Meander

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For other uses, see Meander (disambiguation).

A hypothetical stream bed following a tilted valley. The maximum gradient is along the down-valley
axis represented by a hypothetical straight channel. Meanders develop, which lengthen the course of the
stream, decreasing the gradient.

Meanders of the Rio Cauto at Guamo Embarcadero, Cuba.

A meander, in general, is a bend in a sinuous watercourse or river. A meander

forms when moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its
valley, and the inner part of the river has less energy and deposits silt.
A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course,
alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them
on the inside. The result is a snaking pattern as the stream meanders back and
forth across its down-valley axis. When a meander gets cut off from the main
stream, an oxbow lakeforms. Over time meanders migrate downstream,
sometimes in such a short time as to create civil engineering problems for local

municipalities attempting to maintain stable roads and bridges.

There is not yet full consistency or standardization of scientific terminology
used to describe watercourses. A variety of symbols and schemes exist.
Parameters based on mathematical formulae or numerical data vary as well,
depending on the database used by the theorist. Unless otherwise defined in a
specific scheme "meandering" and "sinuosity" here are synonymous and mean
any repetitious pattern of bends, or waveforms. In some schemes,
"meandering" applies only to rivers with exaggerated circular loops or
secondary meanders; that is, meanders on meanders.
Sinuosity is one of the channel types that a stream may assume over all or part
of its course. All streams are sinuous at some time in their geologic history over
some part of their length.