Ridges are areas of the beach that are raised. The dips are water-filled troughs called runnels.

Ridge and runnels on Harlech beach, North Wales.

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The beach is the area between the lowest spring tide level and the point reached by the storm waves in the highest tides.

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A bar is a ridge of sand or single that joins two headlands either side of a bay.

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A bar is created when there is a gap in the coastland with water in it. This could be a bay or a natural hollow in the coastland. The process of longshore drift occurs and this carries material across the front of the bay. Material is pushed up onto beaches at a 45-degree angle when the swash brings it onto the coastline. The backwash takes it back out towards the sea at a right angle to the coast. Through this process, the material is constantly moved along the coastline. The deposited material eventually joins up with the other side of the bay and a strip of deposited material blocks off the water in the bay. The area behind the newly formed bar is known as a lagoon.

Find out more about landforms of coastal deposition.

Find out more about landforms of coastal deposition.