Marat Fjord

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Marat Fjord is a fjord on October Revolution Island in Severnaya Zemlya, Russia. It is about 24 kilometers long and up to 4.8 kilometers wide. The fjord is filled with ice most of the year. Storozhevoy Island lies near the mouth of the fjord, east of Bear Bay, on the Shokalsky Strait side of the island.

Historically, Boris Vilkitsky’s Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition in 1913 visited nearby shores but did not map the whole area. The fjord was first surveyed and mapped in 1931 during a Soviet expedition led by Georgy Ushakov and Nikolay Urvantsev, which explored Severnaya Zemlya for the first time. It is named after the revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat (1743–1793). More accurate mapping followed in 1950 using aerial photography by a Soviet team led by B.V. Zubov and A.I. Stepanov.

Geographically, the fjord opens to the southeast on the Shokalsky Strait side, southwest of Cape Afonin. It runs roughly northwest to southeast for about 24 kilometers. The inner basin is wide with steep mountains on both sides. At the head, a glacier from the Karpinsky Glacier feeds ice into the fjord, while glaciers from the University Glacier to the southwest flow into the western shore, creating icefalls. The glaciers continually release ice into the fjord, keeping it icy year-round.