ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Lake capture

So, imagine there are two lakes that are next to each other. Let's call them Lake A and Lake B.

Usually, the water from Lake A flows into Lake B through a river or a stream. But sometimes, something can happen that makes the water from Lake A start flowing in a different direction.

This means that instead of flowing into Lake B, the water from Lake A starts flowing into a different river or stream that takes it to a different place. And because the water from Lake A isn't going into Lake B anymore, Lake B starts to dry up little by little.

So it's like if you were playing with two cups of water, and you accidentally spilled one of the cups into another cup that was nearby, and then all the water from that cup started pouring into the other cup instead of staying in its own cup.

This is called "lake capture", because one lake "captures" the water from another lake and makes it go somewhere else. It's a natural process that happens over a very long time, and it can change the shape and size of lakes and rivers.