Quiz: Remember the definition of mal de mer?
|vadose zone |
A subsurface zone of soil or rock containing fluid under pressure that is less than that of the atmosphere. Pore spaces in the vadose zone are partly filled with water and partly filled with air. The vadose zone is limited by the land surface above and by the water table below. Compare phreatic zone.
region of aeration above the water table. This zone also includes the capillary fringe above the water table, the height of which will vary according to the grain size of the sediments. In coarse-grained mediums the fringe may be flat at the top and thin, whereas in finer grained material it will tend to be higher and may be very irregular along the upper surface. The vadose zone varies widely in thickness, from being absent to many hundreds of feet, depending upon several factors. These include the environment and the type of earth material present. Water within this interval, which is moving downward under the influence of gravity, is called vadose water, or gravitational water.