The Kamennye Islands or Kammenny Islands (russian: Каменные Острова; Kamennye Ostrova) is a group of islands in the
Kara Sea,
Russian Federation.
Geography
The islands lie off the coast of
Siberia, west of the mouths of river
Pyasina
The Pyasina (russian: Пясина) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The river is long, and its basin covers . The Pyasina River originates in Lake Pyasino and flows into the Pyasino Gulf of the Kara Sea. There are more than 60,000 ...
. They are covered with tundra vegetation.
The sea surrounding the Kamennye Islands is covered with pack ice with some
polynia
A polynya () is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. It is now used as a geographical term for an area of unfrozen seawater within otherwise contiguous pack ice or fast ice. It is a loanword from the Russian полынья (), which re ...
s in the winter and there are many ice floes even in the summer, so that they are connected with the Siberian mainland during the long winters. The climate is severe and summers last only about two months.
This island group belongs to the
Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the
Russian Federation.
Islands
The main islands are (from East to West):
*Morzhovo Island, with a diameter of only , is the closest to land. It is only about from the Siberian coastline.
*
Rastorguyev Island
Rastorguyev Island or Rastorguyeva Island (russian: остров Расторгуева, ''ostrov Rastorguyeva'') is an island in the Kara Sea, Russian Federation.
Geography
It is the third largest island of the Kamennyye Islands. It is located cl ...
. It is long and narrow, and about in length. It is occasionally confused with
Kolchak Island
Kolchak Island or Kolchaka Island (russian: остров Колчака, ''ostrov Kolchaka''), is an island in the Kara Sea located in a coastal area of skerries NE of the Shturmanov Peninsula. It is near the southern end of the Nordenskiöld Arc ...
(which is located further east in the Kara Sea along the coast south of the
Nordenskiold Archipelago, and until 2005, used to also be known as Rastorguyev Island).
*Vostochny Island, is the largest in the group; in length and wide.
*Zapadny Kamenny Island, roughly circular in shape; in diameter.
History
These islands were explored by Russian geologist
Baron Eduard Von 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 ...
during an expedition on behalf of the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences.
Russian Arctic Exploration
/ref>
They island group is included in the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve of the Russian Arctic.
See also
* List of islands of Russia
References
Archipelagoes of the Kara Sea
Archipelagoes of Krasnoyarsk Krai
{{KrasnoyarskKrai-geo-stub