Although the shore of the island further north had been visited by Boris Vilkitsky's Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition in 1913, Vilkitsky surveyed the eastern shores of what is now known as Severnaya Zemlya in a fragmentary way —he did not explore the Shokalsky Strait and assumed that the whole of Severnaya Zemlya was one single landmass.

The fjord was named after prominent revolutionary figure Jean-Paul Marat (1743–1793).

Storozhevoy Island lies off the mouth of the fjord to the east of small Bear Bay.

The basin inside the fjord is fairly wide and regular, with steep mountains on both sides.

The outpouring of the glaciers at the head results in a substantial amount of ice streaming out of the fjord the whole year round.