Vilkitsky Island (East Siberian Sea)

Island in the East Siberian Sea

For other islands and geographic features called "Vilkitsky", see Vilkitsky (disambiguation).

Vilkitsky Island

Native name:

* Остров Вильки́цкого (Russian)
* Bилькицкай Aрыыта (Yakut)

Map of the De Long Islands.

Map showing the location of the group

Geography
Location| East Siberian Sea
Coordinates| 75°42′N 152°30′E﻿ / ﻿75.700°N 152.500°E﻿ / 75.700; 152.500
Archipelago| De Long Islands
Total islands| 5
Area| 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi)
Length| 2 km (1.2 mi)
Width| 1 km (0.6 mi)
Highest elevation| 70 m (230 ft)
Administration

Russia

Federal subject| Far Eastern Federal District
Republic| Yakutia
Demographics
Population| uninhabited

Vilkitsky Island (Russian: Остров Вильки́цкого, romanized: Ostrov Vilkitskogo; Yakut: Вилькицкай Aрыыта, romanized: Vil'kitskay Arııta) is the southernmost island of the De Long group in the northern part of the East Siberian Sea. The nearest island is Zhokhov Island. Administratively Vilkitsky Island belongs to Yakutia, an administrative division of the Russian Federation.[1]

The island is named after Russian hydrographer Andrey Vilkitsky.[2]

## Geography

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The island is outside of the limits of permanent ice and is unglaciated. At barely 1.5 square kilometres (0.6 square miles) Vilkitsky is the smallest island of the group. The highest elevation is 70 metres (230 feet) above sea level.[3]

## Geology

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Judging from bedrock outcrops associated with the central, steepest part of seacliffs on its southern coast, Vilkitsky Island is composed of limburgite, a dense dark gray volcanic rock. The limburgite is represent by varieties with both crystalline textures and glassy, devitrified matrix. This volcanic rock occurs as both massive intrusions and lava flows, both of which exhibit narrow shear zones. The limburgite contains small olivine phenocrysts and xenoliths of spinel lherzolites. The spinel lherzolite xenoliths of Vilkitsky Island are structurally and mineralogically identical to the xenoliths found on Zhokhov Island.[4][5] Based on limited data, volcanism on Vil’kitskii Island occurred between 0.89 and 0.4 Ma. This period of volcanism on Vilkitsky Island correlates with the later stages of olivine alkaline basalt volcanism on Zhokhov Island between 6.1 and 0.4 Ma.[5][6][7]

Vilkitsky Island Landsat picture.

## History

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Vilkitsky Island was discovered early on the morning of August 20, 1913 by the crew of the Icebreaker Taymyr. Along with the Icebreaker Vaygach, it was part of the Imperial Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition led by Boris Vilkitsky on behalf of the Russian Hydrographic Service in order to chart the last blank areas of Russian maps. Personnel from the Icebreaker Taymyr landed on it and hoisted a Russian flag. On August 24, 1914, a landing party from the Icebreaker Taymyr revisited Vilkitskiy Island and surveyed it.[8][9] In 1986 and 1988, the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, now known as the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, and the Geochemical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences carried out field studies of the geology of the Zhokhov and Vilkitsky islands.[4]

## See also

[edit]

* List of islands of Russia

## References

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1. ^ Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya) Land Feature Database Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
2. ^ NAMES ON THE MAP OF THE ARCTIC. Вилькицкий Андрей Ипполитович
3. ^ Headland, R. K. (1994): OSTROVA DE-LONGA ('De Long Islands')
4. ^ a b Silant'ev S.A., Bogdanovskii, O.G., Savostin, L.A., and Kononkova, N.I., 1991. Magmatizm arkhipelaga De Longa (vostochnaya Arktika). Petrologiya i petrokhimiya effuzivnykh porod i assotsiiruyushchikh s nimi ksenolitov (ostrova Zhokhova i Vil'kitskogo) [Magmatism of the De Long Archipelago (eastern Arctic). Petrology and petrochemistry of volcanic rocks, and associated xenoliths (Zhokhova and Vilkitsky Islands)]. Geokhimiya, (2) pp. 267-277.
5. ^ a b Silant'ev, S.A., Karpenko, S.F., Bogdanovskii, O.G. and Fedorov, P.I., 2004. Intraplate magmatism of the De Long Islands: A response to the propagation of the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel Ridge into the passive continental margin in the Laptev Sea. Russian Journal of Earth Sciences, 6(3) pp. 153-183.
6. ^ Bogdanovskii, O.G., Mineev, S.D., Assonov, S.S., Silantyev, S.A., Karpenko, S.F., Shukolyukov, Yu.A., and Savostin, L.A., 1992. Magmatism on the De Long Islands, eastern Arctic: isotopic geochemistry and geochronology. Geokhimiya, (1) pp. 47–57.
7. ^ Bogdanovskii, O.G., Silantyev, S.A., Karpenko, S.F., Mineev, S.D., and Savostin, LA., 1993. Ancient mantle xenoliths in young volcanic rocks on Zhokhov Island, De Long Islands, Dokl. Russ. Akad. Nauk. (330) pp. 750–753.
8. ^ Starokadomski, L.M. and Cattley, O.J., 1919. Vilkitski's North-East Passage, 1914-15. The Geographical Journal, 54(6), pp.367-375.
9. ^ Barr, W., 1985. The Arctic Ocean Hydrographic expedition 1910–1915: An overview. Polar Geography, 9(4), pp.257-271.

## External links

[edit]

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

* v
* t
* e

Islands of the East Siberian Sea (Russian Arctic)

* Anzhu Islands
* Ayon Island
* Bennett Island
* Bolshoy Fedorovskiy
* Chengkuul
* De Long Islands
* Glavsevmorput Island
* Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island
* Henrietta Island
* Jeannette Island
* Kolesovsky Island
* Kolesovskaya Otmel
* Kotelny
* Krestovyy Island
* Maly Lyakhovsky Island
* Medvezhyi Islands
* Mikhalkino
* New Siberian Islands
* Novaya Sibir
* Ploskiy
* Routan Islands
* Ryyanranot
* Shalaurova
* Sukhornyy
* Uparovskiy
* Usun Ary
* Vilkitsky
* Vkhodnoy
* Wrangel Island
* Zhokhov Island

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