2/28/2024 0 Comments Meander river greeceThe faster flow will cause more erosion on that side of the obstruction and eventually, a concave bank will be formed. This is the same principle that creates the lift in an airfoil, the upper surface is curved so the air must go faster, creating a pressure drop. The water that takes the longer route will need to go faster. Returning now to the formation of river bends when an impediment to the downward flow of water is encountered, the river will flow around it not symmetrically, but favoring one side. The radius of curvature is like the radius of a circle for a bend in a river, it is the radius of the arc that the bend makes. The wavelength is the distance along the ground between successive bends that are in the same direction. The amplitude is the distance along the ground that the river bend extends away from the overall downward path of the river. Because a meandering river has alternating bends, it is like a wave and therefore has an amplitude, a wavelength, and a radius of curvature. A river section has a length which is considered to be the distance the river travels over the ground and not the crow-fly distance between two points. What is the nature of a meander? It consists of three parts: the outward side of the river bend, which is called the concave portion, the inner side of the river bend or convex portion and the straight area between successive bends, which is called the point of inflection because it marks the point at which the curvature changes or inflects from one direction to the other. But before that can be adequately addressed, some lexical and dimensional terms must be introduced. Once the flow is diverted by an impediment, it gets complicated, the vagaries and complexities of fluid flow coming into play. Local irregularities in the streambed, like large rocks, downed trees and variegated sedimentary riparian substrate would act to divert the otherwise inexorable downward trajectory of the water. ![]() The extension of this principle to a wandering path also seems fairly obvious. The fundamental physics of river flow is pedestrian water runs downhill. While there are theories as to causality, there is no accepted doctrine. This has led to serious study with concomitant hypothesizing as to the scientific explanation for the phenomenon. ![]() The pronounced and universal sinuosity of meandering rivers has been the subject of scientific curiosity among naturalists, geologists and potamologists (river specialists) for many years. They meander, a word which derives from the serpentine flow of rivers the Menderes River in western Asia Minor is the etymological root, proverbial for its winding course (it was called Maiandros in Ancient Greece, the source language). The most notable feature of the Shenandoah Valley as seen from the surrounding mountains is the circuitous path of the north and south branches of the Shenandoah River as they pass on either side of Massanutten Mountain. (I believe we have meandered to the place where we thank Marcia Montgomery for suggesting today's Good Word.The Shenandoah River (South Fork) meanders north along Shenandoah Valley Today that river is the Büyük Menderes, which still flows into the Aegean Sea but now from western Turkey. The Greek word is a commonization of Maiandros, the name of the Maeander River in Phrygia, noted for its many sinuous twists and turns. Word History: The noun version of today's word is a bare adjustment of Latin maeander "circuitous windings", borrowed from Greek maiandros. In Play: Meander may imply actual motion or not: "Al Dente's villa was perched rather high up the mountainside, atop a meandering road that connected it with the highway." If it implies motion, that motion is usually walking: " Lavrenti loved to sit on the front porch of her summer home and watch the deer meander through her yard along the lake's edge." Don't forget the beautiful adjective that goes with today's word I just love it: "Alison Wanderland loves strolling the meandrous path leading through the woods to her sister's house." Enjoying an occasional meander makes you a meanderer. Writers seem to have liked today's word for they have created several adjectives, including meandric and the lovely meandrous with its adverb, meandrously (notice that the final E drops out). ![]() Notes: Today's Good Word exemplifies the problems of English spelling: mean is pronounced, but when it occurs in today's Good Word, meander, it is pronounced. To wander aimlessly, without a destination, as to meander about the city all afternoon. To twist and turn, as a river meandering through a valley.
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