A water table marks the top of the saturated zone of groundwater. When something is saturated, it means one substance (Like soil) is filled with another substance (Like water). Therefore, the area filled with water is called the saturated zone. This zone can be called the phreatic zone or the zone of saturation. This is always the zone below the water table. Directly above a water table there is always a capillary fringe. The water table separates the capillary fringe from the zone of saturation. This is demonstrated in Figure I. A capillary fringe can have many different heights. Capillary action is when groundwater is pulled up and starts to fill the pores at the base of the vadose zone. (The base of the vadose zone is the capillary fringe,
