Tyuleniy Archipelago (Kazakhstan)
From Kazakhstan Encyclopedia
Template:About Template:Infobox islands The Tyuleniy Archipelago, Template:Lang-kk Tülen Araldary, Template:Lang-ru is an island group in the north-eastern Caspian Sea located off the Mangyshlak Bay west of the Mangyshlak Peninsula and about Template:Convert NW of the Tupkaragan Peninsula, Template:Convert north of Bautino. Perhaps the most substantial group of islands in the Caspian, they were first accurately cartographed by Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov who led the 1719 Caspian Expedition, studying the Caspian Sea from 1719 to 1727.[1]
Administratively, the Tyuleniy Archipelago belongs to the Mangystau Region of Kazakhstan.
Contents
Islands
- Kulaly Island (Kulaly-Aral) is the westernmost and longest island, stretching 25 km from tip to tip. Its shape is slightly irregular, with inlets and headlands. There is a meteorological station with a lighthouse and a Kazakh border guard post on this island, making it the only one in the group inhabited by man. The terrain on Kulaly is either arid or waterlogged and reed-covered.[2]
- Morskoy Island (Morskoy Aral) is the next island and the second largest island. It is also the biggest in area, with a length of 19 km and a maximum width of 7 km. This island consists mostly of wetland.
- Rybachy Island (formerly Ostrov Svyatoy) is long and narrow and is located south of Morskoy.
- Podgornyy Island is located NE of Rybachy.[3]
- Novyy Island is the easternmost island. It is located between Podgorny and the mainland and used to have an irregular shape until about 2009. Recent pictures show that this island has eroded heavily.[4]
Ecology
The islands are desert-like and sandy, with little grass. There are reeds on the leeward side of Kulaly as well as on the other islands, which are much lower and waterlogged. Many Caspian seals come to the islands' shores, hence their name "Tyuleniy", which means "seal".
The islands have been declared an IBA and a National Protected Zone (State Reservation). There are large concentrations of seagulls and wetland birds, like coots, wild ducks, swans, egrets and waders, in the archipelago during their nesting period. The Tyuleniy island group is also an important breeding ground for the Sandwich tern (Sterna sandvicensis).
File:Тюленьи острова.jpg NASA image of the archipelago and nearby shores. Note the size of Novyy Island. |
File:1730 Van Verden Map of the Caspian Sea - Geographicus - CaspienSea-vanverden-1721.jpg 1721 Van Verden map of the Caspian Sea in which Kulaly is the only island of the archipelago that is named. |
File:KZ034 02.jpg The archipelago is named after the Caspian seal (Pusa caspica) |
References
External links
Template:Caspian Sea IslandsTemplate:Asbox
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