What is the name for a meander that has been cut off from the main river channel and abandoned?

What is the name for a meander that has been cut off from the main river channel and abandoned?

• A. Ox Bow Lake
• B. Slip Off Slope
• C. River Cliff
• D. Alluvium

Answer: (A)

When a bend in a river becomes cut off from the main channel, the feature that forms is an oxbow lake. This happens when one of the meander’s necks is breached during a flood, allowing the river to take a shorter, straighter path. The river then follows the new course, leaving the old meander loop isolated from the main flow. Over time, sediment fills the abandoned channel and a crescent-shaped lake remains where the loop used to be. Why the other terms don’t fit: a slip-off slope is the deposited ramp on the inside of a bend, still connected to the active meander; a river cliff is the steep outer bank eroded away on the outside of the bend; alluvium refers to general river-deposited sediment, not a water-filled abandoned loop.

When a bend in a river becomes cut off from the main channel, the feature that forms is an oxbow lake. This happens when one of the meander’s necks is breached during a flood, allowing the river to take a shorter, straighter path. The river then follows the new course, leaving the old meander loop isolated from the main flow. Over time, sediment fills the abandoned channel and a crescent-shaped lake remains where the loop used to be.

Why the other terms don’t fit: a slip-off slope is the deposited ramp on the inside of a bend, still connected to the active meander; a river cliff is the steep outer bank eroded away on the outside of the bend; alluvium refers to general river-deposited sediment, not a water-filled abandoned loop.