What is the difference between an oxbow lake and a meander?

Answer 1

A meander is a bend in the river. A slow flowing river tends to meander (form bends) when flowing over a flat valley floor. An oxbow lake is an old river bend that has been naturally cut off. It has formed a long, curved lake that is separate from the main river.

Answer 2

Meander rivers are loopy rivers and oxbow lakes are lakes developed from meander rivers.

Meander Formation

Water flows faster on the outer curve of the bend of a river and slower on the inner curve so the outer bank gets eroded, but silt is deposited at the inner bank. Over time as the outer bank wears and the inner one grows, a meander forms. As the process continues, the meander becomes more loopy.

Oxbow Lake Formation

An Oxbow Lake is a development of a meander, thanks to erosion and deposition. The neck/bend of the meander grows narrower and narrower and eventually the river just takes a shortcut of straight on ahead instead of going around the neck/bend. Soon the loop of the meander is sealed off altogether and it turns into an oxbow lake.In time the lake will get covered with weeds, fill with soil and will disappear.

If you doing this for work/school I suggest you use diagrams/pictures to show each stage.

Answer 3

yes