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

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