Bar

If a spit extends across a bay and joins the opposite side, it forms a bar. Unlike a spit, a bar connects land at both ends. It can enclose water behind it, creating a lagoon.

A bar develops through the same transport and deposition processes as a spit. If a ridge of sediment extends right across a bay and reaches the opposite headland, it joins the two sides of the bay.

Waves and currents also move sediment and deposit it elsewhere, building beaches, spits and bars. Sediment includes loose sand, shingle and finer particles. It can reach the coast from eroding cliffs, rivers or neighbouring stretches of shoreline.