Nordvik (Laptev Sea)
Coordinates: 74°01′05″N 111°28′08″E / 74.0181°N 111.469°E
Nordvik (Russian: Нордвик) was a settlement and a harbor-port in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, located on the Khatanga Gulf (Laptev Sea) at the mouth of the Khatanga River, on the Uryung Tumus Peninsula, west of Nordvik Bay.
A penal colony existed in the settlement. The climate is exceptionally severe, with prolonged, bitter winters.
Near Nordvik there is a paleozoic salt dome known as Tus-Takh on the Uryung Tumus Peninsula itself. It was suspected that the ground underneath would probably yield oil and gas. The remains of a plesiosaur (Plesiosaurus robustus) were also found on this peninsula.
The name literally means "North Bay" in Norwegian and refers to the Nordvik Bay discovered by the Russian Great Northern Expedition in 1739.
In 1933, the newly formed Glavsevmorput (Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route) sent the freighter Pravda to Nordvik with an oil exploration expedition led by N. N. Urvantsev. By September 4, Pravda was close to Nordvik. Kapitan Belitskiy had decided to approach Nordvik Bay from the east, between Poluostrov Paksa and Bolshoy Begichev Island. Despite having no knowledge of the depth of the channel, Belitskiy went ahead without taking the elementary precaution of sounding, and Pravda twice ran aground in the center of the channel.
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