Siberian Shelf Siberian Shelf The Siberian Shelf, one of the Arctic Ocean coastal shelves (such as the Milne Ice Shelf), is the largest continental shelf of the Earth, a part of the continental shelf of Russia. It extends from the continent of Eurasia in the general area of North Siberia (hence the name) into the Arctic Ocean. It stretches to offshore. It is relatively shallow, with average depth of 100 m. A number of islands are within the shelf, including the Wrangel Island, Novaya Zemlya, and the New Siberian Islands. It is encompassed by the Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, and East Siberian
East Siberian taiga quite warm for the northerly location. Precipitation is low, ranging from to , decreasing from east to west. The topography of this ecoregion is varied, consisting of wide, flat plains and areas of karst topography. In contrast to the neighbouring West Siberian taiga, large bogs and wetlands are conspicuously absent. Some trees also shed their leaves annually, a characteristic of deciduous forests. Vegetation consists mainly of vast, dense forests of Dahurian Larch ("Larix gmelinii"), with Siberian Larch ("Larix sibirica") and hybrid between the Dahurian and Siberian Larches ("Larix x czekanowskii") occurring as one moves to the west. Cranberry ("Vaccinium oxycoccus")