Lagoon

Satellite view of Chesil Beach (line in blue running diagonally NW-SE) from Abbotsbury to the Isle of Portland. Between the land and the beach is the Fleet lagoon

A lagoon is a body of salt water partly separated from the sea. There is usually some sort of barrier which separates and protects the lagoon. This may be a pebble or shingle beach, sand bank, or perhaps a coral reef surrounding an atoll. An atoll is an oceanic island formed by a volcano.

Lagoon refers both to coastal lagoons, and the lagoons in atolls, formed by the growth of coral reefs on slowly eroding central islands.

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  Chesil Beach, the Fleet and the Isle of Portland, from the north-west over Abbotsbury

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  Blaketown Lagoon, New Zealand: it is connected to the sea.

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  Fangataufa is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Its lagoon is about 5km by 8 km. The whole atoll is about 9.5 km by 9.5km, with a landmass of about 5 km²

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  Kara-Bogas-Gol in Turkmenistan

Lagoon Media

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  Balos coastal lagoon of northwestern Crete. The shallow lagoon is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by narrow shoals connecting to a small, rocky mountain.

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  This picture of the Venetian Lagoon was taken by ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), an imaging instrument flying on Terra, a satellite part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). It covers an area of 39 x 35 km and was acquired on December 9, 2001. (simulated natural color)

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  Satellite picture of the Atafu atoll in Tokelau in the Pacific Ocean

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  Anzali Lagoon in southwestern Caspian Sea coast, Iran

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  Coastal lagoon landscapes around the island of Hiddensee near Stralsund, Germany. Many similar coastal lagoons can be found around the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park.