DEFINITION OF LAGOON

A shallow body of water that is connected to a larger

body of water, typically the ocean or sea, by a narrow passage.

Most lagoons are elongate, parallel to the coastline, and

separated from the main ocean or sea by a narrow elongate

barrier island or reef complex. Many lagoons have shallow

stagnant water, and the salinity of lagoon waters is highly variable,

depending on the amount of runoff, mixing with ocean

water, and evaporation rates. Lagoons are broadly similar to

estuaries, which are more typically elongate perpendicular to

the shoreline and are fed by river systems from the mainland,

whereas river input to lagoons is generally negligible.

Most lagoons are fed and flushed by tidal inlets, with

waters exchanged with the change of tides. Wind and wave

formation may strongly affect the turbidity of waters in shallow

lagoons, but in deeper lagoons the turbidity is controlled

by the strength of tidal currents.

Lagoons commonly form on coastlines that are subsiding,

or where sea level is rising. The sedimentary evolution of

the lagoon depends on the relative rates of migration of the

landward and seaward coastlines, which may migrate at different

rates, widening or shortening the lagoon. The rate at

which the lagoon fills depends on the amount of sediment

flux from the mainland, the amount of material that moves in

through the tidal inlets, the amount of overwash from the

barrier or reef, and the amount of organic and muddy sediment

produced within the lagoon.

See also BEACH.

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