Spit (landform)

Without the complementary process of littoral drift, the bar would not build above the surface of the waves becoming a spit and would instead be leveled off underwater.

Activities such as logging and farming upstream can increase the sediment load of rivers, which may hurt the intertidal environments around spits by smothering delicate habitats.

Roads or bulkheads built along bluffs can drastically reduce the volume of sediment eroded, so that not enough material is being pushed along to maintain the spit.

If the supply of sediment is interrupted the sand at the neck (landward end) of the spit may be moved towards the head, eventually creating an island.

[8] The longest spit in a freshwater body of water is Long Point, Ontario, which extends approximately 32 km (20 mi) into Lake Erie.

The spit bends slightly west or east, changing its direction gradually, depending on the conditions of the tides and weather.

In some cases, these sites have been chosen for proximity to marine resource exploitation; the Chumash Native American prehistorical settlement on the Morro Bay is one such location.