Question

What are ox-bow lakes?

Answer 1

Hint: The word "oxbow" can indicate a U-shaped bend in a river or stream. Generally in south Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are known as resacas. In Australia, oxbow lakes are known as billabongs.

Complete Answer:
An oxbow lake is formed when a river creates a meander,because of the river's eroding bank. After a long period’s time, the meander turns very curved, then eventually the neck of the meander turns narrower and the river cuts through the neck, resulting in cutting off the meander and forming an oxbow lake. Basically, when a river reaches towards a low-lying plain, that takes place often in its final course to the sea or a lake, it meanders widely. In the river’s vincity bend, deposition takes place on the convex bank which refers to the bank with the smaller radius. In contrast, both lateral erosion as well as undercutting occur either on the cut bank or concave bank that refers to the bank with the greater radius. Continuous deposition on the convex bank as well as erosion of the concave bank of a meandering river gradually cause the formation of a very pronounced meander along with two concave banks getting closer. The narrow neck of land present between the two neighboring concave banks is eventually cut through, by lateral erosion of the two concave banks or by the strong currents of a flood. During the time when this takes place a new, straighter river channel is developed—and an abandoned meander loop, called a cutoff, forms. When deposition at last seals off the cutoff from the river channel, an oxbow lake is formed. This process can occur over a time from a few years to several decades, and may sometimes become essentially static.

Note:
Oxbow lakes sometimes be formed at the time when a river channel is straightened artificially in order to improve navigation or for flood alleviation. This occurred notably on the upper Rhine present in Germany in the nineteenth century.