De Long Islands
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The De Long Islands (Russian: Острова Де-Лонга, Ostrova De-Longa) are an uninhabited archipelago often included as part of the New Siberian Islands, lying north east of Novaya Sibir.
The five islands have a total area of 228 km². Jeannette Island, Henrietta Island, and Bennett Island were discovered in 1881 by the Jeannette expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Commander George W. DeLong, USN. These islands lie around 77°N, are partially covered by glaciers, and rise to peaks. Henrietta was the site of a research station from 1937 to 1963,[1] while at 75 km², Bennett (Bennetta in Russian) is the largest island. De Long claimed the islands for the U.S.[2] The United States Department of State asserted that no claim has ever been made by the United States to any of the islands [3] though the United States Department of the Navy asserted that Henrietta Island had been taken possession of.[4]
Early Paleozoic, Middle Paleozoic, Cretaceous, and Neogene rocks have been mapped within the De Long Islands. The Early Paleozoic rocks are Cambrian and Ordovician sedimentary rocks interbedded with minor amounts of limestone. The Middle Paleozoic rocks consist of predominately folded and faulted basaltic, andesitic, and dioritic volcanoclastics, tuffs, lavas, dikes, and sills. Cretaceous rocks are composed of basalts and interbedded argillites, sandstones and minor coals. The youngest rocks exposed within the De Long Islands are Neogene basaltic volcanic rocks.[5][6]
Vilkitsky and Zhokhov Islands were discovered by Boris Vilkitsky during the Imperial Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition he led in 1913 and 1914 respectively. They lie slightly further south (around 76°N), are unglaciated, and lower lying.
This island group belongs to the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic administrative division of Russia.
[edit] References
- ^ OSTROVA DE-LONGA ('De Long Islands'), Scott Polar Research Institute
- ^ De Long, George Washington. The Voyage of the Jeannette. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1883.
- ^ US State Department Fact Sheet
- ^ Report of the Secretary of the Navy
- ^ Kos’ko, M.K., 1992, Major tectonic interpretations and constraints for the New Siberian Islands region, Russia Arctic. 1992 Proceedings International Conference on Arctic Margins, International Conference on Arctic Margins, US Marine Management Service, Alaska Region, Anchorage, Alaska, pp. 195-200.
- ^ Kos’ko, M.K., and G.V. Trufanov, 2002, 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.
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