New Siberia 882079 225741811 2008-07-15T04:48:55Z Paul H. 693711 /* Geology */ fine-tuning text [[Image:RussiaNovayaSibir.png|right|New Siberia, Russia]] '''New Siberia''' ([[Russian language|Russian]]: Но́вая Сиби́рь; [[Transliteration of Russian into English|English transliteration]]: ''Novaya Sibir'') is one of the [[New Siberian Islands]] lying between the [[Laptev Sea]] and [[East Siberian Sea]]. Although its area of approximately 6,200 km² places it just outside the 100 [[List of islands by area|largest islands in the world]]. New Siberia Island is low lying, rising to only 76 m and covered with [[tundra]] vegetation. The island is a part of the territory of the [[Sakha Republic|Sakha (Yakutia) Republic]] of [[Russia]]. ==Geology== New Siberia Island consists of [[clastic]] [[sediment]]s ranging from Late [[Cretaceous]] to [[Pleistocene]] in age. The Late Cretaceous sediments consist of extensively folded layers of gray and greenish gray tuffaceous [[sand]], tuffaceous [[silt]], pebbly sand, and layers of brown [[coal]] exposed in sea cliffs along it southwest coast. The sand and silt often contain either [[volcanic glass]], fossil plants, [[rhyolite]] [[pebble]]s, or some combination of them. Late [[Cretaceous]] fossil plants, which include upright tree trunks, logs, leaf prints, and other debris, are found in abundance in outcrops within what Kropotkin (1890) and von Toll and Kropotkin (1898) called the "Wood Mountains" and Armstrong (1857) and Taylor (1848) called the "Wood Hills". As noted by both Armstrong (1857) and Taylor (1848), both the logs and upright trunks found within the "Wood Hills" along the southern coast of New Siberia Island consist of coalified wood. [[Eocene]] sand, silt, [[clay]], and brown coal overlies an erosional [[unconformity]] cut into the Late Cretaceous sediments. Within the northwest part of New Siberia Island, these sediments grade into clays that contain fragments of [[Marine (ocean)|marine]] [[bivalves]]. Directly overlying the Eocene sediments and another erosional unconformity are sands of [[Oligocene]] and Early [[Miocene]] age. They contain thin beds of silt, mud, clay, and pebbles. These sands contain fossil plants and lagoonal, swamp, and lacustrine [[diatom]]s. These sands are overlain by [[Pliocene]] sediments consisting of layers of sand, silt, mud, [[peat]], and pebbles. [[Pleistocene]] [[brackish]] and near-shore marine clays overlie the Pliocene sediments and blanket most of this island (Fujita and Cook 1990, Kos'ko and Trufanov 2002) ==Vegetation== Rush/grass, forb, cryptogam tundra covers the New Siberia Island. It is tundra consisting mostly of very low-growing grasses, rushes, forbs, mosses, lichens, and liverworts. These plants either mostly or completely cover the surface of the ground. The soils are typically moist, fine-grained, and often hummocky (CAVM Team 2003). ==History== It was discovered in [[1806]] by Russian [[fur]] traders. {{coor title dms|75|05|14|N|148|27|30|E|region:RU_type:isle_source:dewiki}} ==References== *Armstrong, A., 1857, ''A Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the North-west Passage : With numerous incidents of travel and adventure during nearly five years' continuous service in the Arctic regions while in search of the expedition under Sir John Franklin.'' Hurst and Blackett Publishers, London, England. 616 pp. *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. *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. *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. *Kropotkin, P., 1900, [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1774304 Hurst and BlackettReview: Baron Toll on New Siberia and the Circumpolar Tertiary Flora.''] The Geographical Journal. vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 95-98. *Taylor, R. C., 1848, ''Statistics of Coal: The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Mineral Combustibles or Fossil Fuel or Mineral Combustibles or Fossil Fuel.'' J. W. Moore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 754 pp. *von Toll, E., and P. Kropotkin, 1989, [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1774464 ''Proposal for an Expedition to Sannikoff Land''.] The Geographical Journal. vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 162-172. {{East Siberian Sea Islands}} [[Category:New Siberian Islands]] [[Category:East Siberian Sea]] [[ca:Nova Sibèria]] [[de:Neusibirien]] [[ko:노바야시비리 섬]] [[nl:Nieuw-Siberië]] [[ru:Новая Сибирь]] [[tr:Novaya Siber]]