10.10 Spits and bars

Question 1

How do the processes of deposition lead to the formation of distinctive landforms? (6 marks)

Answer 1

1.Prevailing winds from the NE create LSD.
2. Where the coastline changes direction
(goes round) and the waves lose energy
and deposit sediment (sand) into the sea.
3. The sediment builds upwards and
outwards over time and forms a spit.
4. The spit can become curved (hooked) at
the end due to winds that come from
different directions (secondary winds)
5. If a spit develops at a river mouth where
there is an estuary, the river current will
stop the spit growing across the estuary
(and forming a bar)
6. Salt marshes are created behind the spit

Question 2

Example of spit

Answer 2

Spurn head, Holderness, East Yorkshire

Question 3

What is a bar

Answer 3

• a barrier of sand stretching across a bay
• occurs when a spit extends a across the moth of a bay, joining two headlands and blocking off a body of water known as a lagoon