Lake Razelm or Lake Razim (, ''Limanul Razelm'') is the name of a large freshwater lagoon on the shores of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, south of the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...

and part of its

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. It is the largest liman in Romania. Insula Popina din elico

The name is also sometimes applied to the complex it forms with several other limans and

lagoons A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

. This complex can be separated into two subgroups. The northern subgroup contains

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

Razelm and Lake Golovița, which are connected by a channel wide, whereas the southern group is made up of

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

s. All these lakes cover an area of about 1000 km², 400 km² of it being the area of Lake Razelm alone.

Ecology

When the Razelm/Golovița system was closed off from the sea in the late 1970s, this resulted in several changes to the ecological conditions of the system, including an decrease in salinity to almost zero, an increase in refreshment time to over a year, and episodes of

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

. Despite this

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

, the system remains an important habitat. Three families of cockles could be found in Romania in the 1960s, and the two that remain are found only in Razelm (albeit at reduced densities).

Popina Island Popina Island is a Romanian island in the northern part of the Razelm Lake (Razim). The island spans 98 hectares and it is a protected Nature reserve, reserve, hosting an important nesting area for shelducks. Razelm Lake is the largest natural lak ...

at the north end of the lake is an important refuge for many bird species and invertebrates. The recent ecological study suggests that the Razim-Sinoie lagoon system is close to the good ecological status according to the requirements of the

Water Framework Directive The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC is an EU directive which commits European Union member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies (including marine waters up to one nautical mile from shore) by 2015. ...

References

Lakes of Romania Saline lakes of Europe Geography of Tulcea County Lagoons of Romania Lagoons of the Black Sea {{Tulcea-geo-stub