The Sea The Beach
The wave breaks on the beach and continues to move up the beach.
This is called the Swash The wave breaks on the beach and continues to move up the beach.
Eventually the power of the swash is depleted as it has used all of its energy to climb the beach. It then drops any material it is carrying as it has no power left.
After this happens the water rolls back down the beach under gravity.
This is called Backwash
As the water rolls back into the sea it picks up speed and energy and is able to pick up material and moves it back down the beach