Lagoon Mirim (Portuguese, ) or Merín (Spanish, ) is a large estuarine

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'') ...

which extends from southern Rio Grande do Sul state in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

into eastern

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...

. Lagoa Mirim is separated from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

by a sandy, partially barren

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) 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 counterpart of an isthmus ...

. The Jaguarão/Yaguarón, Tacuarí and

Cebollatí River The Cebollatí River is a Uruguayan river that rises in Cuchilla Grande (Big Ridge), flows southwest to northeast and forms a border between Treinta y Tres and Rocha. Features and location At roughly , it is one of the longest rivers in Urugua ...

s empty into Lagoon Mirim, while the

São Gonçalo Channel The São Gonçalo Channel () is a navigable channel connecting two large coastal lagoons, Lagoa Mirim and Lagoa dos Patos, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. At its eastern end, it separates the municipalities of Rio Grande to ...

connects it with

Lagoa dos Patos Lagoa dos Patos (, , ; English: ''Ducks' Lagoon'') is the largest lagoon in Brazil and the largest coastal lagoon in South America. It is located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. It covers an area of , is long and has a maximu ...

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,

, and discharges into the latter through

, 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 air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

and

oceanic current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, ...

s. 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 estu ...

only a short distance above the Rio Grande outlet. The Taim Ecological Station 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 to ...

(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.

Sources

External links

Mirim Mirim Landforms of Rio Grande do Sul Brazil–Uruguay border Mirim {{Uruguay-lake-stub

Location

See also

Sources

External links