Khatanga (village)

Khatanga ( _ru. Хатанга) is a village ("selo") in the Taymyr Peninsula, in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Khatanga River, south of the Arctic Ocean. It is one of the most northern inhabited localities in Russia (see Northernmost settlements). Its elevation is 98 ft (30 m) above sea level. Population: 3,450 (2002 Census). The name Khatanga means "large water" in the local Evenki language. The settlement is known to have existed since the 17th century. It is served by Khatanga Airport.

Khatanga is sometimes visited by Western sightseers touring the surrounding natural wilderness in Siberia. Amenities in Khatanga include an airport, a hotel, a natural history museum, and weather reporting stations.

Beyond the Yeniseisk Taiga begin the lowlands which at no point rise more than a few hundred feet above the sea. They slope gently towards the Arctic Ocean and are covered with lakes, scanty forests and marshes, and as they approach the ocean they assume more and more the character of barren tundras. Beyond 70 N trees occur only along the courses of the rivers. Two ranges however break the monotony of the lowlands, the Tungusk which stretches N.E. between the Khatanga and Anabar Rivers, and the Byrranga Mountains which skirt the N.W. shore of the Taymyr Peninsula. The shores of the Arctic Ocean are indented by deep estuaries, that of the Taz penetrating 600 m into the interior of the continent and that of the Yenisei 300 m Taymyr. Thaddeus and Khatanga Bays arc wide and deep indentations, ice-bound almost all the year round. Taymyr peninsula between the Yenisei and the Khatanga is a stony tundra.

References