Feklistova or Feklistov Island (Остров Феклистова; Ostrov Feklistova) is one of the Shantar Islands in Sea of Okhotsk. With an area of 372 square kilometres (144 square miles), it is the second largest in the archipelago.[1]
Feklistova
Остров Феклистова | |
---|---|
Island | |
Feklistova | |
Coordinates: 55°0′N 136°57′E / 55.000°N 136.950°E | |
Country | Russian Federation |
Federal subject | Far Eastern Federal District |
Krai | Khabarovsk Krai |
Area | |
• Total | 372 km2 (144 sq mi) |
Elevation | 415 m (1,362 ft) |
Feklistova is 24 kilometres (15 miles) west to east and 19.3 km (12 mi) north to south.[2] It lies about 20 kilometres (12+1⁄2 miles) west of Bolshoy Shantar Island, the main island in the group. Feklistov Island is covered with taiga forest and has a 3-kilometre-long (2-mile) lake on its northern shore separated from the sea by a spit of land.[3]
Administratively this island belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation.
This island is part of the "Kondyor-Feklistov metallogenic belt" (KD) owing to the presence of placers [4] which include minerals like "blacksand platinum".[5] The "Kondyor-Feklistov metallogenic belt" is one of the major metallogenic belts of Northeast Asia. It is assumed that it formed by an oblique subduction of the oceanic crust of the Mongol-Okhotsk paleoocean under the southern margin of the Siberian continent.
Between 1852 and 1889, American whaleships cruised for bowhead whales off Feklistova Island.[6][7] They also anchored in Lebyazhya Bay on the south side of the island to stow down[8] or boil oil,[9] flense whales,[10] and obtain wood and water[11] or shelter from storms.[12] They referred to the anchorage itself as Feklistova Harbor.[13] As many as forty-two ships could be anchored in Lebyazhya Bay at one time.[14]