Movement of material along a beach. When a wave breaks at an angle to the beach, pebbles are carried up the beach in the direction of the wave (swash). The wave returns to the sea at right angles to the beach (backwash) because that is the steepest gradient, carrying some pebbles with it. In this way, material moves in a zigzag fashion along a beach. Longshore drift is responsible for the erosion of beaches and the formation of spits (ridges of sand or shingle projecting into the water). Attempts are often made to halt longshore drift by erecting barriers, or groynes, at right angles to the shore.
Waves sometimes hit the beach at an angle. The incoming waves (swash) carry sand and shingle up onto the shore and the outgoing wave takes some material away with it. Gradually material is carried down the shoreline in the same direction as the longshore current.
Longshore drift carries sand and shingle up coastlines. Deposited material gradually builds up over time at headlands forming a new stretch of land called a spit. A spit that extends across a bay is known as a bar.