Geology of Malta The largest of the second set are the Victoria Lines Fault on northern Malta and the Qala Fault on southern Gozo. Overall, the islands of the archipelago are tilted towards the northeast, with cliffs on the southwest coast and descending gradients towards the northeast. The Maltese archipalego is linked to Sicily by an underwater plateau of depths of less than 100 m. During different marine regressions of the Mediterranean, Malta has been connected to Sicily by a surface isthmus by which animals have been able to cross, as evinced by the presence of island dwarfism (Maltese dwarf hippopotamus and dwarf
Nordenskiöld Archipelago On 25 August 1942, during Operation Wunderland, Kriegsmarine cruiser "Admiral Scheer" fell upon the Russian icebreaker "Sibiryakov" (under the command of Captain Kacharev) off the northwest coast of Russky Island at the northern end of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago. The "Sibiryakov" resisted but was sunk by the German warship. Then "Admiral Scheer" headed southwest in order to attack the Soviet military installations at Dikson. Since May 1993 the Nordenskiöld Archipelago is part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve of Russia. The Arctic station at Russky Island was closed in 1999. Nordenskiöld Archipelago The Nordenskiöld Archipelago or