Lagoon
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:''This article is about natural lagoons. For other uses of ''lagoon'' please see [[Lagoon (disambiguation)]].
[[Image:Kiritimati-EO.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Nearly half the area of [[Kiritimati]] is covered with lagoon, some being freshwater and some seawater.]]
[[Image:Lagoa dos Patos PIA03444 lrg.jpg|thumb|right|350px|A view of [[Lagoa dos Patos]], [[Brazil]]]]
A '''lagoon''' is a body of comparatively shallow [[sea water|salt]] or [[brackish water]] separated from the deeper [[sea]] by a shallow or exposed [[Bar (landform)|sandbank]], [[reef|coral reef]], or similar feature. Thus, the enclosed body of water behind a [[reef|barrier reef]] or [[Bar|barrier islands]] or enclosed by an [[atoll]] reef is called a ''lagoon''. This application of ''lagoon'' in [[English language|English]] dates from 1769. It adapted and extended the sense of the Venetian ''laguna'' (''cf'' Latin ''[[wikt:lacuna|lacuna]]'', ‘empty space’), which specifically referred to [[Venice]]’s shallow, island-studded stretch of saltwater, protected from the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] by the [[bar (landform)|barrier beaches]] of the [[Lido]] (''see [[Venetian Lagoon]]''). ''Lagoon'' refers to both coastal lagoons formed by the build-up of sandbanks or reefs along shallow coastal waters, and the lagoons in atolls, formed by the growth of coral reefs on slowly sinking central islands. Lagoons that are fed by freshwater streams are also called [[Estuary|estuaries]].
[[Albemarle Sound]] in [[North Carolina]], [[Great South Bay]], between Long Island and the barrier beaches of [[Fire Island, New York|Fire Island]] in [[New York]], [[Banana River]] in [[Florida]] and [[Lake Illawarra]] in [[New South Wales]] are all lagoons. In the UK there are lagoons at [[Montrose, Angus|Montrose]], (Scotland) and [[Tywyn]], (Wales), whilst the expanse of water inside [[Chesil Beach]], England, known as [[The Fleet]], could also be described as a lagoon. There is also one near the small town of [[Dingle]] in Western Ireland. Some of the famous lagoons in [[India]] are the [[Chilika Lake]] in [[Orissa]], near [[Puri]], and the [[Vembanad Lake]] in Kerala. Both are connected to the Bay of Bengal and the [[Arabian Sea]] respectively through a narrow channel.
In Latin America often the use of “laguna”, which lagoon translates to, is used to describe a lake, such as [[Laguna Catemaco]].
[[Image:Kerala backwater.jpg|thumb|left|250px|A view of a lagoon in [[Kerala]], [[India]]]]
==See also==
* [[Anaerobic lagoon]]
* [[Aerated lagoon]]
* [[Kerala backwaters]]
[[Category:Lagoons]]
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