Definition, ex Wikipedia:
A spit (cognate with the word for a rotisserie bar) or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a cove’s headlands, by the process of longshore drift by longshore currents. The drift occurs due to waves meeting the beach at an oblique angle, moving sediment down the beach in a zigzag pattern. This is complemented by longshore currents, which further transport sediment through the water alongside the beach.
If a spit is extraordinarily long, long-established and well-vegetated, many people will fail to recognise that it is a spit.
This post’s big spit is not in the photo’s foreground, and does not have an enormous number of pelicans and cormorants standing upon it.
For most of my life the Coorong has been one of my very favourite places; it is the subject of many Pelican Yoga posts, and this link will give you easy access to all or most of them. (if they are new to you, I suggest you start at the list’s end – bottom of 4th page – and work your way up)
Simply put, the Coorong is a very long lagoon, immediately south of the mouth of Australia’s longest river system; its northern part is within day-tripping distance of Adelaide.
The Coorong sits behind the Younghusband Peninsula, part of which provides my photo’s backdrop/horizon; as you can see, birdlife was prolific in March 2024.
Even venerable, well-vegetated spits are highly dynamic; at circa 110 kilometres, the Younghusband Peninsula is one of several current contenders for the “gong” as “our” planet’s longest spit.
Click here for more about spits.
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