Meander

A meander is a winding bend in a river channel, shaped as flowing water erodes the outer bank and deposits sediment along the inner bank.

Helicoidal flow: A spiral pattern of water movement that carries flow from one side of a channel toward the other. This cross-channel circulation shifts sediment from the outer bank toward the inner bank.
Sinuosity: A measure comparing a river channel's length with the straight-line distance along its valley. It quantifies how winding a meandering channel is.
Meander scar: A curved surface trace left by a former river channel or abandoned bend. Scars preserve the paths of bends that migrated or were cut off.
Braided river: A river with multiple shifting channels separated by sediment bars. Unlike a meandering river's dominant winding channel, braided rivers divide around bars.
Cut bank: An eroding, steep riverbank on the outside of a bend. Fast outer-bank flow undercuts the bank and drives bend migration.
Thalweg: The line connecting the deepest points along a river channel. Its path through a bend helps locate the strongest channel flow.
Meander belt: The corridor across which a meandering river shifts its channel over time. Its width helps identify the area exposed to channel migration.
Anastomosing river: A river with multiple relatively stable channels separated by vegetated islands or floodplain. Its persistent branching network differs from a single migrating meander belt.
Point bar: A sediment deposit that accumulates along the inside of a river bend. Slower inner-bank flow builds the deposit opposite the eroding cut bank.
Sediment transport: The movement of mineral particles by water, wind, ice, or gravity. Transport and settling determine where a bend erodes and where it builds deposits.

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