The Taz Estuary is a long gulf formed by the Taz River

Taz River

The Taz is a river located in western Siberia, has a length of 1401 km and drains a basin estimated at 150,000 km².The Taz River flows into the Tazovskaya Guba, a roughly 250 km long estuary that begins in the area of Tazovskiy town and ends in the Gulf of Ob...

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It consists of a roughly 250 km long estuary that begins in the area of Tazovskiy town and ends in the Gulf of Ob

Gulf of Ob

The Gulf of Ob is a gigantic bay of the Arctic Ocean, located in Northern Russia at the head the mouth of the Ob River....

, which is connected with the Kara Sea

Kara Sea

The Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya....

. Its average width is about 25 km and it is one of the biggest estuaries in the world.

It begins in the mouths of the Taz and the Pur River

Pur River

The Pur River is a river in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Russia. The Pur River proper starts at the confluence of the Pyakupur and Aivasedapur Rivers. The length of the Pur River is 389 km. It is often considered as the Pyakupur's extension, which would make it 1,024 km long...

s in a roughly north-south direction at a latitude of 67° 30' N, and it bends westwards at a latitude of 69° N

69th parallel north

The 69th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 69 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane, in the Arctic. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Asia and North America, and passes through some of the southern seas of the Arctic Ocean....

, widening further before joining the Gulf of Ob.

The Russian Gazprom

Gazprom

Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company. Its headquarters are in Cheryomushki District, South-Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow...

 company is investing in the expansion of gas production in the Taz Estuary area, where there are said to be huge reserves.

Russian biologist and explorer Alexander von Middendorff

Alexander von Middendorff

Alexander Theodor von Middendorff was a Baltic German zoologist and explorer.- Early life :Middendorff's mother Sophia Johanson was an Estonian peasant girl who had been sent to Saint Petersburg for education by her parents. There she met with the future director of the St...

 found a frozen mammoth

Mammoth

A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...

 near the Taz Estuary. The body of the mammoth was transported to Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

in 1866.