Kokolik River

Kokolik River
Country United States
State Alaska
Borough North Slope
Source De Long Mountains
 - elevation 2,631 ft (802 m) [1]
 - coordinates 68°30′21″N 162°09′45″W / 68.50583°N 162.16250°W / 68.50583; -162.16250
Mouth Kasegaluk Lagoon, Chukchi Sea, Arctic Ocean
 - location 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Point Lay
 - elevation 0 ft (0 m) [2]
 - coordinates 69°46′15″N 162°59′48″W / 69.77083°N 162.99667°W / 69.77083; -162.99667Coordinates: 69°46′15″N 162°59′48″W / 69.77083°N 162.99667°W / 69.77083; -162.99667 [2]
Length 200 mi (322 km) [3]
Location of the mouth of the Kokolik River in Alaska

The Kokolik River is a stream, 200 miles (320 km) long, in the western North Slope of the U.S. state of Alaska.[3] It rises in the De Long Mountains of the western Brooks Range and flows generally north and northwest into the Kasegaluk Lagoon.[2] The river mouth is 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Point Lay, on the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean.[2]

Its Inuit name, Kokolik, refers to the alpine bistort, an edible plant found in the region. A variant name, Kepizetka (qipigsatqaq), recorded on an Inuit map in the late 19th century, means "it twists" or "crooked".[2]

In the summer of 1977, a tundra fire, apparently caused by lightning, affected 17 square miles (44 km2) near the Kokolik River due east of Point Lay. Vegetation along the border of the National Petroleum Reserve burned during an exceptionally dry spell in the region. The site was the furthest north the Bureau of Land Management had ever fought a tundra fire.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Derived by entering source coordinates in Google Earth.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kokolik River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. January 1, 2000. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Orth, Donald J.; United States Geological Survey (1971) [1967]. Dictionary of Alaska Place Names: Geological Survey Professional Paper 567 (PDF). University of Alaska Fairbanks. United States Government Printing Office. p. 537. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2013. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
  4. ↑ Hall, Dorothy K.; Brown, Jerry; Johnson, Larry (1978). "The 1977 Tundra Fire in the Kokolik River Area of Alaska". Arctic. Arctic Institute of North America. 31 (1): 54–58. doi:10.14430/arctic2639. Retrieved September 8, 2013.


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