Iturup Island
Sakhalin Oblast, Great Kuril Ridge, Pacific Ocean, Russia.
Description:
Iturup Island is part of the southern group of the Great Kuril Ridge and is the largest island of the archipelago. It stretches for 200 kilometers from northeast to southwest, its width is 7-27 kilometers, and the area is 3,200 square kilometers. The population of Iturup is 6,387 (in 2007).
The climate is moderately marine, complicated by the monsoon component and differences in the microclimate of the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk.
Iturup consists of mountain ranges and volcanic massifs, it has 9 active volcanoes, hot springs and lakes. The river network here has a mountain character. All rivers and streams are short.
The territory of the island is covered by coniferous forests from Sakhalin fir and small-seeded fir. In the southern part there are broadleaf breeds, in the north there are shrub species of birch, cedar stlanic, alders and willows. There are bamboo thickets - Kuril sases, which make the slopes of mountains and forests almost impassable. In the very south of Iturup, the state natural reserve "Island" was opened.
In the center of the island is the city of Kurilsk, it is the administrative center and the only settlement of the island.
On the territory of the island is the only rhenium deposit in the world.