Lagoon Mirim (Portuguese, ) or Merín (Spanish, ) is a large
estuarine
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 environm ...
lagoon
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 ...
which extends from southern
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...
state in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
into eastern
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
. Lagoa Mirim is separated from the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
by a sandy, partially barren
isthmus
An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...
.
The
Jaguarão/Yaguarón,
Tacuarí and
Cebollatí Rivers empty into Lagoon Mirim, while the
São Gonçalo Channel connects it with
Lagoa dos Patos Lagoa (Portuguese for ''lagoon'') may refer to the following:
People
* Barbara Lagoa, Cuban-American federal judge
Places Brazil
* Campina da Lagoa, Paraná
* Lagoa, Paraíba, Paraíba
* Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro, a quarter of Rio de Janeiro
* Lagoa ...
to the north.
Location
Lagoon Mirim is about long by wide and in area. It is more irregular in outline than its larger neighbor to the north,
Lagoa dos Patos Lagoa (Portuguese for ''lagoon'') may refer to the following:
People
* Barbara Lagoa, Cuban-American federal judge
Places Brazil
* Campina da Lagoa, Paraná
* Lagoa, Paraíba, Paraíba
* Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro, a quarter of Rio de Janeiro
* Lagoa ...
, and discharges into the latter through
São Gonçalo Channel, which is navigable by small boats. Lagoa Mirim has no direct connection to the Atlantic, but the Rio Grande, a tidal channel about long which connects Lagoon dos Patos to the Atlantic, affords an entrance to the navigable inland waters of both lagoons and several small ports.
Both lagoons are the remains of an ancient depression in the coastline shut in by sand beaches built up by the combined action of
wind
Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...
and
oceanic currents. They are at the same level as the ocean, but their waters are affected by the tides and are
brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
only a short distance above the Rio Grande outlet.
The
Taim Ecological Station
The Taim Ecological Station () is a federally-administered ecological station in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Location
The coastal marine ecological station, which has an area of , was established on 21 July 1986.
It is administered b ...
lies to the east of the lagoon, in the narrow land strip between it and the Atlantic Ocean.
The
Jaguarão/Yaguarón River, which forms part of the Brazil-Uruguay boundary line, empties into Lagoon Mirim, and is navigable up to and beyond the twin towns of
Jaguarão
Jaguarão () is a municipality in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul located on the shores of the Jaguarão River, bordering Uruguay.
It lies a short distance inland from the Mirim Lagoon.
Geographical and historical proximity ...
(Brazil) and
Rio Branco (Uruguay).
On the Uruguayan side apart from the Yaguarón River, the Cebollatí River and the Tacuarí River empty into the Lagoon Mirim. The amount of water received by the lagoon is greater from the Uruguayan side.
See also
*
Topography and hydrography of Uruguay
*
1851 Boundary Treaty (Brazil–Uruguay)
The 1851 Boundary Treaty established between Brazil and Uruguay as a result of the Uruguayan Civil War and conflicts with Brazil and Argentina; the result of the treaty was a step towards the acceptance of Uruguay's independence from neighboring ...
*
Jaguarão River#Navigability
References
Sources
External links
Mirim
Mirim
Landforms of Rio Grande do Sul
Brazil–Uruguay border
Mirim
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