Onekotan (russian: Онекотан;

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

温禰古丹島; Onekotan-tō, occasionally Onnekotan-tō, ain, オネコタン　or　オネコタㇴ) is an uninhabited

volcanic island Geologically, a high island or volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...

located near the northern end 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 ...

chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest

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 contin ...

. Its name is derived from the Ainu language for "large village”. It is the second largest island, after

Paramushir Paramushir (russian: Парамушир, Paramushir, ja, 幌筵島, Paramushiru-tō, ain, パラムシㇼ, translit=Para=mu=sir) is a volcanic island in the northern portion of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Oc ...

, in the northern subgroup of the Kurils. It is administratively included in the

Severo-Kurilsky District Severo-Kurilsky District (russian: Се́веро-Кури́льский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion) of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia; one of the seventeen in the oblast.Law #25-ZO Municipally, it is incorporated as Severo-Kuril ...

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

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Geography and geology

Onekotan is roughly rectangular, with a length of , and a width ranging from . It has an area of The island consists of two stratovolcanos connected by a relatively flat isthmus. * Krenitsyn -(russian: Креницын ;

黒石山; ''Kuroishiyama'') with a height of is the prominent

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

at the southern end of the island. This volcano was named after Captain Pyotr Krenitsyn of the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

. The mountain rises from a depth of from , and contains a deep () central caldera lake with a diameter of , called Tao-Rusyr Caldera. The central peak of this "island within the island" is actually the highest point on Onekotan Island * Nemo -(russian: влк Немо;

根茂山; ''Nemoyama'') with a height of is the peak to the north. It has two nested subsidiary calderas, with the cone of

Nemo Peak Nemo Peak (russian: Пик Немо) is a stratovolcano located at the northern end of Onekotan Island, Kuril Islands, Russia. It is truncated by two nested calderas, with the cone of Nemo Peak itself rising in the southwest end of the youngest ...

rising in the southwest end of the youngest caldera and a crescent-shaped

crater lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...

, named Lake Chernoye, partially filling the northeast part. There are seven rivers on the island more than five kilometers long. The largest is Ozernaya River ( long, which flows from the southern part of the caldera of the Nemo volcano to the Sea of Okhotsk. Almost the same length is the Kedrovka River, which flows from the central part of the island into the Pacific Ocean. The climate of Onekotan is characterized by short, cool summers, high humidity, frequent fogs, and especially strong winds. However, the island's climate is generally considered to be mild oceanic with an average annual temperature of about . Even in record cold winters, temperatures below were not observed. Onekotan is separated from the neighboring islands by the Fourth Kuril Strait, Yevreinov Strait, and Krenitsyn Strait. The neighboring islands are

Makanrushi Makanrushi (russian: Маканруши; Japanese 磨勘留島; Makanru-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located near the northern end of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived f ...

, with a volcanic peak, is to the northwest of Onekotan; and

Kharimkotan Kharimkotan (russian: Харимкотан); Japanese 春牟古丹島; Harimukotan-tō, alternatively Harumukotan-tō or 加林古丹島; Karinkotan-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located from Onekotan near the northern end of the Kuril ...

, with a high volcano, is to the southwest. Paramushir is located to the northeast. Onekotan still has an

active volcano An active volcano is a volcano which is either erupting or is likely to erupt in the future. An active volcano which is not currently erupting is known as a dormant volcano. Overview Tlocene Epoch. Most volcanoes are situated on the Pacific Ri ...

with the most recent eruption, in 1952, forming a small lava dome on the island's coast. A bay on the eastern shore contains the remains of an abandoned settlement. File:Onekotan-Kurile-Islands.jpg, Mount Krenitsyn on Onekotan Island File:Onekotan Island, Kuril Islands, Russian Federation.JPG,

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

cover highlights the calderas and volcanic cones that form the northern and southern ends of Onekotan.

Climate

History

Onekotan, with a number of shallow bays and sandy beaching providing landing points, was inhabited by the Ainu prior to European contact. It appears on an official map showing the territories of

Matsumae Domain The was a Japanese clan that was confirmed in the possession of the area around Matsumae, Hokkaidō as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and charged with defending it, and by extension the whole of Japan, from the Ainu "barbarians" ...

, a feudal domain of

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

Japan dated 1644, and these holdings were officially confirmed by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

in 1715. The island was surveyed by Russian

geodesist Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equival ...

s and explorers

Ivan Yevreinov Ivan Mikhaylovich Yevreinov (russian: Ива́н Миха́йлович Евре́инов) (1694 – 3 February O.S. 1724) was a Russian geodesist and explorer. Ivan Yevreinov was born in Poland, then brought to Russia and baptiz ...

and

Fyodor Luzhin Fyodor Fyodorovich Luzhin ( Russian: ''Федор Федорович Лужин'') (died 1727) was a Russian geodesist and cartographer. Fyodor Luzhin was first a student at the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in Moscow and then ...

in 1720, and was subsequently, claimed by the

Empire of Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. Th ...

in 1736 after the Ainu inhabitants were converted to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

; however Russian tax collectors encountered Japanese officials on the islands in 1744–45.

Sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

initially passed to Russia under the terms of the 1855

Treaty of Shimoda The Treaty of Shimoda (下田条約, ''Shimoda Jouyaku'') (formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia 日露和親条約, ''Nichi-Ro Washin Jouyaku'') of February 7, 1855, was the first treaty between the Russian Empire, a ...

, but was returned to the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

per the Treaty of Saint Petersburg in 1875 along with the rest of the Kuril islands. The island was formerly administered as part of Shimushu District of

Nemuro Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. Japan claims the southern parts of the disputed Kuril Islands (known as the Northern Territories in Japan) as part of this subprefecture. As of March 2009, the subprefecture has an estimated ...

of Hokkaidō. In 1884, the Ainu inhabitants were relocated by Japanese authorities to

Shikotan ; ja, 色丹島 , location = Pacific Ocean , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = 1 , major_islands = , area_km2 = 225 , length = , width = , coastline ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the island had a small Japanese garrison, which surrendered on August 25, 1945 without a fight. After 1945, the island came under the control of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, and is now administered as part of the

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

of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. A small garrison on the island was withdrawn in 2005.

Flora and fauna

There are chars in Lake Chyornoye, one of the two lakes on Onekotan, located at the northern end of the island. In the spring and summer

pigeon guillemot The pigeon guillemot (''Cepphus columba'') () is a species of bird in the auk family, Alcidae. One of three species in the genus ''Cepphus'', it is most closely related to the spectacled guillemot. There are five subspecies of the pigeon guil ...

and Leach's storm petrel nest on the island.Kondratyev, A. Y., Litvinenko, N. M., Shibaev, Y. V., Vyatkin, P. S., & Kondratyeva, L. F. (2000)
"The breeding seabirds of the Russian Far East"
''Seabirds of the Russian Far East'', 37-81. Mammals found on the island include

foxes Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and small rodents, with

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

s and

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

s on the coast. The strong winds and harsh climate limit the growth of trees to small thickets of

Krummholz ''Krummholz'' (german: krumm, "crooked, bent, twisted" and ''Holz'', "wood") — also called ''knieholz'' ("knee timber") — is a type of stunted, deformed vegetation encountered in the subarctic and subalpine tree line landscapes, shaped b ...

formations of

Siberian dwarf pine ''Pinus pumila'', commonly known as the Siberian dwarf pine, dwarf Siberian pine, dwarf stone pine, Japanese stone pine, or creeping pine, is a tree in the family Pinaceae native to northeastern Asia and the Japanese isles. It shares the commo ...

with a maximum height of 2–4 meters, mostly in gullies.

Notes

External links

NASA Earth from Space: Onekotan Island

*
Onekotan - The Lost Island - A movie about 3 Athletes on the lost island Onekotan.
{{Authority control Active volcanoes Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk Islands of the Russian Far East Volcanic crater lakes Stratovolcanoes of Russia Islands of the Kuril Islands Uninhabited islands of Russia Uninhabited islands of the Pacific Ocean Calderas of Russia Volcanoes of the Kuril Islands Mountains of the Kuril Islands