Horseshoe Lake - Oxbow EarthCache
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Meander : Is a bend in a sinuous watercourse or river. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley.
Oxbow : An U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether or not it is cut off from the main stream.
What Is An Oxbow Lake?
An oxbow is a crescent-shaped lake lying alongside a winding river. The oxbow lake is created over time as erosion and deposits of soil change the river's course. When a river reaches a low-lying plain, often in its final course to the sea or a lake, it meanders widely.
Continuous deposition on the inner bank and erosion of the outer bank of a meandering river cause the formation of a very pronounced meander with two outer banks getting closer. The narrow neck of land between the two neighboring inner banks is finally cut through, either by lateral erosion of the two concave banks or by the strong currents of a flood. When this happens, a new straighter river channel is created and an abandoned meander loop, called a cutoff, is formed. When deposition finally seals off the cutoff from the river channel, an oxbow lake is formed. This process can occur over a time scale from a few years to several decades and may sometimes become essentially static.You can see how an oxbow lake takes shape below (visit link)
(1) On the inside of the loop, the river travels more slowly leading to deposition of silt.
(2) Meanwhile water on the outside edges tends to flow faster, which erodes the banks making the meander even wider.
(3) Over time the loop of the meander widens until the neck vanishes altogether.
(4) Then the meander is removed from the river's current and the horseshoe shaped oxbow lake is formed.
Without a current to move the water along, sediment builds up along the banks and fills in the lake.
(visit link)
TO LOG THIS CACHE:
Email me the answer to the following questions with the name or GC code of this Earthcache. You can log it. I will email you if the answers are wrong . Logs without answers will be deleted.
1) While standing in the middle of the road that cuts thru the lake, Which side of the lake has the highest banks?
2) While Observing the lake, What way is the lake flowing?
3) After Observing the lake tell me in your own words, What causes the lake to flow that way?
4) Using a leaf or wooden sticks laying around the edge of the lake, drop it in the water and measure how long does it takes to travel 10 feet? Use a stopwatch or some GPS units come with stopwatch.
5)State the Time / day and weather conditions of the day of your visit. (I live nearby)
6) Bonus: Post a Photo if you like.
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Treasures
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