Why do rivers not travel in a straight line?

Answer 1

Actually, initially rivers travel in as straight a line as the surrounding terrain allows but over time begin to curve into more of an "S" shape until eventually they completely fold back on themselves and once again travel in a straight line as a wider river, they can do this repeatedly over a great period of time, which is how we can so easily identify The Amazon River as the oldest existing river in the world because it is the widest.

Rivers never run straight. The faster water runs the more it cuts into the banks. It will eventually create a bend in the river if the water runs faster on one side. Sediment forms where the river runs slower. The process of erosion can change the course of a river over time. Storms help make more drastic changes as the river fills with flood water and overflows it banks. Collapsing banks and sediment deposition can make a river meander from one side to the other. Other factors that help create a meandering course are different forms of bedrock that wear away unevenly, boulders, rockslides and landslides, changes in slope and elevation, spring flooding, differences in the surrounding and underlying soil, etc.

Answer 2

It's the way God made them. Don't you thint it better that way?

Answer 3

they flow in all different ways because they eather brea through the soil or it was man made

Answer 4

because there are obstacles that are in their way so they curve around.