Olenyok River
Encyclopedia
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
in northern Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, west of the lower Lena River
Lena River
The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed...
and east of the Anabar River
Anabar River
The Anabar River is a river in Sakha, Russia, located just west of the Lena River. Its catchment extends into the Putoran Mountains that form the highest part of the Central Siberian Plateau....
. It is 2292 kilometres (1,424.2 mi) long, of which around 1000 kilometres (621.4 mi) is navigable. Average water discharge is 1210 m³/s. Its major tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
is the Arga-Sala River.
The river's source is on the northern Central Siberian Plateau
Central Siberian Plateau
The Central Siberian Plateau is made up of sharply demarcated surfaces of varying altitudes occupying most of Siberia between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It extends over an area of 3.5 million km². The highest point is the Putoran Mountains rising to 1701 m. To the north of the plateau are...
in Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai is a federal subject of Russia . It is the second largest federal subject after the Sakha Republic, and Russia's largest krai, occupying an area of , which is 13% of the country's total territory. The administrative center of the krai is the city of Krasnoyarsk...
, from where it flows north east through Olenyok before emptying into the Olenyok Gulf
Olenyok Gulf
The Olenyok Gulf, also known as Olenek Bay, is a broad gulf in the Laptev Sea. It is located WSW of the huge Lena Delta, which forms its eastern limit....
of the Laptev Sea
Laptev Sea
The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy...
at Ust-Olenyok just west of the Lena River
Lena River
The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed...
delta.
The Olenyok is known for its abundant fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
. It is frozen for over eight months every year and the climate in its area is harsh because of the direct influence of the Arctic.
- Dyangylakh or Dzhyangylakh (Ostrov Dyangylakh) 73.089°N 120.140°E is a large flat delta island located ar the mouth of the Olenek River. There are many smaller islands in its immediate vicinity, like Eppet Island off its eastern side, but none comes closer to its size. Dyangylakh is 21 km long and 16 km wide.
History
In 1633 Ivan Rebrov reached the Olenyok from the Lena delta and built a fort. In 1642-44 Rebrov and Fedot Alekseyev PopovFedot Alekseyev Popov
Fedot Alekseyevich Popov , date of birth unknown, died between 1648 and 1654) was a Russian explorer who organized the first European expedition through the Bering Strait.He was normally known as Fedot Alekseyev. Only a few sources call him the son of Popov...
reached the river but were driven out by the natives.
Pioneering Russian Arctic explorer Vasili Pronchishchev
Vasili Pronchishchev
Vasili Vasilyevich Pronchishchev was a Russian explorer.In 1718, Vasili Pronchishchev graduated from Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation and was promoted to naval cadet...
and his wife Maria Pronchishcheva died of scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
in this area in September 1736, while mapping the coasts of the Laptev Sea. After their deaths, husband and wife were interred at the mouth of the Olenyok River.