Ox bow lakes 🐂

Meanders are far more pronounced in the lower course of a river. Continuous lateral erosion, hydraulic action, abrasion/corrasion and solution result in the neck of land between meanders becoming narrower and narrower. Eventually, the river cuts through this thin neck of land. The river has now found a straighter, shorter route to peneplain/base level and so the meander is abandoned. The river is now fastest at its centre and so begins to deposit at its sides where friction is greatest. These deposits slowly build up before finally sealing off the old meander. What now reminds is a horseshoe/ crescent shaped feature known as an ox-bow lake, full of stagnent water. However, they are only temporary features. They lose their water to evaporation and gradually become filled with sediment deposited in the times of flooding. Vegetation soon takes hold and so the dried up former ox-bow lake is now known as a Mortlake/ meander scar. Eg. River Liffey