Which risk increases downstream from an artificially straightened meander resulting in an oxbow lake cutoff?

💡 Explanation

When a meander is straightened, the stream gradient increases because water flows a shorter distance, leading to higher stream power and velocity, accelerating erosion. Therefore bank erosion and channel incision increases, rather than silt deposition, biodiversity decrease, or groundwater recharge decrease which require reduced flow energy.

• Which mechanism primarily maintains gyre circulation in subtropical ocean basins?
• Which outcome primarily results when coastal upwelling brings deep ocean water to the surface?
• Which mechanism causes explosive eruptions when a subducting oceanic plate is partially melted?
• Which phenomenon primarily regulates magma generation during subduction at convergent plate boundaries?
• Which mechanism sustains high sinuosity in meandering streams within humid continental regions?
• Which outcome results when differential erosion impacts stacks?