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'') 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,

, 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 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 (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.

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

Location

See also

References

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External links