Cross-section of a hillslope depicting the vadose zone, capillary fringe, water table, and the phreatic or saturated zone. (Source: United States Geological Survey.)Cross section showing the water table varying with surface topography as well as a perched water table
The phreatic zone, saturated zone, or zone of saturation, is the part of an aquifer, below the water table, in which relatively all pores and fractures are saturated with water. The part above the water table is the vadose zone (also called unsaturated zone).
The phreatic zone size, color, and depth may fluctuate with changes of season, and during wet and dry periods.[1][2] Depending on the characteristics of soil particles, their packing and porosity, the boundary of a saturated zone can be stable or instable, exhibiting fingering patterns known as Saffman–Taylor instability. Predicting the onset of stable vs. unstable drainage fronts is of some importance in modelling phreatic zone boundaries.[3]
^"Phreatic Zone". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
^"Phreatic Zone". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
^ Dynamics of Drainage and Viscous Fingering
in Transport in Porous Media Note that zones "behind" the drainage front are areas on the 'dry' (low-viscosity) (typically above / beyond the 'wet' zone).
The phreaticzone, saturated zone, or zone of saturation, is the part of an aquifer, below the water table, in which relatively all pores and fractures...
the phreatic surface is assumed to indicate the direction of ground water movement in an unconfined aquifer. The phreaticzone, below the phreatic surface...
until a zone of saturation is reached. Below the water table, in the phreaticzone (zone of saturation), layers of permeable rock that yield groundwater are...
The vadose zone, also termed the unsaturated zone, is the part of Earth between the land surface and the top of the phreaticzone, the position at which...
the "part of streamflow that has infiltrated the ground, entered the phreaticzone, and has been (or is at a particular time) discharged into a stream...
saturated phreaticzone into the vadose with temporary periods of repose during which additional solutional excavation occurred in the phreaticzone. These...
saturated zone or phreaticzone (e.g., aquifers, aquitards, etc.), where all available spaces are filled with water, and the unsaturated zone (also called...
the water that it needs from the phreaticzone (zone of saturation) or the capillary fringe above the phreaticzone. Phreatophytes are plants that are...
system, the epiphreatic zone or floodwater zone is the zone between the vadose (unsaturated) zone above and phreatic (saturated) zone below. It is regularly...
hill, all that remains of what was once a limestone cave formed in the phreaticzone. Like most formations in the region, it is karst. It is also a popular...
on the ground surface enters the soil Phreatic – Term used in several scientific disciplines Phreaticzone – Zone in an aquifer below the water table Plume...
2 in) in length and can, depending on the location, even reach the phreaticzone.[citation needed] Eucalyptus is the most common short fibre source for...
involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatic eruptions are driven by the superheating of steam due to the close proximity...
volcanic earthquakes rose to the same level as those prior to the 2008 phreatic explosion. At 5:32 a.m. on October 28, a minor ash explosion lasting for...
water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions contain...
a more pervasive conduit pattern with a mixture of phreatic morphology, characteristic of the zone of high-gradient floods, which can be up to 400 m above...
Freshwater is rare in Nauru, being present only in the form of a small phreaticzone, the Moqua Well (a small underground lake) and the Buada Lagoon, which...
geology). Therefore the Rhine and its tributaries intrude deeper into phreaticzones of the Swabian Karst and even capture the upper Danube and its surface...
could cover a vast area. The flatness of the region also meant that the phreaticzone and the stream bed were very close, causing them to rise in periods...
extraordinarily complicate the hydrography. Apure relies on an abundant phreaticzone that supplies the cities and towns with potable water, and a few decades...
perennial emergences with inconstant flow. The permeability of the phreaticzone makes it highly sensitive to surface pollution, and the water is often...
slopes in the surrounding countryside until it reached the level of the phreaticzone. This artificial channel was gently sloped to allow water to drain through...
which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the vadose zone below plant roots and is often expressed as a flux to the water table surface...
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