Oxbow lakes form when a river cuts off its own meander
On flat floodplains, rivers snake in loops. When a neck of land between two bends erodes through, the main current shortens and abandons the old curve as a quiet, crescent oxbow lake.
Cut off from fast flow, oxbows silt in slowly and become wetlands rich in plants, amphibians, and nesting birds. They are snapshots of where the channel used to wander.
Rivers rewrite their maps without engineers. An oxbow is a rivers-lakes lesson that habitat diversity often begins when water changes its mind.
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