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Nordvik () was a settlement and a
The name literally means "North Bay" in Norwegian and refers to the Nordvik Bay discovered by the Russian Great Northern Expedition in 1739.
In 1933, the newly formed ''Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, Glavsevmorput'' (Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route) sent the freighter ''Steamer Pravda, Pravda'' to Nordvik with an oil exploration expedition led by Nikolay Urvantsev, N. N. Urvantsev. By September 4, ''Pravda'' was close to Nordvik. Сaptain Belitskiy had decided to approach Nordvik Bay from the east, between Poluostrov Paksa and Bolshoy Begichev Island. Despite having no knowledge of the depth of the channel, Belitskiy went ahead without taking the elementary precaution of sounding line, sounding, and ''Pravda'' twice ran aground in the centre of the channel.
According to Urvantsev, drilling at Nordvik over the next few seasons revealed small, shallow oil pockets in connection with salt structures with little commercial significance. However the salt itself was extracted on a fairly massive scale by means of forced labourers in a penal colony. From the 1930s onwards Nordvik became an important source of salt supply for the northern fisheries.
Although the original prospects for oil at Nordvik did not materialise, experience was gained in exploring for hydrocarbons within the continuous permafrost zones. This experience proved invaluable in the later exploration and exploitation of the massive oil and gas fields of Western Siberia.
The penal colony was closed in the mid-1940s when Americans arrived at Nordvik as allies of the Soviet Union
. The salt was extracted by internal deportees rather than prisoners after the camp closure.
The settlement at Nordvik was closed in 1956.
Memorial
Newspaper article about expedition
(in Russian)
Map marking plesiosaur findsNordvik entry from Dead Cities
{{in lang, ru Geography of Krasnoyarsk Krai Laptev Sea Camps of the Gulag Gulag industry North Siberian Lowland
Nordvik () was a settlement and a harbour
A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...
-port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...
in Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...
, Russian Federation
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, located on the Khatanga Gulf
The Khatanga Gulf or Khatanga Bay () is a large tidal estuary in the Laptev Sea. It is relatively narrow, its length being with a maximum width of .
Geography
The Bolshoy Begichev Island divides the gulf into two straits: Northern Strait ( wide) ...
(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 ...
) at the mouth of the Khatanga River, on the Uryung Tumus Peninsula, west of Nordvik Bay.
A penal colony existed in the settlement. The climate is exceptionally severe, with prolonged, bitter winters.
Near Nordvik there is a paleozoic salt dome known as Tus-Takh on the Uryung Tumus Peninsula itself. It was suspected that the ground underneath would probably yield oil and gas. The remains of a plesiosaur ''(Plesiosaurus robustus)'' were also found on this peninsula.
History
The name literally means "North Bay" in Norwegian and refers to the Nordvik Bay discovered by the Russian Great Northern Expedition in 1739.
In 1933, the newly formed ''Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, Glavsevmorput'' (Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route) sent the freighter ''Steamer Pravda, Pravda'' to Nordvik with an oil exploration expedition led by Nikolay Urvantsev, N. N. Urvantsev. By September 4, ''Pravda'' was close to Nordvik. Сaptain Belitskiy had decided to approach Nordvik Bay from the east, between Poluostrov Paksa and Bolshoy Begichev Island. Despite having no knowledge of the depth of the channel, Belitskiy went ahead without taking the elementary precaution of sounding line, sounding, and ''Pravda'' twice ran aground in the centre of the channel.
According to Urvantsev, drilling at Nordvik over the next few seasons revealed small, shallow oil pockets in connection with salt structures with little commercial significance. However the salt itself was extracted on a fairly massive scale by means of forced labourers in a penal colony. From the 1930s onwards Nordvik became an important source of salt supply for the northern fisheries.
Although the original prospects for oil at Nordvik did not materialise, experience was gained in exploring for hydrocarbons within the continuous permafrost zones. This experience proved invaluable in the later exploration and exploitation of the massive oil and gas fields of Western Siberia.
The penal colony was closed in the mid-1940s when Americans arrived at Nordvik as allies of the Soviet Union
. The salt was extracted by internal deportees rather than prisoners after the camp closure.
The settlement at Nordvik was closed in 1956.
Landscape
References
*Memorial
Newspaper article about expedition
(in Russian)
Map marking plesiosaur finds
{{in lang, ru Geography of Krasnoyarsk Krai Laptev Sea Camps of the Gulag Gulag industry North Siberian Lowland