Meander

The name originates with the river known in Greek as Μαίανδρος (Maiandros), Latin Maeander. Classical writers noted the river's extremely winding course; over time the toponymous name passed into the vocabulary as a common noun and verb meaning 'to wind' or 'to be convoluted'. The supplied sources treat the term as a descriptive and scientific label rather than as an animate or mythic being.

A meander appears as one of a series of sinuous curves in a stream or river channel. Physically this consists of alternating outer, concave banks (cut banks or river cliffs) subject to erosion and inner, convex banks (point bars) where sediment is deposited, producing a sinuous channel that migrates across the floodplain. Quantitatively, meandering channels commonly have sinuosity (channel length divided by straight-line down-valley distance) of 1.5 or more; the meander belt is typically on the order of 15–18 times the channel width.

Described in geomorphological terms, meanders form and evolve through the coupled processes of outer-bank erosion and inner-bank deposition driven by secondary/helicoidal flow within the channel. These processes cause meanders to migrate downstream, increase sinuosity, and occasionally be severed by cutoff events that form oxbow lakes. Hydrodynamic balances (pressure/centrifugal effects, boundary-layer flow) and sediment transport govern meander initiation and evolution; while historical hypotheses (e.g., Einstein 1926 invoking Coriolis force) exist, supplied sources note Coriolis effects are likely insignificant compared with dominant forces.