Yamal Peninsula

70°40′15″N 70°08′12″E / 70.67088°N 70.13672°E / 70.67088; 70.13672

The Yamal Peninsula (Russian: полуостров Ямал, romanized: poluostrov Yamal) is located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of northwest Siberia, Russia. It extends roughly 700 km (435 mi) and is bordered principally by the Kara Sea and its Baydaratskaya Bay on the west, and by the Gulf of Ob on the east. At the northern end of this peninsula lie the Malygina Strait and, beyond it, Bely Island. Across Ob estuary lies the Gyda Peninsula. In the languages of the Yamal Peninsula's indigenous inhabitants, the Nenets, Yamal means "End of the Land".

The Yamal peninsula is inhabited by a multitude of migratory bird species.

In the summer of 2007 reindeer herder Yuri Khudi found the well-preserved remains of a 37,000-year-old mammoth calf, dubbed "Lyuba", on the peninsula. The female calf was determined to be one month old at the time of death.

The Yamal Peninsula is important for the study of climatic history. Dendrochronology is one method used to see how environment has changed.

Dendrochronological research:

The peninsula consists mostly of permafrost ground and there are numerous lakes of thermokarst origin, the biggest of which are Neito and Yambuto in the central part.

Many hydrocarbon fields have been discovered on the Yamal Peninsula, including large gas fields. The main hydrocarbon resources are concentrated in the permeable Aptian-Cenomanian complex.