Bar (landform)

In geography, a bar is a linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water. Bars tend to be long and narrow (linear) and develop where a current (or waves) promote deposition of particles, resulting in localized shallowing (shoaling) of the water. Bars can appear in the sea, in a lake, or in a river. They are typically composed of sand, although could be of any particulate matter that the moving water has access to and is capable of shifting around (for example, soil, silt, gravel, cobble, shingle, or even boulders). The size of the particles comprising a bar is related to the size of the waves or the strength of the currents moving the material, but the availability of material to be worked by waves and currents is also important. A vessel run aground on a bar is arguable worse off than one run aground on stationary rocks, because of the destructive capacity of the shifting action.

Related Topics:
Geography - Linear - Shoaling - Landform - Water - Current - Deposition - Particles - Sea - Lake - River - Sand - Soil - Silt - Gravel - Cobble - Shingle - Boulder

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The term bar can apply to landform features over a considerable range in size, from just a few meters in a small stream to marine depositions stretching for hundreds of kilometres along a coastline, often called barrier islands.

Related Topics:
Kilometre - Coast

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In a nautical sense, a bar is a shoal, similar to a reef: a shallow formation of (usually) sand that is a navigation or grounding hazard. It therefore applies to a silt formation that shallows the entrance to or the course of a river or creek.

Related Topics:
Nautical - Shoal - Reef - Navigation - Grounding - Silt - River - Creek

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