The Estuário do Espírito Santo is an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

on the western bank of

Maputo Bay Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

where four rivers flow: the Tembe, Mbuluzi,

Matola Matola is the largest suburb of the Mozambique capital, Maputo, adjacent to its westernmost side. It is the nation's most populated city. Matola is the capital of Maputo Province and has had its own elected municipal government since 1998. It ...

and Infulene Rivers. Its maximum depth is 11 meters, with the channels dredged. The north bank of this estuary has a large economic activity, ending in a large commercial and fishing

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

. The part of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

is highly industrialized, including an old

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

, a

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

factory, '' salinas'' and other activities. The part of the margins not modified by man is populated by

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s and is subject to enormous pressure by the aforementioned economic activities. However, the estuary is still used by many fisheries, since there is an abundance of

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

and other

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

Toponymy

The term ''estuario de Espíritu Santo'' refers to the old name of the

Matola River Matola River to the left, and the Sentinel-2.html" ;"title="Infulene River on the right, imaged by Sentinel-2">Infulene River on the right, imaged by Sentinel-2 The Matola River () is a watercourse located in the Maputo Province of Mozambique. I ...

, which was known in Portuguese as ''Río Espírito Santo''.

References

{{reflist Bodies of water of Mozambique Estuaries of Africa