Vilkitsky Island (East Siberian Sea)

Vilkitsky Island (Russian: Остров Вильки́цкого, tr. Ostrov Vilkitskogo; Yakut: Вилькицкай Aрыыта, romanized: Vil'kitskay Arııta) is the southernmost island of the De Long group in the northern part of the East Siberian Sea. Administratively Vilkitsky Island belongs to Yakutia, an administrative division of the Russian Federation.[1]

Vilkitsky Island
Native name:
  • Остров Вильки́цкого (Russian)
  • Bилькицкай Aрыыта (Yakut)
Map of the De Long Islands.
Map showing the location of the group
Geography
LocationEast Siberian Sea
Coordinates75°42′N 152°30′E
ArchipelagoDe Long Islands
Total islands5
Area1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi)
Length2 km (1.2 mi)
Width1 km (0.6 mi)
Highest elevation70 m (230 ft)
Administration
Russia
Federal subjectFar Eastern Federal District
RepublicYakutia
Demographics
Populationuninhabited

The island is named after Russian hydrographer Boris Vilkitsky.

Geography

The island is outside of the limits of permanent ice and is unglaciated. At barely 1.5 square kilometres (0.6 square miles) Vilkitsky is the smallest island of the group. The highest elevation is 70 metres (230 feet) above sea level.[2]

Vilkitsky Island consists of deeply eroded nepheline basalt lava flows[3]


Vilkitsky Island Landsat picture.

History

Vilkitsky Island was discovered in 1913 during the Imperial Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition led by Boris Vilkitsky on the ships Taymyr and Vaygach on behalf of the Russian Hydrographic Service in order to chart the last blank areas of Russian maps.[4]

See also

References

  1. Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya) Land Feature Database Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Headland, R. K. (1994): OSTROVA DE-LONGA ('De Long Islands')
  3. 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.
  4. Starokadomski, L.M. and O.M. Cattley, 1919, Vilkitski's North-East Passage, 1914-15. The Geographical Journal. vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 367–375.


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