Estuaries and Coastal Lagoons as Ecosystems

An estuary according to Ketchum (1951) “is defined as a body of water in which the river water mixes with and is measurably diluted by sea water.” Or according to Pritchard (1967) “an estuary is a semi enclosed coastal body of water which has free connection with the open sea and within which sea water is measurably diluted by fresh water derived from land drainage.”