Rivers cut corners
Reducing the meander
Over centuries
This poem is one of several that were inspired looking out of an airplane window. I was looking at an oxbow lake and thinking about how the river took a short cut. It is a simple reflection on what may seem static is decidedly not so with a shift of time frame. Incidentally, someone called me on this, claiming that rivers actually meander more over time. Turns out both cases can be true, but the meaning of the poem is the same either way.
Oxbow lakes are formed from curves in rivers as the water erodes the banks of bends, pinching off a loop of river that becomes an oxbow lake as it’s isolated from the main body of the river. Many rivers were channelized during the 19th century to be used as water ways, forming artificial oxbow lakes which may since have silted up or dried out. A study by Seidel et al (2017) suggests that reconnecting such oxbow lakes to the main channels might be an important measure for native species conservation and river restoration.
The name oxbow comes from the U-shaped collar that used to be used as a harness around the neck of oxen as they pulled ploughs. Other terms for oxbow lakes are loop lakes, cutoff lakes and horseshoe lakes.
Original Research: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/clen.201600211
John Norwood is a Mechanical Engineer working with Carbon, Inc. to revolutionize how things are made. His interests include old houses, yoga, baking, cryptography, and bluegrass music. You can follow him on Twitter under the handle @pryoga
Enjoyed this sciku? Check out some of John’s other work: Universal truth, The answer is none, God may be defined, With enough data, and Squeamish ossifrage.