Estuary

Estuary [лиман; lyman]. A partly enclosed coastal body of water that forms where river water mixes with and is diluted by seawater. In Ukraine estuaries can be found on the northwest coast of the Black Sea, the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, and the coast of the Kerch Peninsula in the Crimea. The estuaries of the larger rivers—the Dnipro River, the Boh River (see Dnipro-Boh Estuary), the Dnister River (see Dnister Estuary)—are separated from the sea by spits, shoals, and barrier islands and have turned into saline inlets or lagoons (Khadzhybei Estuary, Tylihul Estuary, Kuialnyk Estuary, Molochne Lake, etc). Certain estuaries (eg, Odesa Bay) are known for their curative waters and sediments.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]