Oxbow lake

An oxbow lake is a crescent-shaped body of water formed when a river cuts through a meander’s narrow neck, isolating the former bend.

Meander: A winding bend in a river channel, shaped by erosion on its outer bank and deposition on its inner bank. The bend supplies the channel segment that becomes isolated.
Fluvial landform: A landform created by the erosion, transport, or deposition of sediment by rivers. Oxbow lakes are one product of river-shaped landscapes.
Mississippi River: A major North American river that flows from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Its floodplain contains many well-known oxbow lakes.
Wetland: An ecosystem where water saturates or covers the soil for at least part of the year. Many oxbow lakes develop into wetland habitats as they become shallower.
Neck cutoff: A river process in which flow breaches the narrow strip of land between adjacent parts of a meander. This breach shortens the river course and disconnects the bend.
River channel migration: The gradual lateral or downstream movement of a river channel across its floodplain. Migration brings neighboring meander bends closer together.
Carter Lake (Iowa–Nebraska): An oxbow lake formed by a former bend of the Missouri River near Omaha. It is a prominent example of a cutoff bend that now lies across the river from much of Iowa.
Floodplain ecology: The study of ecological processes and communities in river floodplains. Oxbow lakes provide habitats connected to floodplain water and nutrient cycles.
Meander cutoff: The diversion of a river into a shorter channel that bypasses part or all of a meander. It leaves the former bend outside the main flow.
Floodplain: A relatively flat area beside a river that is periodically inundated by floods. The former channel usually lies within the river’s floodplain.

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