Longshore drift consists of the transportation of sediments (generally sand but may also consist of coarser sediments such as gravels) along a coast at an angle to the shoreline, which is dependent on prevailing wind direction, swash

Swash

Swash, in geography, is a turbulent layer of water that washes up on the beach after an incoming wave has broken. The swash action can move beach material up and down on the beach, which results in the cross-shore sediment exchange. The time-scale of swash motion varies from seconds to minutes...

 and backwash. This process occurs in the littoral zone, and in or within close proximity to the surf zone

Surf zone

As ocean surface waves come closer to shore they break, forming the foamy, bubbly surface we call surf. The region of breaking waves defines the surf zone. After breaking in the surf zone, the waves continue to move in, and they run up onto the sloping front of the beach, forming an uprush of...

. The process is also known as longshore transport or littoral drift.

Longshore drift is influenced by numerous aspects of the coastal system, with processes that occur within the surf zone largely influencing the deposition

Sediment

Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....

 and erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

 of sediments.