky.CAVM Team, 2003, [http://www.geobotany.uaf.edu/cavm/download.shtml Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map] . Scale 1:7,500,000. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Map No. 1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska]

Prostrate dwarfshrub, herb tundra covers all of Bunge Land and the eastern part of Kotelny Island adjacent to it. This type of tundra consists of dry tundra with open to patchy (20-80% cover) vegetation. The dominant plants comprising prostrate dwarfshrub, herb tundra are shrubs, i.e. Dryas spp. and Salix arctica, less than 5 cm tall, graminoids, and forbs. Lichens are also common.

Adjacent islands

*Deep inside the bay on the northern side of Kotelny lies Skrytyy Island (Ostrov Skrytyy) coord|75.667|N|140.833|E. It is 11 Km long and 5.5 km wide.
*Very close to Bunge Land's northwestern coast there are two islands: Zheleznyakov Island (Ostrov Zheleznyakova), right off the NW cape and, east of it, Matar Island (Ostrov Matar). Both islands are about 5 km in length.
*Nanosnyy Island coord|76.283|N|140.416|E is a small island located due north off the northern bay formed by Kotelny and Bunge. It is C-shaped and only 4 km in length, but its importance lies in the fact that it is the northernmost island of the New Siberian group.
*Figurina Island (Ostrov Figurina) was located about 30 Km east of Nanosnyy Island. [http://www.ecotours.ru/english/tours/lena.htm Figurina] ] When discovered in 1822 by P. Anzhu, while he was searching for "Sannikov Land", its area was about 8 to 9 km². At that time, it had sea cliffs as high as 20 m (66 ft). Although marked on maps published in 1926, 1941, and 1945, a Soviet hydrographic expedition conducted in the early 1940s found that the Figurina Island no longer existed.Gavrilov, A.V., N.N. Romanovskii, V.E. Romanovsky, H.-W. Hubberten, and V. E. Tumskoy, 2003, "Reconstruction of Ice Complex Remnants on the Eastern Siberian Arctic Shelf." Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. vol. 14, pp. 187–198.]

History

The island was officially discovered by Russian merchant and hunter, Ivan Lyakhov, with the merchant, Protod’yakonov, in 1773. In 1770, Ivan Lyakhov noticed reindeer tracks heading seaward across the sea ice. In 1773, he and Protod’yakonov discovered the Lyakhovsky Islands by boat using the bearing of these tracks. Continuing from the Lyakhovsky Islands, they discovered Kotelny Island and named it “Kettle Island” after a copper kettle, which they found while exploring it. The person(s), who visited Kotelny Island and left the copper kettle, is unknown. Formerly this island had been known as "Thaddeus Island" or "Thaddeus Islands" in some maps.

Under the employment of Semen and Lev Syrovatskiy, Yakov Sannikov conducted numerous hunting and cartographic expeditions between 1800 and 1810. On one of these expeditions in 1805, he discovered Faddeyevsky Island. In 1809-1810 Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom went to the New Siberian Islands on a cartographic expedition. Yakov Sannikov reported the sighting of a "new land" north of Kotelny in 1811. This became the myth of Zemlya Sannikova or "Sannikov Land".

In 1886 Baron Eduard Von Toll thought that he had seen an unknown land north of Kotelny. He guessed that this was the so-called "Zemlya Sannikova".

References

External links

* [http://worldmaps.web.infoseek.co.jp/russia_guide.htm Locations]
*Andreev, A.A., and D.M. Peteet, 1999, [http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/andreev_01/ "Climate and Diet of Mammoths in the East Siberian Arctic ."] Science Briefs (August 1999). Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, New York. Last visited July 12, 2008.
*Anisimov, M.A., and V.E. Tumskoy, 2002, [http://www.colorado.edu/INSTAAR/ArcticWS/get_abstr.html?id=46 Environmental History of the Novosibirskie Islands for the last 12 ka.] 32nd International Arctic Workshop, Program and Abstracts 2002. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, pp 23-25.
*anonymous, nda, [http://www.oceandots.com/arctic/russia/kotelnyy.htm Kotel'nyy & Faddeyevsky] aerial photograph of Kotelny/Faddeyevsky Island.
*anonymous, ndb, [http://www.oceandots.com/arctic/russia/new-siberian.htm New Siberian Islands] aerial photographs of New Siberian Islands.
*Kuznetsova, T.V., L.D. Sulerzhitsky, Ch. Siegert, 2001, [http://www.cq.rm.cnr.it/elephants2001/pdf/289_292.pdf New data on the “Mammoth” fauna of the Laptev Shelf Land (East Siberian Arctic)] , 144 KB PDF file, The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Centro di Studio per il Quaternario e l'Evoluzione Ambientale, Università di Roma, Roma, Italy.
*Schirrmeister, L., H.-W. Hubberten, V. Rachold, and V.G. Grosse, 2005, [http://epic.awi.de/epic/Main?puid=26457 "Lost world - Late Quaternary environment of periglacial Arctic shelves and coastal lowlands in NE-Siberia."] 2nd International Alfred Wegener Symposium Bremerhaven, October, 30 - November 2, 2005.