Olenyok (river)


The Olenyok is a major river in northern Siberian Russia, west of the lower Lena and east of the Anabar. It is long, of which around is navigable. Average water discharge is.
The Olenyok is known for its abundance in fish. 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.

History

In 1633 Ivan Rebrov reached the Olenyok from the Lena delta and built a fort. In 1642–44 Rebrov and Fedot Alekseyev Popov reached the river but were driven out by the natives.
Pioneering Russian Arctic explorer Vasili Pronchishchev and his wife Tatiana died of scurvy in the area of the river in September 1736, while mapping the coasts of the Laptev Sea. After their deaths, husband and wife were interred at Ust-Olenyok, near the mouth of the Olenyok. Their tomb was moved after the bodies were exhumed in 1999.
In 1956 the Olenekian Age of the Triassic Period of geological time was named for rock strata in the Olenyok area.

Course

The river's source is in Krasnoyarsk Krai, on the Vilyuy Plateau, to the southeast of the Anabar Plateau. The river flows east and then northeastwards through Olenyok before emptying into the Olenyok Gulf of the Laptev Sea at Ust-Olenyok just west of the Lena River delta.
The major tributaries of the Olenyok are the Arga-Sala, Bur, Ukukit, Birekte, Kuoyka, Beyenchime and Buolkalakh on the right, and the Siligir and the Alakit on the left.