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Article: Estuaries
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- Biology
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Estuaries
Estuaries are partially enclosed bodies of water that occur where the land meets the ocean. The world's largest estuaries are at the ocean ends of rivers that deliver freshwater from surrounding and sometimes remote upland areas. Estuaries may be configured as sounds, bays, lagoons, or networks of tidal creeks and marshes. Many estuaries are separated from the ocean by barrier islands and do not have major sources of freshwater inflow. Estuaries are more common on coasts with wide and shallow continental shelves than on coasts close to
tectonic plate
boundaries.
Estuaries are physically and chemically dynamic and complex
ecosystems
. Annual, seasonal, and daily fluctuations ...