Editing Littoral zone (section)

{{Short description|Part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore}}
{{Redirect2|Littoral|Litoral}}
{{For|the transfer of business or IT processes into a nearby country|Outsourcing{{!}}Nearshoring}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2021}}
[[File:Littoral Zones.jpg|Different disciplines and agencies divide the littoral zone into different subregions, according to how they want to view the zone.|thumb]]
{{Ocean habitat topics}}

The '''littoral zone''', also called '''litoral''' or '''nearshore''', is the part of a [[sea]], [[lake]], or [[river]] that is close to the [[shore]].<ref name=Seekell2021>{{Cite journal|last1=Seekell|first1=D.|last2=Cael|first2=B.|last3=Norman|first3=S.|last4=Byström|first4=P.|title=Patterns and variation of littoral habitat size among lakes|journal=Geophysical Research Letters|year=2021|volume=48|issue=20|language=en|pages=e2021GL095046|doi=10.1029/2021GL095046|bibcode=2021GeoRL..4895046S|s2cid=244253181|issn=1944-8007|doi-access=free}}</ref> In [[coastal ecology]], the littoral zone includes the [[intertidal zone]] extending from the [[high water mark]] (which is rarely [[flood|inundated]]), to coastal areas that are permanently [[underwater|submerged]] — known as the ''foreshore'' — and the terms are often used interchangeably. However, the geographical meaning of ''littoral zone'' extends well beyond the intertidal zone to include all [[neritic]] waters within the bounds of [[continental shelves]].