School: Meadowbrook High School
Subject: Geography
Grade: 10
Topic: Coastal Depositional Features
Objectives: Students should be able to:
1. Identify at least four coastal depositional features/landforms.
2. Explain how spits and tombolos are formed.
3. Explain how bars are formed.
4. Draw diagrams to show different coastal depositional features.
Coastal Depositional Features
Constructive waves deposit material on the shore. Some features formed by wave deposition
are:
Beaches
Most beaches in the Caribbean are made of sand. Sandy beaches are most often in sheltered
bays where they are called bayhead beaches. When waves enter these bays they are forced to
bend to mirror the shape of the coast. This is called wave refraction. It is caused by the
shallowing of the water as the waves enter the bay. Refraction spreads out and reduces the
wave energy in a bay, which is why deposition occurs here. Sandy beaches can also be found
on stretches of coastline protected by fringing coral reefs.
Bay-head beach in Brazil
Spits
A spit is a long, narrow finger of sand or shingles jutting out into the sea from the land. Spits
are formed by the process of longshore drift, and they tend to occur where there is a change
in the direction of the coastline - for example, at a river mouth. The following conditions are
needed to form a spit:
The sea must be relatively shallow.
There must be a good supply of sand and other sediment.
Waves must approach the coast at an angle, so that longshore drift moves material
along the coast rather than simply up and down the beach.
For most spits, the sea is usually calm, with low-energy constructive waves.
Over time, a spit becomes colonised by grass and bushes and eventually trees will grow. On
the sheltered landward side of a spit, where the water is very calm, mudflats and salt marshes
will form. These are important habitats for plants and birds. Cocal spit in Trinidad is a good
example of a spit in the Caribbean.
Diagram showing formation of a spit.
Tombolo
This is a linear deposit of material formed by longshore drift which joins an island to the
mainland. This happens when a spit grow out to join an island to the minland. The island of
Scotts Head on the southern coast of Dominica has become attached to the mainland by a
tombolo as a result of deposition of sediment by longshore drift from east to west. The
Palisadoes in Jamaica is another example of a tombolo.
Bars
A bar is a linear deposit of beach material running approximately parallel to the line of the
coast. Some bars are submerged and others appear above the waves. They may be stabilized
by vegetation and grow large enough to form a barrier island.
An offshore bar is not directly joined to the coast. It is formed where a long tongue of sand
is deposited parallel to the coastline by breaking waves as they approach the shore. Offshore
bars may be formed parallel to gently sloping coasts that are being gradually submerged.
There are offshore and barrier islands off the cost of Florida, Georgia and Virgnia in USA.
Bay-bar is a tongue of sand or other material that extends across a bay. Some are formed by
longshore drift. Water trapped behind the bar can form a lagoon.
Lagoons
The still, sheltered water behind a spit or a bar may form a lagoon. Within a lagoon:
there are no large waves.
mud and silt accumulate on the lagoon floor.
mangroves and other plants can grow.