lagoon

The etymology of lagoon brings us to the Greek language. The concept refers to a lagoon which is situated in a coast and what does it present salty or brackish water. The lagoons are separated from the ocean by a more or less wide strip of sand, although it remains connected to the sea in certain sectors.

Generally, a lagoon is formed from a process of clogging, which implies that various sediments they accumulate over the years. When siltation is carried out in a bay, river or marine sediments can lead to the development of a lagoon.

The albufera of Mallorca it's a example of these lagoons. Located in the Balearic Islands, a series of dunes separate the lagoon from the sea. This lagoon is protected by a natural park of just over 1,700 hectares.

Also in Spain highlights the Valencia lagoon, known simply as The lagoon. In this case, the natural Park created around the lagoon it extends for 21,000 hectares.

There are lagoons that are known by another name, such as the Mar Chiquita lagoon on the Buenos Aires province (Argentina). The UNESCO declared this lagoon World Biosphere Reserve.

Synonyms of albufera and foreign terms

As with most technical terms, since this type of accident The geographical coastline can be seen in many parts of the planet, it also receives different names, depending on the country and language. Regarding the word lagoonIt is important to note that it is used almost exclusively on Spanish soil.

Some of the alternative names, which are exposed below, have certain conceptual differences, so it is recommended to take them into account and not assume that all the terms are interchangeable. In fact, many of them have been incorporated into our language to be able to describe accidents with their particularities.

The word ayre, for example, it is used in Scotland and refers to a small lagoon that is not totally connected to the sea, but is separated from it by means of a sedimentary accident called tombolo, which may be a rod that produces a narrow tongue of land It is located between the mainland and a rock or island off the coast, between two rocks or in the middle of two islands.

On the other hand we have the term barachois, used in Canada to define a body of brackish water that is not connected to the sea, since between them there is a space of land, gravel pits or sand. Its resemblance to the lagoon is considerable.

In the sea Baltic is spoken of bodden to define certain brackish estuarine lagoons. The word estuary, widely used in Latin America, refers to swampy lagoons; in Spain it refers to those lagoons that are used as salt flats.

Then we can find the French term étang, which is used on the Mediterranean coast as a synonym for lagoon or from pond, although from a geomorphological point of view it is equivalent to lagoon.

In English-speaking countries the word lagoon that is used for any kind of lagoon that is separated from the ocean, regardless of whether a cord shoreline, a sandbar or a barrier island. The versatility of this term is remarkable, as it is also used to describe the lagoons found within atolls and coral reefs.

The list goes on even further, and among the various synonyms are lagoon (used off the coast of Italy), file (in Ukraine and Russia) and sabkha (in some Arab countries).