# Nice 1944 topographic map of meanders **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 21, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805 "2008-08-21T14:54:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/1 "2008-08-21T14:54:48Z")
Check out this neat 1944 map showing meanders of the Mississippi River: [Link](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/mississippi_map_1999265.jpg). (Click to zoom in - the larger image looks fuzzier than it really is). Looks like part of a set - I wish I knew where to find the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Jelymag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jelymag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelymag)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/2 "2008-08-21T15:04:38Z")
That’s a beautiful one! I’ll have to save it and add it to my teacher’s repertoire. It will fit in nicely with both topo maps and river development… Yup, we are all just a bunch of dorks in our own little ways. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/3 "2008-08-21T15:14:30Z")
I love old maps. I also love comparing them to [new ones](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=fort+adams+mississippi&ie=UTF8&ll=31.043522,-91.657562&spn=0.319446,0.41748&t=h&z=11). (Well, aerial views in this case, but it’s still neat.) I have old Ordnance Survey maps of my area right back to the 19th century, and it’s fascinating (not to say depressing) to chart how it’s changed… ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/4 "2008-08-21T15:22:39Z")
[QUOTE=NinetyWt] Check out this neat 1944 map showing meanders of the Mississippi River: [Link](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/mississippi_map_1999265.jpg). (Click to zoom in - the larger image looks fuzzier than it really is). Looks like part of a set - I wish I knew where to find the rest. [/QUOTE] One way to try to navigate a site is to shorten the URL one folder at a time. Most sites have a tree structure. Example: > **[Earth Observatory - NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/)** > > NASA's Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day: images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate. > **[Earth Observatory - NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/)** > > NASA's Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day: images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate. …which may lead you to this: > **[Earth Observatory - NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/)** > > NASA's Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day: images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate. Here is some more info on your map (perhaps this is the page you got it from?): > **[Earth Observatory - NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/)** > > NASA's Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day: images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate. And here is a list of related maps. Eureka! Is this what you’re looking for? [http://lmvmapping.erdc.usace.army.mil/index.htm](http://lmvmapping.erdc.usace.army.mil/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/5 "2008-08-21T16:06:58Z")
On the map key, what does “stage” mean? (Here in Washington, our rivers don’t meander at all; they stay where they’re put.) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jelymag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jelymag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelymag)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/6 "2008-08-21T16:15:54Z")
[QUOTE=Rocketeer] On the map key, what does “stage” mean? (Here in Washington, our rivers don’t meander at all; they stay where they’re put.) 😃 [/QUOTE] I think in this case stage means the highest water level reached during a certain flood. All rivers will eventually meander. It is evidence of advanced geological age and frequent flooding. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/7 "2008-08-21T17:59:30Z")
[QUOTE=Jelymag] I think in this case stage means the highest water level reached during a certain flood. All rivers will eventually meander. It is evidence of advanced geological age and frequent flooding. [/QUOTE] Yes, stage is just “the level of the river”. For example, flood stage might be 100 feet mean sea level. Some aspects of meandering are related to energy loss. As a river comes down from the hills of its watershed, it will have high velocities and high potential energy. When it reaches the flatlands it needs to get rid of that energy. It accomplishes this by thrashing from side to side. Consider your garden hose. As you’re out in the driveway washing your car, you drop the hose on the pavement. It thrashes from side to side from the energy of the water leaving the hose. Rivers are doing the same thing; just so slowly that we can’t observe it in the same way we can our garden hose. **Musicat** : I tried that but didn’t have your luck. Thanks !! ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/8 "2008-08-22T16:17:23Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Eureka! Is this what you’re looking for? [/QUOTE] Wow! I downloaded the .zip file for the “oversized plates” (took a while, the file is 685 MB :eek: ). Beautiful! Not only are the meander maps included, but also some other figures which were prepared for a geologic report. Thank you for finding this !! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/9 "2008-08-22T16:42:55Z")
[QUOTE=NinetyWt] **Musicat** : I tried that but didn’t have your luck. Thanks !! [/QUOTE] [Mae West] _Luck_ had _nothin’_ to do with it, Dearie. [/Mae West] 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/10 "2008-08-22T18:11:26Z")
[QUOTE=Jelymag] I think in this case stage means the highest water level reached during a certain flood. [/QUOTE] No, from reading the article in one of the links above, the term ‘stage’ is not used in the same way we use the term ‘flood stage’. I think it would be more accurate for our current understanding to replace ‘stage’ with ‘course’ or ‘channel’. The different stages marked on the map are simply different channels from various points in history. > [@](#): > > The modern river course is superimposed on channels from 1880 (green), 1820 (red), and 1765 (blue). Even earlier, prehistoric channels underlie the more recent patterns. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/11 "2008-08-22T18:15:59Z")
That’s a vital river segment on the map! The Mississippi has been trying to divert itself down the Atchafalaya river (thereby bypassing New Orleans) for decades, but only modern engineering has (thus far) prevented it. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-1944-topographic-map-of-meanders/460805/12 "2008-08-23T02:04:22Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] The Mississippi has been trying to divert itself down the Atchafalaya river (thereby bypassing New Orleans) for decades, but only modern engineering has (thus far) prevented it. [/QUOTE] There is so much interesting (to me) stuff about this kind of morphology. For example, when I was still in college I learned about property boundaries which go “to the middle of the river”; that often the boundary moves with the river if the change is gradual, but that if the river makes a change suddenly (for example, blows through the neck of a loop and creates a ‘cutoff’), then the boundary doesn’t change, but stays where the old river was.