Moisture in the Vadose Zone

The vadose zone, also termed the unsaturated zone, is the part of Earth between the land surface and the
top of the phreatic zone, the position at which the groundwater (the water in the soil's pores) is at
atmospheric pressure ("vadose" is from the Latin for "shallow"). Hence, the vadose zone extends from
the top of the ground surface to the water table.

Water in the vadose zone has a pressure head less than atmospheric pressure, and is retained by
a combination of adhesion (funiculary groundwater), and capillary action (capillary
groundwater). If the vadose zone envelops soil, the water contained therein is termed soil
moisture. In fine grained soils, capillary action can cause the pores of the soil to be fully saturated
above the water table at a pressure less than atmospheric. The vadose zone does not include the
area that is still saturated above the water table, often referred to as the capillary fringe.
Movement of water within the vadose zone is studied within soil physics and hydrology,
particularly hydrogeology, and is of importance to agriculture, contaminant transport, and flood
control.
The unsaturated soil zone is also termed as the vadose zone. Soil moisture in the vadose zone
serves as the source of land-based water for the atmosphere, and it provides water for
plant transpiration and bare soil evaporation, together termed as evapotranspiration.
The vadose zone may be very shallow (less than 1 m) or very deep (extending hundreds of meters
or more), depending on the depth to 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.

In Hydrology
The vadose zone is the undersaturated portion of the subsurface that lies above the groundwater
table. The soil and rock in the vadose zone are not fully saturated with water; that is, the pores
within them contain air as well as water. In some places the vadose zone is absent, as is common
where there are lakes and marshes, and in some places it is hundreds of meters thick, as is
common in arid regions.[2]
Unlike the aquifers of the underlying water-saturated phreatic zone, the vadose zone is not a
source of readily available water for human consumption. It is of great importance in providing
water and nutrients that are vital to the biosphere, however, and it is intensively used for the
cultivation of plants, construction of buildings, and disposal of waste.
The vadose zone is often the main factor controlling water movement from the land surface to
the aquifer. Thus it strongly affects the rate of aquifer recharge and is critical for the use and
management of groundwater. Flow rates and chemical reactions in the vadose zone also control
whether, where, and how fast contaminants enter groundwater supplies. Understanding of
vadose-zone processes is therefore crucial in determining the amount and quality of
groundwater that is available for human use.
Soil moisture in the vadose zone serves as the source of land-based water for the atmosphere,
and it provides water for plant transpiration and bare soil evaporation, together termed as
evapotranspiration.