Belkovsky Island ( rus, Бельковский Oстров, r=; sah, Бельков Aрыыта, translit=Bel'kov Arııta) is the westernmost island of the

Anzhu Islands The Anzhu Islands or Anjou Islands ( rus, Анжу Oстрова, r=Anzhu Ostrova; sah, Анжу Aрыыларa, translit=Anju Arıılara) are an archipelago and geographical subgroup of the New Siberian Islands archipelago. They are located betwe ...

subgroup of the

New Siberian Islands The New Siberian Islands ( rus, Новосиби́рские Oстрова, r=Novosibirskiye Ostrova; sah, Саҥа Сибиир Aрыылара, translit=Saña Sibiir Arıılara) are an archipelago in the Extreme North of Russia, to the north o ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

in the

Laptev Sea The Laptev Sea ( rus, мо́ре Ла́птевых, r=more Laptevykh; sah, Лаптевтар байҕаллара, translit=Laptevtar baỹğallara) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, th ...

Location

The strait between Belkovsky Island and neighboring

Kotelny Island Kotelny Island ( rus, Остров Котельный, r=Ostrov Kotelny; sah, Олгуйдаах Aрыы, translit=Olguydaax Arııta) is part of the Anzhu Islands subgroup of the New Siberian Islands located between the Laptev Sea and the East ...

is known as the Zarya Strait, after

Eduard Toll Eduard Gustav Freiherr von Toll (russian: Эдуа́рд Васи́льевич Толль, translit=Eduárd Vasíl'evič Toll'; 1902), better known in Russia as Eduard Vasilyevich Toll and often referred to as Baron von Toll, was a Russian ge ...

Zarya (polar ship) ''Zarya'' (russian: Заря, ''Sunrise'' or ''Dawn'') was a steam- and sail-powered brig used by the Russian Academy of Sciences for a polar exploration during 1900–1903. History Toward the end of the 19th century, the Russian Academy of Scie ...

. Ostrov Strizhëva is a small islet located right off Belkovsky's southern shore. Belkovsky Island is approximately 500 km² in area. The highest point of the island is 120 m. Administratively, Belkovsky Island is a part of

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Geology

Belkovsky Island consist of tightly folded Upper

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

and Lower

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

. The Upper Devonian rocks are clayey

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

carbonates interbedded with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, and conglomerate. The Lower Carboniferous rocks are composed of

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

argillite :''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.'' Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts ...

, and sandstone interbedded with

breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of di ...

, limestone, and infrequent

rhyolitic Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

s.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.

Fauna and Flora

There are big bird colonies and a

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped, flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in ...

rookery A rookery is a colony of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds. Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-forming seabirds, marine mammals (true seals and sea lions), and ev ...

on the island. Rush/grass,

forb A forb or phorb is an herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woo ...

, cryptogam tundra covers the Belkovsky 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
''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.

History

The island was discovered in 1808 by a Russian merchant named Belkov. File:2010-10-20 03-03-46 Belkovsky Boris.jpg, alt=Coast of Belkovsky Island, Coast of Belkovsky Island File:2010-10-20 03-07-16 Belkovsky Boris.jpg, alt=Coast of Belkovsky Island, Coast of Belkovsky Island File:2010-10-20 03-26-56 Belkovsky Boris.jpg, alt=Coast of Belkovsky Island, Coast of Belkovsky Island File:2010-10-20 03-25-39 Belkovsky walrus.jpg, alt=Walrus haul out site at the Cape Severny, Belkovsky Island, Walrus haul out site at the Cape Severny, Belkovsky Island

References

External links

anonymous, nd

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research - Research Unit Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany. Rachold, V., nda
pebble beach of Belkovsky Island.
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research - Research Unit Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany. Rachold, V., ndb
remnants of sea-ice, August 2002.
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research - Research Unit Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany. {{Laptev Sea Islands Seabird colonies Anzhu Islands New Siberian Islands Islands of the Sakha Republic