Muostakh Island (Russian: Остров Муостах), also spelled "Mostakh", is an island in the

Buor-Khaya Gulf The Buor-Khaya Gulf or Buor-Khaya Bight (russian: Губа Буор-Хая) is one of the most important gulfs of the Laptev Sea. Administratively the Buor-Khaya Gulf belongs to the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) of the Russian Federation. There is an ...

of 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 ...

. It is located off the eastern side of the

Lena delta The Lena (russian: Ле́на, ; evn, Елюенэ, ''Eljune''; sah, Өлүөнэ, ''Ölüöne''; bua, Зүлхэ, ''Zülkhe''; mn, Зүлгэ, ''Zülge'') is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean ...

, enclosing the Tiksi Bay, about 35 km ESE of

Tiksi Tiksi ( rus, Ти́кси, , ˈtʲiksʲɪ; sah, Тиксии, ''Tiksii'' – lit. ''a moorage place'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Bulunsky District in the Sakha Republic, Russia, located o ...

Geography

Muostakh Island is long and narrow; its length is 13 km and its maximum breadth about 0.5 km on average. Off its southern tip lies a much smaller 2 km long island of similar characteristics. The area where Muostakh Island lies, is subject to severe Arctic weather with frequent gales and blizzards. The sea in the bay is frozen for about nine months every year and often clogged with ice floes. There are 4 to 5 m wide

baydzharakh Baydzharakh (russian: Байджарах; Yakut: ) is a term based in the Yakut language, referring to a roughly cone-shaped natural rock formation. They are usually composed of siltstone, silty peat or loam. Description Baydzharakhs form owing ...

s on the island. Administratively Muostakh Island belongs to the

Sakha Republic 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 ...

(Yakutia) of the

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 ...

. There is a weather and biological research station in Muostakh Island.

Heavy erosion

Geologically Muostakh Island is the remainder of an ancient great plain that was part of the Siberian continental about two thousand years ago. The strait which now separates the island from the mainland was just beginning to form at that time. Nowadays its northern headland is subject to spectacular sea erosion, receding at a rate of 6 m a year. Sometimes the receding coastline exposes the bones and tusks of prehistoric animals such as

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

s.Erosion at the Northern Cape of Muostakh Island
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References

2006 Laptev Delta & East Siberian Sea Expedition; Muostakh Phase

Muostakh Island erosion (with pictures)
Islands of the Laptev Sea Islands of the Sakha Republic {{SakhaRepublic-geo-stub