Oxbows

“The Oxbow Eco Center. It covers only about 250 acres and it's right on the edge of the city limits. But's its a pretty true natural area - the call it like the "real" Florida. Lots of scrub pine and saw palmetto everywhere. Lots of little signs telling visitors about the flora of the area - Red Maple, Spanish Moss, Prickly Pear, Gopher Apple, Bromeliads and more.

The only wildlife we saw were three butterflies, one dragonfly and 6 osprey high overhead.

The short trail we walked took us through the fairly open saw palmetto into fairly thick, almost jungle like areas in the St. Lucie River floodplain. Thought we might get a look at a gator, but no such luck.

The walk along the river has me itching to get a canoe though now. Pretty good way to spend a Sunday afternoon with the kids.”

“Oh, meant to talk about oxbows a little. Apparently thats the term used for the twisting bends in the local rivers that cause the water to slllloooooowwww down and spread out. Anyway, the place is named after it.”

“Sounds like a really nice time.

A dragonfly, eh? I love them so much... fascinate me. My third tattoo is going to be a dragonfly.”

“Oxbow is the shape of the yoke that goes over the neck of an ox to pull a wagon. Sort of wishbone shaped except more rounded. The West Branch of the Sacandaga here in the southern Dacks is an oxbow, it swings around and one end passes the other at a not too distant point.

And Scorchy, where is that tattoo going to be?

Dragonflies are sacred to the Lakota. They are one of the few creaturs that live underwater, on the water, on the land and in the air at various stages of their development”

“There's tons of dragonflies down here. Last spring, I went tubing on a river in the north central part of the state, the name escapes me right now, but there were HUNDREDS of dragaonflies - they'd hover around our feet while we floated on the tube. Kinda cool.”

“probably on my lower back. i have one already on the back of my neck and another on my stomach/hip area”

“pics????”

“I was thinking of getting a tatto like that also....either that or a butterfly :)”

“Oxbow... is that like a goat neck?

(I've been listening to Click & Clack again)”

“"pics????"

yea, actually”

“OXBOW: sheesh, lets get the right definition here (Sincerely hoping I have the right one here, or I'll need to eat something nasty, I suppose)

I thought an oxbow was the closed off, left-over lake or water that occurs because, as was said, water slows down, sedimentation occurs, and that body of water is closed off from the main river or stream, which cuts a new course.

Right or stupid?? lol”

“This literature at the eco center didn't say they were closed off - they concurred with Red Hawk.

The big wide slow bends that, here in FL at least, tend to flood fairly regular due to such flat topography.”

“When meander bends become giant loops, there is a thin piece of land left between the beginning and the end of the meander. This is the meander neck.

As the river neck becomes very narrow, the river can break through. For a short time, water flows both round the meander (which is now called a backwater) and across the meander neck.

Eventually the river cuts off the backwater completely and flows across what used to be the meander neck. For a short time, an oxbow lake is left behind. It is called an oxbow lake because it is shaped like the old fashioned 'U' shaped yoke that was once used to hitch an ox to a plough. The oxbow lake lasts until it becomes overgrown with weeds and filled in with soil. This happens quite quickly as it is cut off from the main river and therefore doesn't get any water.”

“I'm thinking an oxbow lake doesn't necessarily fill in. Looking at the Mississippi River you can see a bunch of oxbow lakes still filled with water, especially downriver. Am just looking at the border of Mississippi and Louisiana. The river is totally winding around and you can see a few of those lakes left behind, as well as pieces of one state in the other state, left there as the river's path changed.”

“Lizzy is right.”

“They're both right. Oxbow can refer to either the bow-shaped curve in the river and the lake that is formed from it later. And "quickly" is a relative term. Something that happens quickly in geological terms can take an awfully long time when measured in human lifespan.

This is based on an explanation given to me by a geologist at the university I attended when I asked the very same questions lizs asked.”

“Where's the Eco-center? Off Savannah Road or Midway Road? Both of them are my old stomping grounds.”

“Hey, Skullcap, no science allowed in this argument.”

“It's about one or two miles south of Midway Road down St. James (25th) street. I must live in your old stomping grounds Wheelz.”

“Friends of mine lived on Indian river Dr. near the end of Midway. We would always load up and take forays out into the hinterlands from there. But I know the Jensen Savannahs best, what's left of them.”

“Sorry Dun. I get a bit carried away sometimes. No harm meant!”