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NEW SIBERIA ARCHIPELAGO

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 537 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIBERIA See also:ARCHIPELAGO , a See also:group of islands situated off the See also:Arctic See also:coast of Siberia, from 730 to 76° 6' N., and 135° 20' to 148° E. The name is loosely applied, covering either the See also:northern group only of these islands, for which the name of New Siberia Archipelago, or of See also:Anjou Islands, ought properly to be reserved, or the See also:southern group as well, which ought to maintain its name of Lyakhov Islands. Some confusion prevails also as to whether the islands See also:Bennett, Henrietta and See also:Jeannette, discovered by the " Jeannette " expedition, ought to be included in the same archipelago, or described separately as the Jeannette Islands. The first of these three belongs geographically, and probably geologically, to New Siberia Archipelago, from which it is only 97 M. distant. As to Henrietta and Jeannette Islands, situated 200 M. N.E. of New Siberia See also:Island, in 157° to 159° E., they can hardly be included in the New Siberia Archipelago. There seems, moreover, to be See also:land due See also:north of Kotelnyi Island in 78° N., first sighted by Sannikov and described as Sannikov Land. It was also seen by See also:Baron See also:Toll. The New Siberia or Anjou Islands consist, beginning from the See also:west, of Kotelnyi, the largest (116 m. See also:long, too m. wide), having the small island Byelkovskiy near its western See also:shore; Thaddeus (Faddeevskiy), in the See also:middle; and New Siberia (Novaya Sibir), in the See also:east (90 M. long, 40 M. wide). Kotelnyi is the highest and most massive of the four, reaching a maximum See also:altitude of 'zoo ft. in the Malakatyn-tras See also:mountain. Its north-east portion consists of Upper See also:Silurian See also:coral limestones (See also:Llandovery See also:division), containing a See also:rich fossil See also:fauna and representing a See also:series of folds See also:running north-north-west. The same Silurian deposits are widely spread on the mainland as far as Olenek.

The western portion of Kotelnyi is built up of Middle Devonian limestones and slates, folded the same way, of which the fossil fauna is similar to that of the Urals. Triassic slates appear in the See also:

south-east. Diabases See also:pierce to Devonian rocks, and See also:olivine rocks appear as dykes amidst the Triassic deposits. The Malakatyntras is also made up of volcanic rocks. The eastern portion of the island, named Bunge's Land, is thickly covered with See also:Post-See also:Tertiary deposits. Thaddeus Island has a long promontory, Anjou, protruding north-westwards. New Siberia Island attains altitudes of zoo to 300 ft. in its western portion. A range of hills, composed of Tertiary deposits, and named Hedenstrom's Mountains, runs along its south-western coast, and the same rocks See also:form a promontory protruding northwards. Th i so-called See also:Wood Mountains, which were supposed to be accumulations of floating wood, are denudations of See also:Miocene deposits containing layers of See also:brown See also:coal with full stems of trees. These Tertiary deposits are characterized by a rich fauna; fully See also:developed leaves of poplars, numerous fruits of the See also:mammoth See also:tree, needles of several conifers, &c., being found in them, thus testifying to a See also:climate once very much warmer. The only representative of tree vegetation now is a See also:dwarf See also:willow r in. high. The Lyakhov Islands consist of the Bolshoy (Large), or Blizhniy (Nearest), which is separated by Laptev Strait, 27 m. wide, from Svyatoy Nos of Siberia; Malyi (Small), or Dalniy (Farthest), to the north-west of Blizhniy; and three smaller islands—Stolbovyi (Pillars), Semenovskiy and Vasilevskiy—to the west of Malyi.

Dr Bunge found Bolshoy to consist of See also:

granite protruding from beneath non-fossiliferous deposits; while the promontory of Svyatoy Nos consists of See also:basalt hills, 1400 ft. high. Along the southern coast of Bolshoy Baron Toll found immense layers of fossil See also:ice, 7o ft. thick, evidently See also:relics from the Ice See also:Age, covered by an upper layer of Post-Tertiary deposits containing See also:numbers of perfectly well-preserved mammoth remains, See also:rhinoceros, Ovibos, and bones of the See also:horse, See also:reindeer, See also:American See also:stag, See also:antelope, See also:saiga and even the See also:tiger. The See also:proof that these animals lived and fed in this See also:latitude (73° 2o' N)., at a See also:time when the islands were not yet separated from the See also:continent, is given by the relics of See also:forest vegetation which are found in the same deposits. A See also:stem of Alnus fruticosa, 90 ft. high, was found with all its roots and even fruits. Basalts and Tertiary brown coal deposits enter into the See also:composition of the southern extremity of Bennett Island, and the mountains of Sannikov Land, seen by Toll, have the aspect of basaltic " table mountains." The climate of these islands is very severe. In 1886 the See also:winter ended only in See also:June, to begin anew in See also:August (21st May, -5.8° F.; 16th See also:October, -34.6°). The highest summer temperature was 50°. Flocks of geese and other birds come to the islands from the north (Bunge and Toll), as also the See also:gull Lestris pomarina, which feeds chiefly on the See also:lemming. The lemmings are very numerous, and in certain years undertake migrations to the mainland and back. Reindeer, followed by wolves, come also every See also:year to the islands; the polar See also:fox and polar See also:bear, both feeding on the lemmings, are numerous. Hunters come in nurhbers to the Lyakhovs, which must have been long known to Arctic hunters. A See also:Yakutsk Cossack, named Vaghin, wintered on Bolshoy in 1712, but it was a See also:merchant, Lyakhov, who first described the two greater islands of this group in 1770, and three years later reached on sledges the largest island of the New Siberia group, which he named Kotelnyi.

The Lyakhovs were mapped in 1777. J. Sannikov, with a party of hunters, discovered in 1805—1808 Stolbovyi, Thaddeus and New Siberia Islands, and a merchant, Byelkov, the Byelkov;kyi Islands. He sighted the land to the north of Kotelnyi and the land to the north of New Siberia (now Bennett Island). A See also:

Russian officer named Hedenstrom, accompanied by Sannikov, explored the archipelago and published a See also:map of it in 1811. See also:Lieutenant Anjou visited it in 1821—1823. A scientific expedition under Dr See also:Alexander Bunge (including Baron Eduard Toll) explored it in 1885—1886. Baron Toll revisited it in 1893 with Lieutenant Shileiko, and again in 1900 with F. G. Seeberg. Papers were found on Bennett Island showing that he See also:left it for the south in See also:November 1902, but he never returned See also:home, and two See also:relief parties in 1903 failed to find traces of him.

End of Article: NEW SIBERIA ARCHIPELAGO

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