Cross section showing the water table varying with surface topography as well as a perched water table
Cross-section of a hillslope depicting the vadose zone, capillary fringe, water table, and the phreatic or saturated zone. (Source: United States Geological Survey.)

In a cave system, the epiphreatic zone or floodwater zone is the zone between the vadose (unsaturated) zone above and phreatic (saturated) zone below. It is regularly flooded and has a significant porosity. It has a great potential for cave formation.[1]

See also

  • Capillary fringe – Subsurface layer in which groundwater seeps up from a water table by capillary action
  • Infiltration (hydrology) – Process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil
  • Phreatic – Term used in several scientific disciplines
  • Phreatic zone – Zone in an aquifer below the water table
  • Vadose zone – Unsaturated aquifer above the water table

References

  1. ↑ Prelovšek, Mitja (2009). Present-Day Speleogenetic Processes, Factors and Features in the Epiphreatic Zone: Dissertation (PDF). University of Nova Gorica. p. 5.
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