Editing Laptev Sea (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Анабарский залив.jpg|thumb|left|The shore of the [[Anabar Bay]].]]
The [[Lena River]], with its large [[River delta|delta]], is the biggest river flowing into the Laptev Sea, and is the second largest river in the Russian Arctic after [[Yenisei]].<ref name=p>[http://www.unep.org/dewa/giwa/areas/reports/r1a/assessment_giwa_r1a.pdf Ecological assessment of pollution in the Russian Arctic region] {{Webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20060930222354/http://www.unep.org/dewa/giwa/areas/reports/r1a/assessment_giwa_r1a.pdf |date=2006-09-30 }}, Global International Waters Assessment Final Report</ref> Other important rivers include the [[Khatanga River|Khatanga]], the [[Anabar River|Anabar]], the [[Olenyok River|Olenyok or Olenek]], the [[Omoloy River|Omoloy]] and the [[Yana River|Yana]].

The sea shores are winding and form gulfs and bays of various sizes. The coastal landscape is also diverse, with small mountains near the sea in places.<ref name=rev/> The main gulfs of the Laptev Sea coast are the [[Khatanga Gulf]], the [[Olenyok Gulf]], the [[Buor-Khaya Gulf]] and the [[Yana Bay]].<ref name=bse/>

There are several dozens of islands with the total area of {{convert|3784|km2|abbr=on}}, mostly in the western part of the sea and in the river deltas. Storms and currents due to the ice thawing significantly erode the islands, so the Semenovsky and Vasilievsky islands (74°12"N, 133°E) which were discovered in 1815 have already disappeared.<ref name=bse/> The most significant groups of islands are [[Severnaya Zemlya]], [[Komsomolskaya Pravda Islands|Komsomolskaya Pravda]], Vilkitsky and [[Faddey Islands|Faddey]], and the largest individual islands are [[Bolshoy Begichev Island|Bolshoy Begichev]] (1764&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), [[Belkovsky Island|Belkovsky]] (500&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), [[Maly Taymyr Island|Maly Taymyr]] (250&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), [[Stolbovoy Island|Stolbovoy]] (170&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), [[Starokadomsky Island|Starokadomsky]] (110&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), and [[Peschanyy Island (Laptev Sea)|Peschanyy]] (17&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>).<ref name=rev/> (see [[:Category:Islands of the Laptev Sea|Islands of the Laptev Sea]])

More than half of the sea (53%) rests on a [[continental shelf]] with the average depths below {{convert|50|m|sp=us}}, and the areas south from 76°N are shallower than 25 m.<ref name=b1>Arnoldus Schytte Blix (2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=kR_ZdmIaLbMC&pg=PA27-IA23 Arctic animals and their adaptations to life on the edge], {{ISBN|82-519-2050-7}} pp. 57–58</ref> In the northern part, the sea bottom sharply drops to the ocean floor with the depth of the order of {{convert|1|km|sp=us}} (22% of the sea area). There it is covered with [[silt]], which is mixed with ice in the shallow areas.<ref name=bse/><ref name=brit/><ref name=rev/>

The Laptev Sea is bound to the south by the [[East Siberian Lowland]], an alluvial plain mainly composed of sediments of marine origin dating back to the time when the whole area was occupied by the [[Verkhoyansk Sea]], an ancient sea at the edge of the [[Siberian Craton]] in the [[Permian]] period. As centuries went by, gradually, most of the area limiting the sea to the south became filled with the alluvial deposits of modern rivers.<ref name="SN">[https://studyport.ru/referaty/estestvennye-nauki/3447-morskie-bassejny-i-susha-vostochno-sibirskoj-nizmennosti Sea basins and land of the East Siberian Lowland]</ref>