Lake Taymyr

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Lake Taymyr
Location of Lake Taymyr in the middle of the Taymyr Peninsula.
Location	Taymyr Peninsula, Krasnoyarsk Krai
Coordinates	74°32′34″N, 101°38′39″ECoordinates: 74°32′34″N, 101°38′39″E
Primary inflows	Zapadnaya, Severnaya, Bikada Nguoma, Yamutarida, Kalamissamo, Upper Taymyra
Primary outflows	Lower Taymyra
Basin countries	Russia
Max. length	250 km^{[citation needed]}
Surface area	6,990 km² (2,700 sq mi)^{[citation needed]}
Average depth	2.8 m^{[citation needed]}
Max. depth	26 m^{[citation needed]}
Frozen	late September until June

Lake Taymyr (Russian: Таймы́р, Таймы́рское о́зеро) is a lake of the central regions of the Taymyr Peninsula in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located south of the Byrranga Mountains and it has many arms projecting in different directions. Its maximum length is of 165 km roughly east-to-west. But its maximum width is only about 23 km in its broadest area which is towards the eastern end of the lake.

The lake is covered with ice from late September until June. Its main tributaries are the rivers Zapadnaya, Severnaya, Bikada Nguoma, Yamutarida, Kalamissamo.

The Upper Taymyra flows into the Lake Taymyr and the Lower Taymyra flows out of it. The region south of the lake is full of smaller lakes.

[edit] Ecology

Lake Taymyr is teeming with many kinds of fishes typical of the cold Arctic waters, like loach, sig, and muksun. But there is overexploitation of some fish species despite the remoteness of the area.

Slight plutonium contamination has also been identified in the sediments of Lake Taymyr. This is perhaps a consequence of wind-carried particles after the nuclear tests in Novaya Zemlya during the Cold War.