How can a meander form in a river and how can a meander become an oxbow lake?

Question

i really need to know this answer

Answer 1

This is hard to describe without visual aids, but a meandering stream forms as it erodes its banks; water erodes away the banks and then is deposited anywhere there is a curve. When a stream turns, the water velocity on the outside of the curve is the highest and so erodes more material, and the sediment is then deposited on the inside of the next curve. Over time the curves be come wider and wider until they form a series of loops. When the loops in the stream become so wide that they nearly touch, then anytime there is a flood, or high waters (such as spring runoff) the stream may cut through the thin bank between the loops and bypass the loop all together, cutting if off from the rest of the stream. The loop that gets cut off is called an oxbow lake because of it's looped shape resembling a collar worn by oxen.

Answer 2

As rivers age, they tend to find the lowest gradient of flow. This results in a meander which eventually can come back on itself. At some point, the banks of the meander might break through, short-circuiting the meander and resulting in an oxbow lake.

Answer 3

the flow of the water in a river will tend to erode the far bank of a meandering river and eventually can create a new channel different from the existing channel. The piece that is cut off is not longer part of the flowing river but the trapped water is called an oxbow lake.

the flow of water wants to go in a straight line, but if the bank meanders back and forth, the far banks will tend to erode away as the force of the water continually hits the bank. As the erosion continues, the far bank will erode away sufficiently to allow the river water to find a new outlet thus cutting off the portion in which the river used to flow.