Liman (landform)

Liman (landform)

Liman is a name for a lake, bay, or estuary formed at the mouth of a river where flow is blocked by a bar of sediments. Liman can be maritime (the bar being created by the current of a sea) or fluvial (the bar being created by the flow of a bigger river at the confluence).

The name is used for such features found along the western and northern coast of the Black Sea, as well as along the lowest part of the Danube. Examples of limans include Lake Varna in Bulgaria, Lake Razelm in Romania and the Dniester Liman in the Ukraine. It has also been used in other places by Russian geographers, for example the Anadyrskiy Liman (Анадырский лимáн), in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in far northeastern Siberia and Amur Liman.