oxbow lake
Cutoff river crescent
An oxbow lake is a curved, crescent-shaped body of water formed when a river's meandering loop gets cut off from the main channel.
The river takes a shorter path, leaving the abandoned bend as a separate lake.
The name comes from the U-shaped frame fitted around an ox's neck: The Mississippi floodplain is dotted with oxbow lakes.
- billabongIsolated river pool
- dead armLimb without sensation
- cutoffPoint of termination
- floodplainFlood-prone riverside lowland
- meanderTo travel without direction
river bend · delta · water body · still water · channel · stagnant · horseshoe · abandoned · crescent · estuary · backwater · bend · lazy river · tributary · limnology · creek · serpentine · erosion
- bodies of waterocean, river, sea, stream, pond
- water bodiessea, rivers, streams, stream, ponds
- freshwaterponds, river water, creek, brook, pond life
- lakesSuperior, Erie, Michigan, Ontario, Huron
- Amazon RainforestAmazon, tropical rainforest, Amazon rainforest, Amazon basin, jungle
- habitatsforest, ocean, river, pond, desert
oxbow lakemain channel
Principal navigable passage
river · river channel · stream · main stem · headwaters
oxbow lakeglacial lake
Ice-formed water body
crater lake · reservoir · fjord · ocean · artificial lake
bow, lake, elbow, lakes, elbows, oxen, lakeside, lakefront, lakeshore