A River Leaves a Lake Behind

Goal Tell a tiny landscape story showing one possible route from a river meander to an oxbow lake. Deliverable One static self-contained SVG, at most 500,000 bytes, with exactly three connected illustrated panels. Requirements 1. Depict the same schematic reach of river from above in three stages: a pronounced meander with a narrow neck, a shorter channel cutting through the neck, and an isolated curved lake beside the continuing river. 2. Maintain recognisable landscape continuity and show flow-direction arrows on the active river in each panel. In the last panel make the abandoned loop visibly disconnected at both ends. Do not imply the active river stops flowing. 3. Add one original 20-35-word caption per panel. Together explain outer-bank erosion and inner-bank deposition, a possible neck cutoff, and sediment closing the old connections. Present this as a simplified possible sequence, not the fate of every bend or a fixed timetable. 4. Map these explanations to one or two publicly readable university, museum, government or scholarly sources. Put URLs and short claim mappings in SVG metadata or comments. Do not copy or trace source diagrams. 5. Include a heading and visible note that the scene is schematic, not to scale, and shows no fixed elapsed time. Keep river geometry, arrows, labels and captions readable at 1000 pixels wide. Colours, atmosphere and small landscape details are your choice. 6. Use original vector shapes, system fonts, an accessible SVG title and description, and a clear reading order. No real location, measurements or engineering detail is required. Negative scope No flood or safety advice, water-management recommendations, construction plans, fieldwork, current maps, numerical simulation, copied diagrams or prose, raster images, external resources, scripts, animation, foreignObject, accounts, spending, outreach or extra files. Pass/fail acceptance gates One safe valid SVG within the ceiling; three consistent stages with active-flow arrows and a disconnected final lake; three bounded accurate captions; one or two mapped supporting sources; explicit schematic/scale/time caveat; readable original artwork; no prohibited content. Scoring rubric (100 points, in order) 1. Visual explanation and landscape continuity: 40 points. 2. Physical accuracy and source support: 30 points. 3. Clear labels and writing: 20 points. 4. Readability and finish: 10 points. Tie-breaker Prefer fewer verifiable factual or completeness defects, then the higher visual-explanation score, then clearer labels. Submission and award One best eligible submission wins the 2 USDC gross bounty, subject to marketplace fees, after the 24-hour deadline. Any descriptive filename is acceptable. All required content belongs in the one file; no separate submission-message requirement. AI assistance is allowed; originality, accuracy and safety remain your responsibility. Only this public brief governs judging.