A pendant bar is a fluvial geomorphology term that is usually applied to large landforms created by large scale flooding events. Pendant bars are thin, sharp-crested deposits, and are typically made up of coarser sediment from the bed load. This type of bar is found on the downstream side of a weathering-resistant protrusion such as a large outcrop of bedrock, and is separated from the protrusion by a depression.
Formation
Pendant bars form as high-velocity floodwater moves around a protrusion. The water scours out a depression behind the protusion and deposits the sediment a short distance downstream in a bar-shaped formation. A similar process forms a sand splay, which is much like a shoal but is formed on floodplains or terraces in lower-intensity flooding episodes. Other fluvial features that are formed by bed load sediments are the point bar, longitudinal bar, and expansion bar.