Gigantic gloomy rock towering over the waters of the Barents Sea, Kildin Island is an incredible mystery of nature. Everything in this place is unusual, from the inhabitants, names, history of human development to geology, landscapes and Lake Mogilnoye.
Location of the island
Kildin is located in the northeastern part of the Barents Sea, a few miles from the exit from the Kola Bay. A gloomy stone mass is located at the intersection of the main sea routes leaving Murmansk. One of them goes through Scandinavia to Europe, the second - to the White Sea. This is the largest island that has settled near the Murmansk coast, which borders the Kola Peninsula.
History of the island
In 1809, bloodthirsty English filibusters barbarously plundered Kildin Island, or rather, a camp based on its hilly plateau. The devastated area turned into a wild uninhabited corner for a long time. Since then, a piece of the island in the southeast, the bay, the cape and the lake have the same name - Mogilnye. In the 19th century, an ambitious project was developed to build a severe rock, an islandwas to become a metropolis. However, nothing like that happened.
A young Norwegian couple, Eriksen, settled on the island. Three generations of the Eriksen family have lived on the island for a total of 60 years. At the dawn of the 20th century, the regional authorities were engaged in the development of Kildin's infrastructure, investing a decent amount of investments.
In the same period, the Social Democrats, portraying fishermen, found shelter here. They used Kildin Island as a staging post. They brought here illegally political literature from Norway, intended for shipment to Arkhangelsk.
The young Soviet government zealously took up the development of the rocky board. In a short time, enterprises were created on its lands. A place was found for a fishing artel, an iodine plant, a polar fox fur farm and other organizations. Before the start of the war, all residents were settled in the Murmansk region. The Eriksen family was repressed. The island has been turned into a strategic military facility.
The military era of the island was destined to last until the 90s of the last century. Its territory was equipped with observation posts, communication points, air defense, missile systems, and a frontier post. A naval battery and a missile regiment were installed on it, and they took care of creating the appropriate infrastructure.
Today, a handful of residents and a small number of military installations occupy the island of Kildin. The photos show its harsh man-made landscapes, abandoned expanses with pitiful remains of its former greatness - powerful military equipment, office buildings and residentialhouses.
Description of the island
In terms of geological structure, Kildin Island is almost unlike the mainland. Its relief differs sharply from that on the Kola Peninsula. It is mountainous, with gentle slopes, which here and there are covered with moss and herbs. From the west and north, its high coasts are steep and precipitous. The north coast increases in height from east to west.
A stream flows along the bottom of a deep canyon that occupies part of the northeastern territory. Waterfalls fall from steep northern and southern peaks. A convenient bay cuts into the southeast coast of the island. Sea vessels, having entered Mogilnaya Bay, moor to the shore at the anchorage.
The Barents Expedition, having discovered the Mogilnaya Bay in 1594, put it on a geographical map. The servants of the Solovetsky Monastery on the southeast coast maintained crafts for two centuries (in the 17th-18th centuries). A little to the east of the bay lies Lake Mogilnoye.
Flora and fauna
The island is inhabited by many species of birds, among which there are those that are listed in the Red Book. Gulls, buzzards, geese, ducks and snowy owls inhabit Kildin Island. The Barents Sea is a habitat for dolphins, belugas, killer whales. It has schools of herring, cod, halibut and catfish. The rookeries of seals and seals are arranged on the coasts. Pink salmon, salmon and arctic char scurry in the waters of the Zarubikha, Tipanovka and Klimovka rivers.
There are hares, foxes and brown bears on Kildin. An endemic grows on its lands - the golden root (rhodiolapink). At first glance, it seems that there are no trees on the hilly plateau. But it's worth taking a closer look - you can see how stubborn dwarf birches stretch among the herbs in an endless succession, interspersed with flowering willow bushes, barely reaching knee-high in height.
Lake Mogilnoe
About two millennia ago, an unusual relict lake was formed on the island. The unique lake on Kildin Island is formed by several water layers. The bottom layer is a dead zone with all-destroying hydrogen sulfide. The upper one is a source of fresh water. The middle part of the reservoir is filled with s alt water with marine life. The middle layer has become the abode for the rarest endemic, mutated fish - the Kilda cod, which is under the protection of the Red Book of the Russian Federation.
Between the lower hydrogen sulfide and the middle s alty "floor" there is a layer - cherry-colored water. It is inhabited by purple bacteria, a living, impenetrable barrier capable of trapping and absorbing the deadly gas. If suddenly the bacteria disappear from the lake, hydrogen sulfide will begin to rise to the upper layers, turning the reservoir into an uninhabitable place.
A unique reservoir of world rank, which has no analogues, although it is classified as a federal natural monument, environmental protection activities leave much to be desired. According to scientists, Kildin Island, Lake Mogilnoye, a relic natural place, deserves more attention, care and further research.
Characteristicslakes
Relic lake in ancient times was part of the Barents Sea. It was formed due to the fact that the sea shores rose. The reservoir spread over an area of 96,000 m2. It is 560 meters long and 280 meters wide. The lake with transparent green water goes 17 meters deep.
The hydrochemical balance between the s alty and fresh layers is maintained by the fact that water from the Barents Sea oozes through the earthen isthmus that separated the lake from the ocean. The width of the shaft is 70, and the height is 5.5 meters. The upper water layer 5 meters deep is strongly desalinated by surface precipitation.
There are four zones in the lake, differing in the degree of salinity. Aquatic inhabitants inhabit the first three layers. Rotifers and crustaceans are found in the fresh layer. Sea waters are inhabited by jellyfish, crustaceans and sea cod. Purple bacteria have settled in highly saline water, intensively releasing hydrogen sulfide into the lowest lifeless "floor" of the reservoir.
