Point bar
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A point bar is a depositional feature made of alluvium that accumulates on the inside bend of streams and rivers below the slip-off slope. Point bars are found in abundance in mature or meandering str
Cut bank erosion and point bar deposition as seen on the Powder River in Montana.
Point bar at a river meander: the Cirque de la Madeleine in the Gorges de l'Ardèche, France.
Oxbow lake
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An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or
Point bar
…point can increase dramatically in response to only a small increase in water depth. An old fallacy exists regarding the formation of point bars and oxbow lakes which suggests they are formed by the deposition (dropping) of a watercourse's suspended load claiming the velocity and energy of the stream decreases…
This picture of the Nowitna River in Alaska shows two oxbow lakes – a short one at the bottom of the picture and a longer, more curved one at the middle-right. The picture also shows that a third oxbow lake is probably in the making: the isthmus or bank in the centre of the most prominent meander is very narrow – much narrower than the width of the river; eventually, the two sections of river on either side of an isthmus like that tend to break through and create a new, straighter course; a new river bank then starts to accumulate, sealing off the meander and leaving another oxbow lake.
A Horseshoe or oxbow lake near Hughes, Arkansas, on the border between Arkansas and Mississippi. The bulges in the border reflect changes in the course of the river; when the river shifted its course and cut off the former channel, the border remained unchanged.
Oxbow lakes on New Zealand's Taieri River have been converted into water meadows.
The Oxbow, on the Connecticut River, Thomas Cole