As a river enters the plain, it twists and turns forming large bends. What are these bends called?

Introduction / Context:
Fluvial geomorphology deals with how rivers shape the land. One common landform feature created by rivers flowing through plains is a series of large bends. This question tests recognition of the correct term used in geography to describe those bends.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The situation is a river entering a plain where its gradient decreases.
• As the slope reduces, the river starts twisting and turning.
• We must identify the technical term for the large bends that result.

Concept / Approach:
When a river flows in a low gradient plain, its velocity changes from one side of the channel to the other, causing erosion on the outer bank and deposition on the inner bank. Over time, this process leads to pronounced sinuous curves called meanders. Terms like crooks, flections, or rounds are not the standard geographical term for these features. Hence, meanders is the correct concept.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Visualise a river leaving a steep slope and moving onto a flat plain, where its speed and energy distribution change.Step 2: Recall that in plains, rivers often swing from side to side, cutting into the outer banks and depositing on the inner banks.Step 3: Note that over time this process creates looping curves in the river course.Step 4: Remember the standard term used in geography for these curves, which is meanders.Step 5: Match this understanding with the options and select meanders.

Verification / Alternative check:
School and college geography textbooks describe meandering as a characteristic feature of mature stage rivers in plains. Diagrams illustrating river courses frequently label these large bends as meanders. None of the other option words are used in formal geomorphology to describe such features, which confirms that meanders is the correct term.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
crooks: This is not a technical geomorphological term for river bends in standard textbooks.
flections: The term inflection exists in mathematics and other contexts, but flections is not used as the name of river bends.
rounds: Rivers may look rounded in places, but rounds is not the proper geographical name for these large bends.

Common Pitfalls:
Some learners may be unfamiliar with the standard term and try to guess by choosing whichever word sounds closest to a curve. Without prior exposure, they might think crooks or rounds could fit. To avoid this, it is important to memorise that the correct technical term for large river bends in plains is meanders and to associate it with diagrams of looping river courses seen in textbooks.

Final Answer:
The large bends formed when a river twists and turns in a plain are called meanders.