Editing Lagoon (section)

==Definition and terminology==
Lagoons are shallow, often elongated bodies of water separated from a larger body of water by a shallow or exposed [[shoal]], [[reef|coral reef]], or similar feature. Some authorities include [[fresh water]] bodies in the definition of "lagoon", while others explicitly restrict "lagoon" to bodies of water with some degree of [[salinity]]. The distinction between "lagoon" and "estuary" also varies between authorities. Richard A. Davis Jr. restricts "lagoon" to bodies of water with little or no fresh water inflow, and little or no [[Tide|tidal]] flow, and calls any [[bay]] that receives a regular flow of fresh water an "estuary". Davis does state that the terms "lagoon" and "estuary" are "often loosely applied, even in scientific literature".<ref name=Davis>{{cite book |last= Davis | first= Richard A. Jr. |title= The Evolving Coast |year= 1994 |publisher=Scientific American Library |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-7167-5042-0 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/evolvingcoast00davi/page/101 101, 107] |url= https://archive.org/details/evolvingcoast00davi/page/101 }}</ref> Timothy M. Kusky characterizes lagoons as normally being elongated parallel to the coast, while estuaries are usually drowned river valleys, elongated perpendicular to the coast.<ref name=Davis/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=1990 |title=Lagoon |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of Earth Sciences |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |editor=Allaby, Michael |isbn=978-0-19-921194-4}}</ref><ref name=Kusky>{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Kusky, Timothy |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences |title=Lagoon |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofea0000kusk/page/245 |year=2005 |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York |isbn=0-8160-4973-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofea0000kusk/page/245 245] }}</ref><ref name=Nybakken>{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Nybakken, James W. |encyclopedia=Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Marine Sciences |title=Lagoon |year=2003 |publisher=Grolier Academic Reference |volume=2 G-O |location=Danbury, Connecticut |isbn=0-7172-5946-3 |pages=189–90}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | author=Reid, George K.| title=Ecology of Inland Waters and Estuaries| url=https://archive.org/details/ecologyofinlandw0000reid_r5j1| url-access=registration| publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold Company|location=New York| year=1961|page=[https://archive.org/details/ecologyofinlandw0000reid_r5j1/page/74 74] |asin=B003MRW6AK}}</ref> Coastal lagoons are classified as inland bodies of water.<ref>{{cite book|page=263|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWnxpAxp6TMC|title=Encyclopedia of coastal science|author=Maurice L. Schwartz|publisher=Springer|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4020-1903-6|access-date=31 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=1–3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MrwTtP0mLjUC|title=Coastal lagoon processes|first=Björn |last=Kjerfve |publisher=Elsevier|year=1994|isbn=978-0-444-88258-5|chapter=Coastal Lagoons}}</ref>

When used within the context of a distinctive portion of coral reef [[ecosystems]], the term "lagoon" is synonymous with the term "back reef" or "backreef", which is more commonly used by coral reef scientists to refer to the same area.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Aronson | first1 = R. B. | title = Hurricane effects on backreef echinoderms of the Caribbean | doi = 10.1007/BF00334473 | journal = Coral Reefs | volume = 12 | issue = 3–4 | pages = 139–142 | year = 1993 | bibcode = 1993CorRe..12..139A | s2cid = 879073 }}</ref>

Many lagoons do not include "lagoon" in their common names. [[Currituck Sound|Currituck]], [[Albemarle Sound|Albemarle]] and [[Pamlico Sound|Pamlico]] Sounds in [[North Carolina]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jia |first=Peng and Ming Li |year=2012 |title=Circulation dynamics and salt balance in a lagoonal estuary |url=http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011JC007124.shtml |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |volume=117 |issue=C01003 |pages=C01003 |bibcode=2012JGRC..117.1003J |doi=10.1029/2011JC007124 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819170946/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2011JC007124/abstract |archive-date=Aug 19, 2014 |access-date=24 March 2012 |doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Great South Bay]] between [[Long Island]] and the barrier beaches of [[Fire Island, New York|Fire Island]] in [[New York (state)|New York]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Goodbred|first=S. Jr., P. Locicero, V. Bonvento, S. Kolbe, S. Holsinger|title=History of the Great South Bay estuary:Evidence of a catastrophic origin|url=http://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/bitstream/handle/1951/48052/goodbred.pdf;jsessionid=92152E84183F75FD0A4D6181D902AEFE?sequence=1|publisher=State University of New York|access-date=24 March 2012}}</ref> [[Isle of Wight Bay]], which separates [[Ocean City, Maryland]] from the rest of [[Worcester County, Maryland]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Boynton|first=W. R., J. D. Hagy, L. Murray, C. Stokes, W. M Kemp|title=A Comparative Analysis of Eutrophication Patterns in a Temperate Coastal Lagoon|journal=Estuaries|date=June 1996|volume=19|issue=2B|pages=408–421|url=http://www.gonzo.cbl.umces.edu/documents/water_quality/Est19_408.pdf|access-date=24 March 2012|doi=10.2307/1352459|jstor=1352459|s2cid=14978943}}</ref> [[Banana River]] in [[Florida]], US,<ref>{{cite web |title=Total Maximum Daily Loads for the North and Central Indian River Lagoon and Banana river Lagoon, Florida |url=http://www.epa.gov/waters/tmdldocs/6Final_IRL_NutriDO_TMDLs0407.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924143849/http://www.epa.gov/waters/tmdldocs/6Final_IRL_NutriDO_TMDLs0407.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |access-date=24 March 2012 |publisher=United States Environmental Protection Agency}}</ref> [[Lake Illawarra]] in [[New South Wales]], Australia,<ref>{{cite web|title=Proposed Swimming Enclosure Net, Entrance Lagoon, Lake Illawarra|url=http://www.lia.nsw.gov.au/pdf/studies/Enclosure_Net_REF.pdf|publisher=Lake Illawarra Authority|access-date=24 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228025307/http://www.lia.nsw.gov.au/pdf/studies/Enclosure_Net_REF.pdf|archive-date=28 February 2011}}</ref> [[Montrose Basin]] in [[Scotland]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Bird|first=Eric C. F.|title=Encyclopedia of the World's Coastal Landforms| volume=1|year=2010|publisher=Springer|location=Dordrecht|isbn=978-1-4020-8638-0|page=485|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mfo5TPb7SDsC&q=montrose+basin+lagoon&pg=PA485}}</ref> and [[Broad Water]] in [[Wales]] have all been classified as lagoons, despite their names. In England, [[Chesil Beach#The Fleet Lagoon|The Fleet]] at Chesil Beach has also been described as a lagoon.

In some languages the word for a lagoon is simply a type of lake: In Chinese a lake is ''{{Lang|zh-latn|hu}}'' ({{Lang|zh|湖|italic=no}}), and a lagoon is ''{{Lang|zh-latn|xihu}}'' ({{Lang|zh|潟湖|italic=no}}). In the [[France|French]] Mediterranean several lagoons are called ''étang'' ("lake"). Contrariwise, several other languages have specific words for such bodies of water. In Spanish, coastal lagoons generically are ''{{Lang|es|laguna costera}}'', but those on the Mediterranean coast are specifically called ''{{Lang|es|[[albufera]]}}''. In Russian and Ukrainian, those on the [[Black Sea]] are ''{{Lang|ru-latn|[[Liman (landform)|liman]]}}'' ({{Lang|ru|лиман|italic=no}}), while the generic word is ''{{Lang|uk-latn|laguna}}'' ({{Lang|uk|Лагуна|italic=no}}). Similarly, in the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]], Danish has the specific ''{{Lang|da|{{ill|Nor (landform)|lt=Nor|da|Nor}}}}'', and German the specifics ''{{Lang|de|[[Bodden]]}}'' and ''[[Haff (lagoon)|Haff]]'', as well as generic terms derived from ''{{Lang|de|laguna}}''. In Poland these lagoons are called ''zalew'' ("bay"), and in Lithuania ''marios'' ("lagoon, reservoir"). In [[Jutland]] several lagoons are known as ''[[fjord]]''. In [[New Zealand]] the [[Māori language|Māori]] word ''{{Lang|mi|[[hapua]]}}'' refers to a coastal lagoon formed at the mouth of a [[braided river]] where there are mixed sand and gravel beaches, while {{Lang|mi|[[waituna]]}}, an [[ephemeral]] coastal waterbody, is neither a true lagoon, lake, nor estuary.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kirk, R.M. and Lauder, G.A |title=Significant coastal lagoon systems in the South Island, New Zealand: coastal processes and lagoon mouth closure |publisher=[[Department of Conservation (New Zealand)|Department of Conservation]] |year=2000 |isbn=0-478-21947-4 |location=Wellington, N.Z.}}</ref>

Some languages differentiate between coastal and atoll lagoons. In French, ''{{Lang|fr|{{ill|lagon (French)|lt=lagon|fr|lagon}}}}'' refers specifically to an atoll lagoon, while coastal lagoons are described as {{Lang|fr|{{ill|étang|fr}}}}, the generic word for a still lake or pond.
In Vietnamese, ''{{Lang|vi|Đầm san hô}}'' refers to an atoll lagoon, whilst ''{{Lang|vi|Đầm phá}}'' is coastal.

In Latin America, the term ''{{Lang|es|laguna}}'' in Spanish, which lagoon translates to, may be used for a small fresh water [[lake]] in a similar way a [[Stream|creek]] is considered a small river. However, sometimes it is popularly used to describe a full-sized [[lake]], such as [[Laguna Catemaco]] in Mexico, which is actually the third-largest lake by area in the country. The [[brackish water]] lagoon may be thus explicitly identified as a "coastal lagoon" (''{{Lang|es|laguna costera}}''). In Portuguese, a similar usage is found: ''{{Lang|pt|lagoa}}'' may be a body of shallow seawater, or a small freshwater lake not linked to the sea.

===Etymology===
Lagoon is derived from the [[Italian language|Italian]] ''{{lang|it|laguna}}'', which refers to the waters around [[Venice]], the [[Lagoon of Venice|Venetian Lagoon]]. ''Laguna'' is attested in English by at least 1612, and had been [[Anglicisation|Anglicized]] to "lagune" by 1673. In 1697 [[William Dampier]] referred to a "Lagune or Lake of Salt water" on the coast of Mexico. [[James Cook|Captain James Cook]] described an island "of Oval form with a Lagoon in the middle" in 1769.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary |title=Lagoon |edition=Compact |year=1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=I A-O |location=Oxford, England |page=1560 }}</ref>