Figure 16.29

Stream meanders. (A) Meanders develop on flat floodplains as the thalweg cuts into the outside edge of a meander. This process takes decades or longer. (B) This small stream near Cairns, Australia, developed its meanders and meander scars in the process outlined above. (C) Stream meanders are most common in low-gradient streams. But high-gradient streams, such as this small creek in the central Sierra Nevada in California, also develop meanders where the rivers flow through flat meadows.