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5.1.1 Introduction
Majority of the flowing waters on the earth finally reach the sea. Near to the coast even small brooks, channels and streams join the sea after traversing small distances. At and near the juncture, where the river joins sea, a unique aquatic environment is created having the characteristics of both the marine and freshwaters virtually an admixture of these two environments. This water mass is usually called as a buffer zone or ecotone. Estuaries thus come into existence at an area of the sea coast where the river joins the sea. An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water which has a free connection with the open sea and within which seawater is measurably diluted with freshwater derived from land drainage (Pritchard, 1967). Estuaries are the transitional zones between the rivers and sea and have specific ecological properties and biological composition. |