If many bars are A bar in the midfdle of a channel is a channel bar . If many bars are deposited the stream channel may split and rejoin many times. Such channels are said to be braided . Here is an interesting study on beaches on the Colorado in Grand Canyon. If the river intersects itself it can cutoff the meander and form an oxbow lake .
Meanders are normally ephemeral, constantly changing.
They move up or down a flood plain. However if a stream such as the San Juan or the Colorado develops a mature channel with meanders, and then the drainage basin is uplifted, the meanders can become incised and fixed. Here, meanders on the Green River in Canyonlands National Park in Eastern Utah have incised or entrenched themselves. When a river flows into standing water, it drops its load and forms a delta . Such streams are depositional and the bars formed split the channel into distributaries .