Jeannette Island ( rus, Остров Жанне́тты, r=Ostrov Zhannetty; sah, Жаннетта Aрыыта, translit=Jannetta Arııta) is the easternmost island of the De Long Islands archipelago in the

East Siberian Sea The East Siberian Sea ( rus, Восто́чно-Сиби́рское мо́ре, r=Vostochno-Sibirskoye more) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north, the coast of Siberia to the south, the New Si ...

. Administratively it belongs to Yakutia of the Russian Federation.

Geography

Jeannette is the second smallest island of the De Long group, being only in length. It has an area of approximately . The island surface is mainly covered by a central

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features ...

and firn. The highest peak of the island is in the middle of the ice cap, reaching a height of . A second subordinate peak reaches an elevation of . On all sides, the shores of the island consist of high, continuous, and rocky seacliffs that are higher and steeper in the southern and southeastern part and shallower in the northern part.Chernova, A.I., Metelkin, D.V., Matushkin, N.Y., Vernikovsky, V.A. and Travin, A.V., 2017. ''Geology and paleomagnetism of Jeannette Island (De Long Archipelago, Eastern Arctic).'' ''Russian Geology and Geophysics '', 58(9), pp.1001-1017.Ershova, V.B., Lorenz, H., Prokopiev, A.V., Sobolev, N.N., Khudoley, A.K., Petrov, E.O., Estrada, S., Sergeev, S., Larionov, A. and Thomsen, T.B., 2016. ''The De Long Islands: A missing link in unraveling the Paleozoic paleogeography of the Arctic.'' ''Gondwana Research'', 35, pp.305-322.

Geology

The most accessible and extensive exposure of bedrock is along the southwestern coast. These seacliffs expose a thick succession of Upper

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

volcaniclastic rocks which contain subordinate beds of tuffs and dacitic and andesitic

lava flows 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 ...

. The volcanoclastic rocks are penetrated by mafic

dikes Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice * Dikes, ...

and sills. These sedimentary rocks consist generally of both fine- and coarse-grained volcaniclastic turbidites with thick beds of volcaniclastic breccias which can divided into four layers. The lowermost of the exposed layers consists of of fine-grained volcaniclastic turbidites, occasionally interbedded with thin layers of coarse-grained sandstone and pebbly sandstone. The middle part of this layer exhibits slump structures and convolute bedding along with a few lava flows and layers of bright red tuff. Overlying the lowermost layer, is of tuffaceous breccias with a sandy or silty matrix. The poorly rounded and sharp-edged pebbles forming the breccia consist mainly of andesitic volcanic rocks. The next overlying layer consists of of fine-grained volcaniclastic turbidites and minor tuffaceous breccias. The breccias consists of angular to sub-angular pebbles of volcanic rocks (andesite, dacite and occasionally basaltic andesite). The uppermost layer of sedimentary rocks, exposed in these seaclifts, consists of of predominantly coarse-grained volcaniclastic turbidites. The bedding within these volcanoclastic rocks dip steeply towards the east-northeast. The bedding is deformed by similar folds accompanied by cleavage and east-dipping thrust faults with displacements of few tens of meters. The bedding is also offset by normal faults inclined to the east and intruded by northwest trending dolerite dikes.

History

It was discovered in 1881 by the ''Jeannette'' Expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Commander

George W. De Long George Washington De Long (22 August 1844 – ) was a United States Navy officer and explorer who led the ill-fated ''Jeannette'' expedition of 1879–1881, in search of the Open Polar Sea. Career ''Jeannette'' expedition In 1879, ...

. The expedition set out in 1879 aboard the , hoping to reach Wrangel Island and to discover open seas in the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole. Jeannette Island;h92127 (cropped)

However, the ship entered an ice pack near Herald Island in September 1879 and became trapped. The vessel drifted several hundred miles with the ice, passing north of Wrangel Island. In May 1881 it approached Jeannette Island and Henrietta Island. According to ''The Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, for the Year 1882'',''The Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, for the Year 1882'' (pg.16) "A sled party landed, hoisted the national ensign, and took possession in the name of the United States.Naval Historical Center, 2003
''A Lengthy Deployment: The Jeannette Expedition in Arctic Waters as Described in Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Navy, 1880-1884''
Last visited May 26, 2008.De Long, Emma, ed., 1883
The Voyage Of The Jeannette: The Ship And Ice Journals Of George W. De Long, Volume II
Houghton Mifflin And Company. Last visited May 26, 2008 at the Internet Archive The excursion, led by

George W. Melville George Wallace Melville (January 10, 1841 – March 17, 1912) was an American engineer, Arctic explorer, and author. As chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, he headed a time of great expansion, technological progress and change, often ...

, landed on June 2 or 3, constructed a cairn, and placed inside it a record of their visit. During the Imperial Russian

Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition The Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition (GESLO) (1910–1915) was a scientific expedition organized by Russia for the purpose of the development of the Northern Sea Route. This expedition accomplished its goal of exploring the uncharted areas ...

of 1910–1915 led by Boris Vilkitsky, the ''Vaygach'' approached Jeannette Island with the intention of mapping Jeannette and Henrietta Islands, but heavy ice blocked the approach. In 1916 the Russian ambassador in London issued an official notice to the effect that the Imperial government considered Henrietta, along with other Arctic islands, integral parts of the Russian Empire. This territorial claim was later maintained by the Soviet Union.Headland, R.K., 1994
OSTROVA DE-LONGA ('De Long Islands')

Scott Polar Research Institute The Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south o ...

, Cambridge University. Lasted visited May 26, 2008. Some U.S. individuals assert American ownership of Jeannette Island, and others of the De Long group, based on the 1881 discovery. However, the United States government has not pursued De Long's claim to Jeannette Island, and recognizes it as Russian territory.Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, US State Department, 2003
''Status of Wrangel and other Arctic islands''
Last visited March 15, 2014.

References

External links

* Anisimov, M.A., and V.E. Tumskoy, 2002

32nd International Arctic Workshop, Program and Abstracts 2002. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, pp 23–25. * Headland, R. K.,1994

Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. * Naval Historical Center, 2003

Last visited May 26, 2008. * Schirrmeister, L., H.-W. Hubberten, V. Rachold, and V.G. Grosse, 2005
''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.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Jeannette Island (on Google Maps)
{{East Siberian Sea Islands De Long Islands Islands of the East Siberian Sea Islands of the Sakha Republic