Songhua River, northeast China. Swirls and curves, showing paths the river once took, as well as oxbow lakes, are easily seen in this satellite photo.

An oxbow lake is a type of lake which is formed when a wide meander from a stream or a river is cut off to form a lake. They are called oxbow lakes due to the distinctive curved shape that results from this process. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2124x2733, 1864 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Songhua River Oxbow lake ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2124x2733, 1864 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Songhua River Oxbow lake ... Location of the Songhua River is in dark blue. ... Approximate extent Northeast China (Simplified Chinese: 东北; Traditional Chinese: 東北; pinyin: Dōngběi; literally east-north), historically known as Manchuria, is the name of a region (ca. ... A man-made lake in Keukenhof, Netherlands A lake is a body of water or other liquid of considerable size contained on a body of land. ... Meanders in a river A meander is a bend in a river, also known as an oxbow loop. ... Río Peralonso - El Zulia (Norte de Santander), Colombia River Gambia flowing through Niokolokoba National Park Nevėžis River in Lithuania A river is a natural waterway usually formed by water derived from either precipitation or glacial meltwater, and flows from higher ground to lower ground. ... Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park For other meanings, see Billabong (disambiguation) Billabong is an Australian English word used to refer to an oxbow lake, a still pool of water cut off from a waterway. ...

Formation

A Horse shoe or oxbow lake near Hughes, Arkansas, USA.
The bulges in the border reflect changes in the course of the river; when the river shifted its course and cut off the former channel, the border did not change.

When a river reaches a low-lying plain in its final course to the sea or a lake, it meanders widely. Deposition occurs on the convex bank because of the ‘slack water’, or water at low velocity. In contrast, both lateral erosion and undercutting occur on the concave bank where the stream’s velocity is the highest. Continuous erosion of a concave bank and deposition on the convex bank of a meandering river cause the formation of a very pronounced meander with two e narrow neck of land between the two neighbouring concave banks is finally cut through, either by lateral erosion of the two concave banks or by the strong currents of a flood. When this happens, a new straighter river channel is created and an abandoned meander loop, called a cut-off, is formed. When deposition finally seals off the cut-off from the river channel, an oxbow lake is formed. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Hughes is a city located in St. ... Sea as seen from jetty in Frankston, Australia Look up maritime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A man-made lake in Keukenhof, Netherlands A lake is a body of water or other liquid of considerable size contained on a body of land. ... Meanders in a river A meander is a bend in a river, also known as an oxbow loop. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into sediment. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. For erosion as understood by materials science, see Erosion (materials science) For erosion as an English analogy, see Erosion (figurative) For erosion as an operation of Mathematical morphology, see Erosion (morphology) Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil... Meanders in a river A meander is a bend in a river, also known as an oxbow loop. ... Picture of flooding in Amphoe Sena, Ayutthaya Province, Thailand For other uses, see Flood (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Canal. ...

Some rivers shift in this way on a time scale from a few years to several decades whereas others are essentially static.

Examples

Early stages of formation of coastal plain ox-bow lake. Gower Peninsula, Wales, UK

Wee Tee Lake, Santee River valley, South Carolina

The Reelfoot Lake in west Tennessee is an oxbow lake formed when the Mississippi River changed course following the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811–1812. There are many oxbow lakes alongside the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The largest oxbow lake in North America, Lake Chicot (located near Lake Village, Arkansas), was originally part of the Arkansas River. Image File history File linksMetadata Ox-bow_meander. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Ox-bow_meander. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1800x1172, 2069 KB)Wee Tee Lake, an oxbow of the Santee River, South Carolina Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL, Pollinator 05:18, 9 February 2006 (UTC) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1800x1172, 2069 KB)Wee Tee Lake, an oxbow of the Santee River, South Carolina Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL, Pollinator 05:18, 9 February 2006 (UTC) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document... The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States, approximately 143 mi (230 km long). ... Reelfoot Lake is a shallow natural lake located in the extreme northwest portion of Tennessee, United States of America, just south of the Kentucky line. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi meaning great river (gichi-ziibi big river at its headwaters), is the second-longest named river in North America, with a length of 2320 miles (3733 km) from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. ... The New Madrid Earthquake, the largest earthquake ever recorded in the contiguous United States, occurred on February 7, 1812. ... 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... For the overture by Tchaikovsky, see 1812 Overture; For the wars, see War of 1812 (USA - United Kingdom) or Patriotic War of 1812 (France - Russia) For the Siberia Airlines plane crashed over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001, see Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 1812 was a leap year starting... Lake Chicot, located near Lake Village, Arkansas, is the largest oxbow lake in North America and the largest natural lake in Arkansas. ... Lake Village is a city located in Chicot County, Arkansas. ... The Arkansas River flows through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. ...

Cuckmere Haven in Sussex, England contains a widely meandering river with many oxbow lakes, often referred to in physical geography textbooks. Looking West over Cuckmere Haven The Seven Sisters cliffs and the lifeboat cottages, from Seaford Head showing Cuckmere Haven (looking East) Cuckmere Haven is an area of flood plains in Sussex, England where the river Cuckmere meets the English Channel between Eastbourne and Brighton. ... Sussex is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Meanders in a river A meander is a bend in a river, also known as an oxbow loop. ... Río Peralonso - El Zulia (Norte de Santander), Colombia River Gambia flowing through Niokolokoba National Park Nevėžis River in Lithuania A river is a natural waterway usually formed by water derived from either precipitation or glacial meltwater, and flows from higher ground to lower ground. ... True-color image of the Earths surface and atmosphere Physical geography (also know as geosystems or physiography) is a subfield of geography that focuses on the systematic study of patterns and processes within the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. ...

External links

• Picture of a meander and oxbow lake said to be courtesy of the USGS.
• False River oxbow lake, near Baton Rouge Louisiana.
• Oxbow lakes near Zurich, Montana.
• Filled in oxbow lakes, Rob-Bell Plantation near Scott, Arkansas.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government. ... Capitol Building Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana, a state of the United States of America. ... Official language(s) de jure: none de facto: English & French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city Baton Rouge [1] Area  Ranked 31st  - Total 51,885 sq mi (134,382 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 16  - Latitude 29°N to 33°N  - Longitude 89°W... Official language(s) English Capital Helena Largest city Billings Area  Ranked 4th  - Total 147,165 sq mi (381,156 km²)  - Width 255 miles (410 km)  - Length 630 miles (1,015 km)  - % water 1  - Latitude 44°26N to 49°N  - Longitude 104°2W to 116°2W Population  Ranked... Scott is a butt head who lives rocky in a census-designated place located in Lonoke County, Arkansas. ...

References

• NASA Remote Sensing Tutorial: Fluvial/Deltaic/Coastal Landforms