A crescent-shaped lake that forms when a meandering stream changes course. Such changes in course frequently occur during flood events when overbank waters erode a new channel. The crescent-shaped body of water located alongside a stream in an abandoned oxbow after a neck cutoff is formed and the ends of the original bends are silted up. Also known as crescentic lake; cutoff lake; horseshoe lake; loop lake; moat; mortlake; oxbow.
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