Inlet

For the anatomical structure, see Pelvic inlet.

Bay at the Gulf of Salerno

An inlet is a narrow body of water between islands or leading inland from a larger body of water, often leading to an enclosed body of water, such as a sound, bay, lagoon or marsh. In sea coasts an inlet usually refers to the actual connection between a bay and the ocean and is often called an "entrance" or a recession in the shore of a sea, lake or river. A certain kind of inlet created by glaciation is a fjord, typically but not always in mountainous coastlines and also in montane lakes.

Complexes of large inlets or fjords may be called sounds, e.g. Puget Sound, Howe Sound, Karmsund (sund is Scandinavian for "sound"). Some fjord-type inlets are called canals, e.g. Portland Canal, Lynn Canal, Hood Canal, and some are channels, e.g. Dean Channel, Douglas Channel, Amsterdam Channel.

See also

• Alaska Panhandle
• British Columbia Coast
• Calanque
• Estuary
• Fjord
• Hood Canal
• Inside Passage

References

Bruun, Per; A.J. Mehta (1978). Stability of Tidal Inlets: Theory and Engineering. Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co.. pp. 510. ISBN 978-0-444-41728-2. 

External links

• Coastal Inlets Research Program
• Hood Canal on Google Maps