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27-525: The Muri Lagoon is a lagoon in the district of Ngatangiia on the eastern coast of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands . The lagoon is a significant tourist attraction and the largest tourism revenue earner in the Cook Islands, accounting for 25% of tourism bed usage on Rarotonga. In 2015 the Cook Islands government declared the environmental condition of the lagoon a national disaster. The lagoon

54-539: A lake is hu ( 湖 ), and a lagoon is xihu ( 潟湖 ). In the 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 laguna costera , but those on the Mediterranean coast are specifically called albufera . In Russian and Ukrainian, those on

81-501: A larger body of water by a shallow or exposed shoal , 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 tidal flow, and calls any bay that receives

108-422: 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". 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. Coastal lagoons are classified as inland bodies of water. When used within

135-458: Is actually the third-largest lake by area in the country. The brackish water lagoon may be thus explicitly identified as a "coastal lagoon" ( laguna costera ). In Portuguese, a similar usage is found: lagoa may be a body of shallow seawater, or a small freshwater lake not linked to the sea. Lagoon is derived from the Italian laguna , which refers to the waters around Venice ,

162-418: Is approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) wide has a maximum depth of 1.25 metres (4.1 ft). It is bounded on the north by Ngatangiia harbour, and the south by the motu of Taakoka. It contains three small islets or motu . From north to south, the islets are: The islet of Taakoka (1.3 hectares (0.0050 sq mi)) forms the southern boundary of lagoon. The Avana and Turangi streams both flow into

189-524: Is the main portion of the Parc Natural de l'Albufera de València ("Valencian Albufera Natural Park "), with a surface area of 21,120 hectares (52,200 acres). The natural biodiversity of the nature reserve allows a great variety of flora and fauna to thrive and be observed year-round. Though once a saltwater lagoon, dilution due to irrigation and canals draining into the estuary and the sand bars increasing in size had converted it to freshwater by

216-626: The Black Sea are liman ( лиман ), while the generic word is laguna ( Лагуна ). Similarly, in the Baltic , Danish has the specific Nor  [ da ] , and German the specifics Bodden and Haff , as well as generic terms derived from laguna . In Poland these lagoons are called zalew ("bay"), in Lithuania marios ("lagoon, reservoir"). In Jutland several lagoons are known as fjord . In New Zealand

243-523: The Māori word hapua refers to a coastal lagoon formed at the mouth of a braided river where there are mixed sand and gravel beaches, while waituna , an ephemeral coastal waterbody, is neither a true lagoon, lake nor estuary. Some languages differentiate between coastal and atoll lagoons. In French, lagon  [ fr ] refers specifically to an atoll lagoon, while coastal lagoons are described as étang  [ fr ] ,

270-702: The Ramsar Convention of 1971. Since 1991 the Parc Natural de l'Albufera de València has also been included in the Special Protection Areas ( Zepa in Spanish). The most important human use of the lagoon has traditionally been and continues to be fishing. From prehistoric times the rich fishing has attracted people specializing in this activity there. Fishing was legally recognised in year 1250, when regulations were laid down for

297-610: The Venetian Lagoon . Laguna is attested in English by at least 1612, and had been Anglicized to "lagune" by 1673. In 1697 William Dampier referred to a "Lagune or Lake of Salt water" on the coast of Mexico. Captain James Cook described an island "of Oval form with a Lagoon in the middle" in 1769. Atoll lagoons form as coral reefs grow upwards while the islands that the reefs surround subside, until eventually only

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324-458: The Wadden Sea , have strong tidal currents and mixing. Coastal lagoons tend to accumulate sediments from inflowing rivers, from runoff from the shores of the lagoon, and from sediment carried into the lagoon through inlets by the tide. Large quantities of sediment may be occasionally be deposited in a lagoon when storm waves overwash barrier islands. Mangroves and marsh plants can facilitate

351-403: The 18th century); it has big economic and environmental importance because plant and animal species that have disappeared from the lake itself still live in the rice fields (where the water of the lagoon is purified). These rice paddies also provide food and shelter for many birds. Nevertheless, nowadays the amount of water that arrives to the lagoon is less than some years ago, and the quality of

378-520: The 1980s) have increased. During the 2024 October floods in the province of Valencia, the lagoon received water both from the Rambla del Poyo on the north and the paddies flooded by the Magro on the south. This water carried canes, mud, the upper layer of crop fields and garbage, including industrial material, plastic, fuel, and sewage. Rice growing is another traditional use, though more recent (since

405-509: The Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce began a program to scrape algae from the bottom of the lagoon. In 2019 the government proposed a centrally-operated wastewater system to reduce the supply of nutrients. In December 2020 the lagoon suffered an anoxic event , and local residents were warned to avoid swimming or harvesting seafood from the area. Lagoon Lagoons are shallow, often elongated bodies of water separated from

432-642: The County of Valencia and greater metropolitan area of València , in the pedanies of Pinedo, El Palmar, El Saler and El Perellonet . Its proximity to the capital city of the Valencian Land and easy access facilitate nature experiences and birdwatching . Since 1990, the Valencian Albufera Nature Reserve has been included as a Ramsar Site in the list of wetlands of international importance for birds, established in

459-761: The El Palmar Fishing Association (residents of the Valencia extramural parish of Russafa who settled permanently on the island of El Palmar to work more conveniently) and which would then be applied to the fisheries of Silla and Catarroja. Until the lagoon's catchment area started to become industrialised, fishing generated substantial profits, as the clean waters of the lake provided a great diversity and abundance of fish ("gambeta", "petxinot", eels , bass , etc.). At present, catches of bass and eels have dropped considerably, while those of mullet and American blue crab (a species introduced in

486-601: The accumulation of sediment in a lagoon. Benthic organisms may stabilize or destabilize sediments. Albufera The Albufera de València ( Valencian: [albuˈfeɾa ðe vaˈlensia] , meaning "lagoon of Valencia" in Valencian , from Arabic البحيرة al-buhayra , "small sea"), is a freshwater lagoon and estuary on the Gulf of Valencia coast of the Valencian Community in eastern Spain . It

513-626: 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. Many lagoons do not include "lagoon" in their common names. Currituck , Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds in North Carolina , Great South Bay between Long Island and the barrier beaches of Fire Island in New York , Isle of Wight Bay , which separates Ocean City, Maryland from

540-597: The generic word for a still lake or pond. In Vietnamese, Đầm san hô refers to an atoll lagoon, whilst Đầm phá is coastal. In Latin America, the term laguna in Spanish, which lagoon translates to, may be used for a small fresh water lake in a similar way a 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

567-630: The lagoon. Lagoons with little or no interchange with the open ocean, little or no inflow of fresh water, and high evaporation rates, such as Lake St. Lucia , in South Africa , may become highly saline. Lagoons with no connection to the open ocean and significant inflow of fresh water, such as the Lake Worth Lagoon in Florida in the middle of the 19th century, may be entirely fresh. On the other hand, lagoons with many wide inlets, such as

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594-476: The lagoon. Water circulation is driven by waves breaking across the reef, with outflow through the Ngatangiia Harbour. The lagoon is heavily polluted, with nitrogen from agricultural runoff and leaking septic tanks leading to the growth of noxious seaweed and decreased water visibility. In 2015 the Cook Islands government declared the environmental condition of the lagoon a national disaster. In 2016

621-556: The land along the coast). Coastal lagoons do not form along steep or rocky coasts, or if the range of tides is more than 4 metres (13 ft). Due to the gentle slope of the coast, coastal lagoons are shallow. A relative drop in sea level may leave a lagoon largely dry, while a rise in sea level may let the sea breach or destroy barrier islands, and leave reefs too deep underwater to protect the lagoon. Coastal lagoons are young and dynamic, and may be short-lived in geological terms. Coastal lagoons are common, occurring along nearly 15 percent of

648-407: The reefs remain above sea level. Unlike the lagoons that form shoreward of fringing reefs, atoll lagoons often contain some deep (>20 m (66 ft)) portions. Coastal lagoons form along gently sloping coasts where barrier islands or reefs can develop offshore, and the sea-level is rising relative to the land along the shore (either because of an intrinsic rise in sea-level, or subsidence of

675-627: The rest of Worcester County, Maryland , Banana River in Florida , US, Lake Illawarra in New South Wales , Australia, Montrose Basin in Scotland , and Broad Water in Wales have all been classified as lagoons, despite their names. In England, 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

702-718: The seventeenth century. The Valencian Albufera Nature Park and lagoon lies just 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) south of Valencia , in the municipal areas of 13 towns and four pedanies (former towns) adjoined to the capital city, these in turn lying within four comarques or counties, namely, in Horta Sud : Albal , Alfafar , Beniparrell , Catarroja , Massanassa , Sedaví and Silla ; in Ribera Baixa : Albalat de la Ribera , Cullera , Sollana , Sueca and El Mareny de Barraquetes ; in Ribera Alta : Algemesí ; and in

729-522: The world's shorelines. In the United States, lagoons are found along more than 75 percent of the Eastern and Gulf Coasts . Coastal lagoons can be classified as leaky, restricted, or choked. Coastal lagoons are usually connected to the open ocean by inlets between barrier islands. The number and size of the inlets, precipitation, evaporation, and inflow of fresh water all affect the nature of

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