i recently took a quiz, and during the time when we reveiwed i think i was dreaming of an un-industrialized united states...so here is my question. when the river curves and a bank is formed where is the deepest part of the river, i thought it would be in the center because the name for that is the channel and i fish, and just always figured that the deepest part is the channel, what is the real answer to this?

-- george welch (gwelch@oswego.edu), April 30, 2001

Answers

Meanders on a flood plain migrate over periods of many years, eroding the outside bank of bends, where the current is strongest. Meanders shift position from side to side and also downstream, in a snaking motion something like that of a long rope being snapped. As outside banks are eroded, curved sandbars, called point bars, are deposited along the inside banks, where the current is slower----Understanding Earth, secodn edition, page 324.....so to answer your question, the outerbank is deeper because that is where the erosion takes place.

-- Joseph T. Sterbank (linus112@aol.com), April 30, 2001.

In class, Professor Gabel drew a diagram of what happens at a river bend over time. Deposition occurs at the inside of the bank and the ouside bank is continually being eroded and is much deeper.

-- Erika Eldred (ere9456@hotmail.com), May 01, 2001.

The deepest part of a river is in fact most commonly found on the outside of any bend in a river or creek. This is because over time the water has caused erosion along the edge of the bank. When the water erodes the bank it creates the deeper side because water always takes the path of least resistance and with that side being deeper, the water naturally flows in the deepest parts. With this increased flow in the deeper part the water speed is faster allowing for more eroded material to be transported away from the bend until the water straightens out and slows thus dropping the materials downstream or on the inner bank where the water is not fast enough to carry the material away.

-- Ian Craig (craig@oswego.edu), May 03, 2001.