Explain how a stream that is initially nearly straight can ...

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Explain how a stream that is initially nearly straight can eventually produce an oxbow lake.

Question 2

Describe some of the ways a stream changes between its source and its mouth.

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Answer to Question 1

Slight meanders in the stream become exaggerated over time as erosion occurs at the outside cut bank and deposition occurs at the inside point bar. Flood waters may bypass particularly long meanders, taking a shortcut and cutting a new channel that leaves much of the meander isolated, becoming an oxbow lake.

Answer to Question 2

The gradient of an idealized stream decreases from its source to its mouth. In its headwaters, the stream erodes steep-sided valleys and may flow over bedrock. In its middle course, the stream builds a floodplain by eroding laterally rather than downward. As it reaches the lower course, the floodplain grows even wider, and features like oxbow lakes may be common. Finally, where the river meets standing water, it builds a delta as the stream loses its remaining energy and the fine-grained sediment that enabled it to carry.

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