Kunashir

(from the Ainu language, meaning black island), a southwestern island in the Greater Kuril Chain in Sakhalin Oblast, RSFSR. It is surrounded by the Nemuro, Ekaterina, Izmena, and Iuzhno-Kuril straits. Area, approximately 1,550 sq km; length, 123 km; width, 4–30 km. A chain of volcanoes stretches along the island; the Tiatia (1,819 m) and Rurui volcanoes in the Dokuchaev Range and the Mendeleev and Golovnin volcanoes southwest of the lowlands of the Iuzhno-Kuril’sk and Sernovodsk isthmuses are active. The island is composed of volcanic and crystalline formations. There are many hot springs. The climate is monsoonal. Mixed and broad-leaved forests, as well as forests of fir and spruce, predominate; in the forests there are lianas and Kuril bamboo underbrush. In the mountains there are birch forests (Betula Ermanni) and thickets of dwarf stone pine. The principal industries on Kunashir Island are fishing and fish processing. A port is located at Iuzhno-Kuril’sk.