Friday Field Foto #72: Meandering river in Patagonia
November 21, 2008
Real quick Friday Field Foto today … busy, busy.
This is one of my favorite photos in my collection. I like the way the light is reflecting off the river.
Rio de las Chinas, Ultima Esperanza, southern Chile (© 2008 clasticdetritus.com)
We climbed up this ridge (note people on right side of photo) to get a look at the siltstone and shale exposed in the gulley, which is mostly out of view. I think we spent more time enjoying the view of this beautiful meandering river down in the valley instead of looking at the rocks.
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Clastic Detritus 
Nice oxbow lakes in the picture as well to the upper left of the people, or are those just relic sand bar bodies? Does the river drain the lake in the far background of the picture?
Stunning river photo, thanks. Usually these “tortuous” meanders are seen when rivers are near their base level, i.e. controlled by a downstream river confluence or lake/ocean. Even though they’re struggling to move water and sediment downstream and near-zero valley slope, parts of the meanders flow up-valley. Go figure that one out.
Jeremy … the river is flowing from right to left in this photo, eventually drains into a big lake to the left of and out of this photo.
Great photo. Very neat river meanders.
Very cool photo. It’d make a great illustration in an introductory geology text — much better than the cartoons often dredged up to display this sort of thing.