Which Body of Water Has Many Islands That Draw Tourists
A lagoon is a shallow body of water protected from a larger body of water (usually the ocean) by sandbars, bulwark islands, or coral reefs. Lagoons are ofttimes chosen estuaries, sounds, bays, or even lakes. Coastal Lagoons Lagoons sheltered by sandbars or bulwark islands are chosen coastal lagoons. Coastal lagoons grade along coastal plains—flat or gently sloping landscapes. They class in areas with pocket-size tidal ranges. Coastal lagoons are created as a shallow basin near the shore gradually erodes, and the ocean seeps in between the sandbars or bulwark islands. The size and depth of littoral lagoons often depend on bounding main level. When the sea level is depression, coastal lagoons are swampy wetlands. When the ocean level is loftier, they can await like coastal lakes or trophy. The Outer Banks are barrier islands forth the coast of the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. The Outer Banks create a serial of lagoons known every bit sounds: Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound, and Pamlico Sound. These areas are sheltered from storm surges and other waves that oftentimes pound the shore during the Atlantic Sea's hurricane season. The Outer Banks are actually enormous sandbars. They are not anchored to the earth, and endure from littoral erosion during storms. The protection they offer the shores and lagoons is vital to the surroundings and economy of the region. Engineers continually monitor and maintain the Outer Banks by dredging sand from the seafloor to fortify the islands. The lagoons of the Outer Banks have by and large stagnant water, a mix of saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean and freshwater from many river mouths in the expanse. The area is rich in biodiversity: waterfowl and fish from flounder to bass thrive in the region. The tourism manufacture also thrives in the coastal lagoons of the Outer Banks. As well fishing, visitors to the sounds enjoy boating and recreational activities such as water skiing and parasailing. Lagoons with more protection from the open ocean have a more freshwater habitat. Lake Nokoue, Republic of benin, is a lagoon whose narrow oral fissure to the Atlantic Ocean is nigh entirely protected by sandbars. Its salinity varies with the seasons. During the rainy flavour, when rivers inundation the lake with their outflow, Lake Nokoue is well-nigh entirely freshwater. During the dry season, when river slow to a trickle and seawater seeps in, Lake Nokoue has a more brackish ecosystem. Fish indigenous to Lake Nokoue, such as tilapia, have adapted to survive in both brackish and freshwater. Coastal lagoons, which offering protection from harsh bounding main waves, are often used as harbors. Lake Piso, for example, is the largest lake in the African country of Liberia. Information technology is a lagoon protected from the Atlantic Bounding main past big barrier islands. Lake Piso was used as a harbor for U.Southward. seaplanes during Earth War II. Lake Nokoue offered a different blazon of protection during the 16th and 17th centuries. Slave-trading tribes were forbidden from entering the waters of the lagoon, so local communities constructed an unabridged boondocks, Ganvie, straight in the h2o. Homes and businesses were built on sturdy stilts, and transportation was express to boats and bridges. Inhabitants were protected from capture and enslavement. Venice The urban center of Venice, Italy, is built on barrier islands and a coastal lagoon of the Adriatic Ocean. In fact, Venice's nickname is "Queen of the Adriatic." The Venetian Lagoon is the largest wetland in the Mediterranean. It consists generally of saltwater marshes and mudflats. Two big rivers (the Sile and the Brenta) empty into the lagoon. Its thin barrier islands have three narrow openings to the Adriatic. Venice, still, has been one of the largest cities in Italian republic since the rise of Ancient Rome. Human activity has radically altered the ecosystem of the Venetian Lagoon. Today, Venice sits on 118 islands. Not all of these islands are natural features of the landscape. For more than 500 years, engineers and urban center leaders have dredged the lagoon to create a series of islands and canals. Wetland areas have besides been drained to create state for housing and manufacture. The growth of Venice has likewise drained the aquifer below the lagoon and surrounding coast. As the aquifer shrank, the land above information technology subsided—Venice sank. Venice's lower pinnacle made it increasingly vulnerable to strong seasonal tides from the Adriatic. Artesian wells were banned in the 1960s, and engineers accept adult a sophisticated tide barrier project to reduce subsidence and protect the city from flooding. The Venetian Lagoon has recovered. Subsidence has slowed, although the famous aqua alta (high water) tide nevertheless floods the metropolis in as much as 1.5 meters (5 feet) of water every winter. Atoll Lagoons Atoll lagoons are similar to coastal lagoons. Instead of beingness sheltered by sandbars or barrier islands, however, atoll lagoons are protected by coral reefs. Atoll lagoons are very mutual in the tropical waters of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Atoll lagoons form every bit coral reefs form around volcanic islands. Over millions of years, the island subsides into the ocean. The ring of coral reefs, still, remain. The reefs get the atoll, protecting an enclosed lagoon where the volcano used to be. Atoll lagoons are marine ecosystems. The organisms found in atoll lagoons are usually the aforementioned ones found exterior it. Considering of the ringing atoll, many lagoons have few indigenous species at all. Organisms, such equally fish and jellies, surf in equally waves from the ocean crash over the atoll and dump them in the lagoon. Many species of jellies thrive in this protected environment, but larger predators have few food resources. The water of atoll lagoons are oft a striking light blue due to their shallow depth and their interaction with limestone. Coral reefs and coral sand are made of limestone, the remains of billions of tiny coral exoskeletons. Equally limestone leaches into the lagoon, information technology turns the water bright bluish. The billion-dollar tourism manufacture of the South Pacific relies on pristine beaches and bright blueish lagoons. These atoll lagoons are also the site of some of the most intense debates about climatic change and sea level rise. Lagoons and atolls are low-lying ecosystems vulnerable to even the slightest change in sea level. Sea level rising could drown the lagoons, and even their ringing atolls. Island nations such as Maldives could lose not only their chief industry (tourism), just the land itself. Maldivian leaders have worked to combat bounding main level ascension and littoral erosion by pursuing international agreements to limit human contributions to global warming, erecting buildings on stilts, and even because evacuating the entire population.
The tropical lagoons of Bora Bora are protected from harsh ocean waves by atolls and barrier islands.
Photograph by George F. Mobley
Bluish Lagoon
The world'due south most famous lagoon, the Blueish Lagoon in Iceland, is not a lagoon at all. It is a manmade characteristic where water from a local geothermal power institute is pumped over a lava bed rich in silica and sulfur. These elements react with the warm h2o to create a bright blue lake used equally a spa.
Hapua
Hapua ecosystems are lagoons located near river mouths. Equally rivers carve deep channels parallel to the coastline, they create a unique type of coastal lagoon. Hapua are primarily freshwater ecosystems, but collaborate strongly with ocean tides. Hapua are identified almost entirely with river systems in New Zealand.
Substantive
an underground layer of rock or world which holds groundwater.
artesian well
Noun
blazon of bars aquifer that flows to the Earth'due south surface without the need for pumping.
Noun
a coral reef or string of coral islands that surrounds a lagoon.
atoll lagoon
Noun
shallow, circular torso of water betwixt the bounding main and a band-shaped atoll.
barrier island
Substantive
long, narrow strip of sandy land built upward by waves and tides that protects the mainland shore from erosion.
Noun
a dip or low in the surface of the land or body of water floor.
Noun
all the different kinds of living organisms within a given area.
brackish water
Noun
salty water, usually a mixture of seawater and freshwater.
culvert
Noun
artificial waterway.
Noun
gradual changes in all the interconnected weather elements on our planet.
coastal erosion
Noun
wearing abroad of earth or sand on the beach by natural or homo-fabricated methods.
coastal lagoon
Noun
shallow body of water between the coast and a serial of sandbars or bulwark islands.
Noun
low, flat land lying next to the ocean.
coral reef
Noun
rocky ocean features made up of millions of coral skeletons.
dredge
Verb
to remove sand, silt, or other material from the bottom of a body of water.
Substantive
community and interactions of living and nonliving things in an area.
engineer
Noun
person who plans the edifice of things, such equally structures (structure engineer) or substances (chemical engineer).
exoskeleton
Noun
the hard external shell or roofing of some animals.
fortify
Verb
to strengthen.
Substantive
increase in the average temperature of the World'due south air and oceans.
Noun
part of a body of water deep enough for ships to dock.
hurricane season
Noun
time of year when the take a chance of hurricanes is greatest. Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.
Substantive
shallow body of water that may have an opening to a larger body of h2o, only is also protected from it by a sandbar or coral reef.
leach
Verb
to divide materials by running h2o or another liquid through them.
limestone
Noun
blazon of sedimentary stone by and large made of calcium carbonate from shells and skeletons of marine organisms.
Noun
wetland area commonly covered by a shallow layer of seawater or freshwater.
Substantive
place where a river empties its water. Usually rivers enter another body of h2o at their mouths.
mudflat
Noun
coastal wetland formed equally rivers or tides deposit sediment.
Outer Banks
Substantive
barrier islands off the coast of the U.Due south. state of North Carolina.
pristine
Describing word
pure or unpolluted.
sandbar
Noun
underwater or depression-lying mound of sand formed by tides, waves, or currents.
Noun
increase in the boilerplate reach of the ocean. The current sea level rise is 1.8 millimeters (.07 inch) per year.
seep
Verb
to slowly catamenia through a edge.
sound
Noun
sea, larger than a bay, partially surrounded by land.
Noun
abnormal rise in ocean level accompanying a hurricane or other intense storm. Also called a storm tide.
subside
Verb
to render to a lower level.
tidal range
Noun
the departure in height between an area's high tide and low tide.
tourism
Substantive
the manufacture (including food, hotels, and amusement) of traveling for pleasure.
volcanic island
Noun
country formed by a volcano ascension from the ocean floor.
Noun
area of country covered by shallow water or saturated by h2o.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/lagoon/