Greater Kuril Chain (russian: Большая Курильская гряда) - A part of the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

, the Greater Kuril Chain is a group of islands in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It includes North Kurils,

Iturup , other_names = russian: Итуру́п; ja, 択捉島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 3139 , length_km = 200 , width_km = 27 , coastline = , highest_moun ...

and

Kunashir , other_names = kz, Kün Ashyr; ja, 国後島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , locator_map = File:Kurily Kunashir.svg , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area = , length = , width = fr ...

. At its south western end, the Greater Kuril Chain is separated from

Lesser Kuril Chain The Lesser Kuril Chain (russian: Малая Курильская гряда, ja, しょうクリルれっとう or 小千島列島), is an island chain in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The islands are administered as part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky Dis ...

by the South Kuril Strait. Maximum height in the Greater Kuril Chain is 2339 m (

Atlasov Island Atlasov Island, known in Russian as Ostrov Atlasova (Остров Атласова), or in Japanese as Araido (阿頼度島), is the northernmost island and volcano and also the highest volcano of the Kuril islands, part of the Sakhalin Oblast ...

). Length - 1200 km. Total Area - 10,100 km². Greater Kuril Chain is part of

Sakhalin Oblast Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalínskaya óblast', p=səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the K ...

Russia 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 ...

and

are under Russian control, but this is disputed by Japan.

References

Islands of the Kuril Islands {{SakhalinOblast-geo-stub