Ox Bow Lake Formation, As Seen By the Google Earth Time Machine

djl4570 writes with a link to this "excellent study in the gradual change of geographic features as a river meander becomes an ox bow lake when the river current cuts through the meander. The same Google Earth feature can be used to view changes in urban and suburban geography. The historical data is a work in progress. The region I looked at only has images going back to 1993. Other regions will have a different mix and depth of data."

Comments

global warming

[phantomfive]

I've plotted a graph of all the ox bow lake formations found using Google Maps, and guess what? Not one formed before 1993. What happened in 1993? That's right, CO2 levels hit 350ppm. Coincidence? I think not. We need to save our ox bows, donate today.

Re:Wait a few million years

[kanweg]

You can view that in the cinema right now.

Scratch
Full disclosure: I was in the movie

In the Science museum in Paris they have a wall with a crack that was closed when the museum was opened. They move the walls apart over the years by the same distance that Europe and America drift apart. There was quite a wide crack when I was there many years ago. By now you must be able to walk through it quite easily.

Bert

Re:Wait a few million years

[Zontar The Mindless]

Over the course of your lifetime, Europe and America will have drifted about 20 feet further apart.

(Best estimate seems to be 5-10 cm/yr. Split the difference and multiply by 75 years; that's about 5.6 metres.)

Re:My eyes, they hurts

[Anonymous Coward]

Owner of the blog here. I follow the sources of my traffic back to their origins and I'm sorry the text bothered you. I've fixed it. However, your witty remark comes with a price. You owe me your eyeballs.

Re:Wait a few million years

[riverat1]

No but they get plenty of filler lava.

Map view doesn't show the cut-through

[IcyHando'Death]

The blog provides the coordinates, 2915'34.29"N 09534'08.85"W, so you can view the formation on Google maps. If you check it out in map view, it still shows the original river bend with no cut-through.

Billabong for our "Down Under" friends

[Red Storm]

Just in case our "Upside down" compatriots in Australia are confused about an Ox-Bow lake, you would know them as a Billabong, yes body of water that the Swagman boiled his billy by and ultimately jumped into is real...