Akademik

  an exaggerated, looping, bend in a river. Once formed, meanders grow in such a way that they will eventually cut themselves off from the river and cease to exist. Flow around the outer bend is faster than on the inner meaning erosion occurs there to undercut the outer bank and material is moved across the meander and deposited on the slower inner bend. The meander can therefore migrate across the land on which it flows -usually a lower course floodplain. Thus, over time, the 'neck' of the loop closes until it joins and the river takes the shortest route, cutting off the meander and forming an ox-bow lake.