Why Do Rivers Curve?

Can you find an oxbow lake in GoogleEarth? Share your findings (pictures or coordinates) on Twitter, Facebook and other social media using the hashtag #oxbowlake

CREDITS
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Created by Henry Reich
Production and Writing Team: Alex Reich, Peter Reich, Emily Elert, Ever Salazar, Kate Yoshida, and Henry Reich
Illustration and Animation: Ever Salazar
Narrated by: Emily Elert
Music by Nathaniel Schroeder

"Oxbow" voiceovers by:

OTHER CREDITS
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Waterfalls Cascading - Courtesy Shutterstock

Rio cauto Cuba - Public Domain Photo

Tiger Leaping Gorge - Courtesy Shutterstock

River coming from mountain - Google Earth
42°21'35.72" S 173°34'30.41" E

Meandering River - Google Earth Engine

Under Water 2 - Ken Mankoff

Oxbow Lake Australia - GoogleEarth
23°41'31.06" S 150°47'53.91" E

Oxbow Lake Colombia - GoogleEarth
3°20'18.70" N 70°07'10.92" O

Oxbow Lake France - Google Earth
46°55'24.16" N 5°19'28.34" E

Dry Oxbow Lake Colorado - Google Earth
32°00'06.80" N 115°07'19.81" O

Martian Rivers on Aeolis Planum - NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Mars Rover Curiosity - Public Domain Image

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OUR LINKS
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REFERENCES
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Ferreira da Silva, A. M. (2006). On why and how do rivers meander.

Schwenk, Jon. Interview. 9 July 2014.

[AkshayKumar-sdmx]

That damn squirrel from Ice Age must have caused it.

[lob]

Big WOW for the Mars photo at the end. I didn't know that evidence for water flowing in the past on Mars is that .. evident :D

[_Prnc_Dmrs_]

I love the details with the muskrat family. The two adults have a child, the child grows up and graduates (the mum either died or left), and the child moves out (the father died I think), and when the muskrat is looking at the billabong it thought that a family of other muskrats had died. Amazing attention to detail.

[alrycaaeveahexendias]

1:18 Notice that the family picture has been torn removing one of the parent muskrat, probably the father. Their relationship must've become rocky when their child moved out of the house until they finally divorced. Mother muskrat was left to die alone, explaining the lonely set of skeleton where she once stood.

[AlvinLee]

That muskrat family had my attention the whole time...

[thetntsheep]

This taught me more than 6 geography lessons

[caidthackeray]

I dunno why, but I felt immensely sad when the muskrat died.

Edit: I posted this comment like 2 months late and then it blew up. How?

[Domziiee]

I had garden soil dumped on my driveway and I had transferred most of it, however it rained, and when I went back to look, it had these perfect wavy ‘rivers’ where rain water had passed through the left over soil. It looked really impressive

[antonioluna]

Somehow, you created a really sad story about muskrats in a video explaining why rivers have curves, nice.

[its_matt_long]

How rivers are formed: Muskrats making a home for themselves

[Cyfix]

lol "a little disturbance" shows Darth Vader

Lake: I sense a disturbance in the force

[Gastogh]

That finishing shot of Mars made me "whoa" a little bit.

[totally_notkikii]

This taught me more than 3 hours of studying, 9 geography lessons and 2 hours of researching...

[blacksheeptheory]

That Muskrat family went through more character development than the entire mcu. Oscar worthy.

[ion]

The mars thing at the end blew my mind!!!

[adrianghandtchi]

That was extremely educational, and reflects some of the decisions that are being made in the Netherlands about taking away retaining walls and restoring natural river routs to combat frequent flooding

[quasar]

That was brilliant! Great video, explanation, pace even was awesome. you took something honestly that was so so interesting and explained so thoroughly yet quick and dummied it down to the perfect level. Bravo

[bartoszlabuc]

And I studied geography for five years for what exactly?!?

[fadedapollo]

I love the form factor of this video. It's so simple, the voices are pleasing, the animations keep my attention, and it's straight to the point

[ThatOneJalapenoKid]

Interesting, informative, right to the point, easy to understand, and tought me about a natural lake that i didn't even know existed, and now know how its formed. What an excellent video! Thanks guys!