Back to Exercise Page

STREAM LANDFORM EXERCISE

Point Bars                    deposits of gravel and sand formed on the inside of meanders - take the shape of the
                                    meander

Meander                      The sinuous path of the river, bending back and forth.

Cutoff                          When a meander neck gets too narrow, during a flood the stream may cut across the
                                    meander neck creating a new path for the stream and causing the old path to become
                                    an oxbow lake, separated from the original stream.  The cutoff is the new stream path.

Oxbow Lake               An arcuate, the shape of the meander, lake separated from the stream of which it used
                                    to be a part.

Meander Neck            That narrow strip of land between two meanders.

Meander Marsh           An oxbow lake that has started to fill in.  First it becomes a marsh as the lake is filled
                                    with vegetation.  It still retains the shape of the original meander.

Meander Scar              An oxbow lake that has filled in with sediment to the point that it only holds water during the
                                    rain.  It still retains the shape of the original meander.

Back Swamp               A large swampy area, typically found along the valley wall, that does not look like a meander
                                    and is formed by flood waters.

        What is at A?  What is at B?  What is at C?

        What do the arrows point to?