Great Lyakhovsky Island

Great Lyakhovsky Island

Infobox Islands
name = Great Lyakhovsky



image caption = Map showing the location of Lyakhovsky Islands
image size =
locator
Location map|Russia|lat=73.4|long=141.5
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native name = Большой Ляховский
native name link = Russian language
nickname =
location = between the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea
coordinates = coord|73.4|N|141.5|E|region:RU_type:isle_scale:300000|display=inline
archipelago = New Siberian Islands
total islands =
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area = convert|4600|km2|sqmi
length =
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highest mount = Emy Tas
elevation = convert|270|m|ft
country = Russia
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Great Lyakhovsky Island ( _ru. Большой Ляховский: "Bolshoy Lyakhovsky") is the largest of the Lyakhovsky Islands belonging to the New Siberian Islands archipelago between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea in northern Russia. It has an area of 4,600 km², and a maximum altitude of 270 m (Emy Tas).anonymous, 1911, [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/New_Siberia_Archipelago New Siberia Archipelago] ]

The peninsula projecting towards the west of the island is the Kigilyakh Peninsula (Poluostrov Kigilyakh).

Off Great Lyakhovsky Island's southwestern cape lies a small islet called Ostrov Khopto-Terer.

The Lyakhovsky Islands are named in honour of Ivan Lyakhov, who explored them in 1773.

Geology

Great Lyakhovsky Island consists of highly folded and faulted Precambrian metamorphic rocks and turbidites; Mesozoic turbidites and igneous rocks; and Cenozoic sediments. Exposed in southeastern part of this island, the older Precambrian. Early Proterozoic, metamorphic rocks consist of schists and amphibolites. Small exposures of Late Proterozoic schistose, quartzose sandstones and phyllitic, sericite-quartz schist (turbidites) also occur in the southeastern part of Great Lyakhovsky Island. The bulk of this island consists of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous turbidites composed of interbedded fine-grained sandstones, thinly bedded siltstones, and argillites. The Precambrian and Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous rocks are intruded by Late Cretaceous granites and granodiorites.Kos’ko, M.K., B.G. Lopatin, and V.G. Ganelin, 1990, "Major geological features of the islands of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas and the Northern Coast of Chukotka." Marine Geology. vol. 93, pp. 349–367.] Fujita, K., and D.B. Cook, 1990, "The Arctic continental margin of eastern Siberia", in A. Grantz, L. Johnson, and J. F. Sweeney, eds., pp. 289-304, The Arctic Ocean Region. Geology of North America, vol L, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado.] Kyz’michev, A.B., A.V. Soloviev, V.E. Gonikberg, M.N. Shapiro, and O.V. Zamzhitskii, 2006, "Mesozoic Syncollision Siliciclastic Sediments of the Bol’shoi Lyakhov Island (New Siberian Islands)." Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation. vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 30–48.]

A blanket of unconsolidated Cenozoic sediments blankets most of Great Lyakhovsky Island. These sediments include Paleocene to Eocene colluvial, alluvial, and deltaic gravels, sands, clays, and coals and Oligocene to Miocene alluvial, lacustrine, deltaic, and nearshore marine sands and clays that contain beds and lenses of gravel. Overlying these sediments are Pliocene to Pleistocene colluvial, alluvial, and nearshore marine sands, silts, and clays clays that contain occasional gravel layers. The nearshore marine sediments contain the shells of marine mollusks and pieces of lignitized wood. Thick permafrost characterized by massive ice wedges has developed in these sediments.Kos’ko, M.K., and G.V. Trufanov, 2002, [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9Y-47426HP-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0c2ea2411cc5f011fb2dc7382df73d62 "Middle Cretaceous to Eopleistocene Sequences on the New Siberian Islands: an approach to interpret offshore seismic".] Marine and Petroleum Geology. vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 901–919.] Contrary to the interpretations of Baron von Tollvon Toll, Baron E., 1895, Wissenschaftliche Resultate der Von der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften sur Erforschung des Janalandes und der Neusibirischen Inseln in den Jahren 1885 und 1886 Ausgesandten expedition. [Scientific Results of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of the Investigation of Janaland and the New Siberian Islands from the Expeditions Launched in 1885 and 1886] Abtheilung III: Die fossilen Eislager und ihre Beziehungen su den Mammuthleichen. Memoires de L'Academie imperials des Sciences de St. Petersbouro, VII Serie, Tome XLII, No. 13, Commissionnaires de I'Academie Imperiale des sciences, St. Peterabourg, Russia.] and earlier geologists, glacial deposits and ice are completely absent within Great Lyakhovsky Island.

Detailed geological studies, which included the radiocarbon dating of bones, ivory, and plant remains; optically stimulated luminescence dating bone-bearing sediments; and uranium-thorium dating of associated peats, have clarified the stratigraphy, origin, and age of the sediments and permafrost that Baron von Toll found exposed in the southern sea cliffs of Great Lyakhovsky Islands. Dr. RomanovskyRomanovsky, N.N., 1958, "New data about the construction of Quaternary deposits on Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island (Novosibirsky Islands)". Science College Report, Geological-Geographical Serie no. 2, pp. 243–248. (in Russian)] and Dr. Andreev and othersAndreev, A.A., G. Grosse, L. Schirrmeister, S.A. Kuzmina, E. Y. Novenko, A.A. Bobrov, P.E. Tarasov, B.P. Ilyashuk, T.V. Kuznetsova, M. Krbetschek, H. Meyer, and V.V. Kunitsky, 2004, " [http://epic.awi.de/Publications/And2003h.pdf Late Saalian and Eemian palaeoenvironmental history of the Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island (Laptev Sea region, Arctic Siberia)] ", 3.41 MB PDF file, Boreas. vol. 33, pp. 319–348.] found that these bone- and wood-bearing sediments described by Baron von Toll consist of Middle to Late Pleistocene floodplain and thermokarst, eolian, and lake sediments underlying different terrace levels. Later studies determined that alders, "Alnus fruticosa", lived within the New Siberian Islands only during relatively brief periods of warm interstadial and interglacial climates. Dr. Makeyev and othersMeyer, H., A. Dereviagin, C. Siegert, L. Schirrmeister and H.-W. Hubberten, 2002, "Palaeoclimate Reconstruction on Big Lyakhovsky Island, North Siberia—Hydrogen and Oxygen Isotopes in Ice Wedges." Permafrost and Periglacial processes. vol. 13, pp. 91-105.] found that over the last 15,000 years, "Alnus fruticosa" occupied these islands from 12,200 to 12,500 radiocarbon years BP during an interstadial that was unrelated to Baron von Toll's "mammoth period". Dr. Andreev and others dated the sediments also containing alder pollen and Baron von Toll's alder tree to the last, Kazantsevo (Eemian), Interglacial Epoch about 114 to 130 thousand years ago. They found that other vertebrate fossils ranged in age from 114,000 to 26,000 BP. These Pleistocene sediments, overlie a Pliocene paleosol and are cemented by permafrost.

Baron Eduard von Toll made an interesting discovery. Under a peat composed of water mosses covering what is described as the "perpetual ice", Baron von Toll found fragments of willow and the bones of post-Tertiary mammals, like the shoulder-bone of a saber-toothed tiger. It also reported having found in a frozen, sandy clay layer and lying on its side, a complete tree of "Alnus fruticosa" 15 to 20 ft (4.5 to 6 m) in length, including roots, with leaves and cones adhering. Various authors, i.e. Dr. DigbyDigby, B., 1926, "The Mammoth and Mammoth-Hunting in North-East Siberia." D. Appleton and Company: New York, 224 pp.] and Dr. KropotkinKropotkin, P., 1900, "Review: Baron Toll on New Siberia and the Circumpolar Tertiary Flora." The Geographical Journal. vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 95-98.] misreport this tree as being convert|90|ft|m high. Other publications, i.e. "Fingerprints of the Gods"Hancock, G., 1995, "Fingerprints of the Gods." William Heinemann, London] and "Earth's Shifting Crust"Hapgood, C.H., 1970, "Earth's Shifting Crust: A Key to Some Basic Problems of Earth Science". Chilton Book Company, Philadelphia.] not only incorrectly state that this alder tree is convert|90|ft|m high, but also they also repeat fictional claims from unreliable sources that this tree was either a “fruit tree” or “plumb tree” and had "green leaves"and green fruit" still attached. Lacking modern radiocarbon dating techniques, Baron von Toll assigns this tree to what it calls the "mammoth period". It concludes that this alder tree is proof that tree-vegetation had reached the seventy-fourth degree of latitude, three degrees farther north than it is found at the present time at this time.

Climate

The Cape Shalaurova meteorological station, which lies on the southeast coast of Great Lyakhovsky Island, at 73° 11' N 143° 56' E provides climatic data for this island. The mean precipitation is 184 mm/year as calculated for a 7 year period between April 1994 and September 2000 as calculated from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. The heaviest precipitation, about two-thirds of the yearly total, occurs between June and September. As calculated from the same data for the same period of time, the mean temperature at Cape Shalaurova is -13.6°C. January is the coldest month with a mean temperature of -31.0°C and August is the warmest month with a mean temperature of 2.4°C. Mean daily temperatures range as low as -40.5°C and as high as 9.4°C.

Vegetation

The vegetation of Great Lyakhovsky Island is a mixture of rush/grass, forb, cryptogam tundra, cryptogam herb barren, and sedge/grass,moss wetland. The rush/grass, forb, cryptogam tundra covers the bulk of Great Lyakhovsky Island. It consists mostly of very low-growing grasses, rushes, forbs, mosses, lichens, and liverworts. These plants typically cover about 40-80 percent of the surface of the ground. The soils are typically moist, fine-grained, and often hummocky. The cryptogam herb barren consists of dry to wet barren landscapes with scattered, herbs, lichens, mosses, and liverworts. Sedges, dwarf shrubs, and peaty mires are normally absent. These plants form a sparse (2-40%) and low-growing plant cover that often occurs as dark streaks on the otherwise barren lands, composed largely of bryophytes and cryptogamic crusts. Sedge/grass,moss wetlands, which occur on the northwest and southeast ends of Great Lyakhovsky Island, consist of wetland complexes dominated by sedges, grasses, and mosses. These wetlands occupy low, perennially wet parts of the landscape.CAVM Team, 2003, [http://www.geobotany.uaf.edu/cavm/download.shtml Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map] . Scale 1:7,500,000. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Map No. 1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska.]

References

External Web Pages

*Anisimov, M.A., and V.E. Tumskoy, 2002, [http://www.colorado.edu/INSTAAR/ArcticWS/get_abstr.html?id=46 Environmental History of the Novosibirskie Islands for the last 12 ka.] 32nd International Arctic Workshop, Program and Abstracts 2002. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, pp 23-25.
*anonymous, nda, [http://www.oceandots.com/arctic/russia/new-siberian.htm "New Siberian Islands."] aerial photographs of New Siberian Islands
*anonymous, ndb, [http://www.oceandots.com/arctic/russia/lyahkovskiy.htm "Bol'shoy Lyahkovskiy."] aerial photograph of Great (Big) Lyakhovsky Island.
*Babinski, E.T., nd, [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/ce/3/part3.html "A Frozen Ninety Foot Tall Plum Tree."] examination of reports of a convert|90|ft|m|sing=on fossil plum tree being found in Great Lyakhovsky Island of the New Siberian Islands.
*Espinoza, E.O., and M.-J. Mann, 1993, [http://aic.stanford.edu/jaic/articles/jaic32-03-003.html "The history and significance of the Schreger Pattern in Proboscidean ivory chracterization."] Journal for the American Institute for Conservation. vol. 32, no. 3, Article 3, pp. 241-248.
*Kuznetsova, T.V., L.D. Sulerzhitsky, Ch. Siegert, 2001, [http://www.cq.rm.cnr.it/elephants2001/pdf/289_292.pdf New data on the “Mammoth” fauna of the Laptev Shelf Land (East Siberian Arctic)] , 144 KB PDF file, The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Centro di Studio per il Quaternario e l'Evoluzione Ambientale, Università di Roma, Roma, Italy.
*Schirrmeister, L., H.-W. Hubberten, V. Rachold, and V.G. Grosse, 2005, [http://epic.awi.de/epic/Main?puid=26457 "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.


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