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Deposition occurs when the sea has less energy, eg in sheltered bays. Material that has been eroded from the coast is transported by the sea and later put down.

Longshore drift is a process of transportation that shifts eroded material along the coastline.

1. Waves approach the coast at an angle.
2. Swash carries sediment up the beach at an angle.
3. Backwash carries sediment down the beach with gravity – at right angles to the beach.
4. This creates a zig-zag movement of sediment along the beach.

Spits

Spits are also caused by deposition - they are features that are formed by the process of longshore drift.

A spit is an extended stretch of beach material that only joins the mainland at one end. They start to form where there is a change in the direction of the coastline.

An example of a spit is Spurn Head, north of the Humber Estuary in the north east of England. It is fed by the movement of material from the erosion of the Holderness Coast to the north. This is an area of weak boulder clay.

Salt marsh

Salt marshes may be formed behind a spit. The zone behind a spit becomes a sheltered area. Water movement slows down and so more material is deposited. Deposition may form a salt marsh.

Beaches

Beaches are formed from deposits of sediment.