This article is about natural lagoons. For other uses of lagoon please see Lagoon (disambiguation).

Nearly half the area of Kiritimati is covered with lagoon, some being freshwater and some seawater. Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean Atoll in the northern Line Islands and part of the Republic of Kiribati.

A view of Lagoa dos Patos, Brazil

A lagoon is a body of comparatively salt or brackish water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral reef, or similar feature. Lagoa dos Patos (English Lagoon of the Ducks) is the second largest Lagoon in Latin America. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Seawater is Water from a Sea or Ocean. On average seawater in the world's oceans has a Salinity of about 3 This article is about the body of water For other uses see SEA and Seas. A shoal or sandbar (also called sandbank) is a somewhat Linear Landform within or extending into a body of Water, In nautical terminology a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water (six fathoms or less at low water Thus, the enclosed body of water behind a barrier reef or barrier islands or enclosed by an atoll reef is called a lagoon. In nautical terminology a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water (six fathoms or less at low water An atoll (pronounced /ˈætʌl/ is an island of Coral that encircles a Lagoon partially or completely This application of lagoon in English dates from 1769. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States It adapted and extended the sense of the Venetian laguna (cf Latin lacuna, ‘empty space’), which specifically referred to Venice’s shallow, island-studded stretch of saltwater, protected from the Adriatic by the barrier beaches of the Lido (see Venetian Lagoon). Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the A shoal or sandbar (also called sandbank) is a somewhat Linear Landform within or extending into a body of Water, Venice 's Lido is an 11-mile (18 km long sandbar, home to about 20000 residents greatly augmented by the (mainly Italian tourists who move in every summer The Venetian Lagoon is the enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea in which the city of Venice is situated 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 estuaries. An estuary is a semi-enclosed Coastal body of Water with one or more Rivers or Streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open

Albemarle Sound in North Carolina, Great South Bay, between Long Island and the barrier beaches of Fire Island in New York, Banana River in Florida and Lake Illawarra in New South Wales are all lagoons. Albemarle Sound is a large Estuary on the coast of North Carolina in the United States located at the confluence of a group of rivers including the North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States Diving off a deck into the Great South Bay of Long Islandjpg|thumb|A man dives into the bay in August 2008 Fire Island is a Barrier island, approximately 31 miles (50 km long and varying between approximately 0 New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The Banana River is a Lagoon that lies between Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island in Brevard County Florida in the USA. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Lake Illawarra ( is a large coastal lagoon near the city of Wollongong about 100 km south of Sydney, New South Wales. In the UK there are lagoons at 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. Montrose is a coastal Resort town and former Royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Tywyn (formerly Towyn) is a Town and Seaside resort on the Cardigan Bay coast of southern Gwynedd (formerly Merioneth: Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, is a Tombolo in Dorset, southern England. There is also one near the small town of Dingle in Western Ireland. Dingle (An Daingean or Daingean Uí Chúis) is a town in County Kerry in Ireland on the Atlantic Coast some west-south-west of Some of the famous lagoons in India are the Chilika Lake in Orissa, near Puri, and the Vembanad Lake in Kerala. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Chilka Lake (also Chilika Lake) is a Brackish water coastal lake in India 's Orissa state south of the mouth of the Mantei River. Orissa (ଓଡ଼ିଶା is a state located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Puri is a city in the east Indian state of Orissa. Vembanad Lake ( Vembanad Kayal or Vembanad Kol) is India 's longest Lake, and is the largest lake in the state of Kerala. Both are connected to the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea respectively through a narrow channel. The Arabian Sea ( Arabic: بحر العرب transliterated: Baḥr al-'Arab Sanskrit: सिन्धु सागर transliterated:

In Latin America often the use of “laguna”, which lagoon translates to, is used to describe a lake, such as Laguna Catemaco. Laguna Catemaco is a Lake located at the center of the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas in south central Veracruz, in east central Mexico.

A view of a lagoon in Kerala, India

See also

• Anaerobic lagoon
• Aerated lagoon
• Kerala backwaters