*2.1.1 Definition of coastal lagoon*

Early research surrounding coastal lagoons focused on understanding processes of coastal lagoon formation, identification of defining characteristics and the development of classification schemes within which to group water bodies that are similar in geomorphology. Coastal lagoon was described by Kjerfve [32] as: "an inland body of water, usually oriented parallel to the coast, separated from the ocean by a barrier, always connected to the ocean by one or more restricted inlets, and having depths which seldom exceed a couple of metres", although some recent definitions [33, 34] have considered deposition of sediment as well as littoral drift in an attempt to define coastal lagoon. In addition, much of the sediment present in lagoons can be cohesive in composition and will therefore flocculate (e.g., [35]) when resuspended and subsequently produce a range of floc settling velocities (e.g., [36, 37]) that will affect depositional fluxes [38, 39] throughout a lagoon and, similarly, will have an effect on both bed erodibility (e.g., [40]) and subaqueous bed form sizes (e.g., [41, 42]).
