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Why does the Jordan River floodplain have so many meanders?

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Arid, rugged hills and winding roads in the Jordan Rift Valley, with the Jordan River and a small reservoir visible in the distance. — Jordan River Portion of the Jordan Valley, a rift valley that runs north-south along the Jordan River.

The Jordan River’s floodplain, known as the Zūr, features numerous meanders because of the river's natural tendency to shift its position laterally across the valley bottom.12

In a meandering river system, this process occurs through the simultaneous erosion of the outside bank and the deposition of sediment on the inside of the bend, where point bars form. This lateral migration allows the river to cover a significantly longer distance than the straight-line path between its source and the Dead Sea. While the Jordan River's course runs for approximately 135 miles (215 km), the actual distance between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is only about 65 miles (105 km).21

Historically, the Zūr was characterized by thickets of reeds, tamarisk, willows, and white poplars, but much of this area has been converted to irrigated fields following the construction of dams to control the river's flow.1