Water table - wikipedia Water table For the architectural feature, see Water table ( architecture ). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( December 2008 ) Cross section showing the water table varying with surface topography as well as a perched water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. The water table is the surface where the water pressure head is equal to the atmospheric pressure ( where gauge pressure = 0 ). It may be visualized as the `` surface '' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. The groundwater may be from precipitation or from groundwater flowing into the aquifer. In areas with sufficient precipitation, water infiltrates through pore spaces in the soil, passing through the unsaturated zone. At increasing depths, water fills in more of the pore spaces in the soils, until a zone of saturation is reached. Below the water table, in the phreatic zone ( zone of saturation ), layers of permeable rock that yield groundwater are called aquifers. In less permeable soils, such as tight bedrock formations and historic lakebed deposits, the water table may be more difficult to define. The water table should not be confused with the water level in a deeper well. If a deeper aquifer has a lower permeable unit that confines the upward flow, then the water level in this aquifer may rise to a level that is greater or less than the elevation of the actual water table. The elevation of the water in this deeper well is dependent upon the pressure in the deeper aquifer and is referred to as the potentiometric surface, not the water table. Contents 1 Form 1.1 Surface topography 1.2 Perched water tables 2 Fluctuations 2.1 Tidal fluctuations 2.2 Seasonal fluctuations 2.3 Long - term fluctuations 3 Effects on sea level 4 Effects on crop yield 5 See also 6 References Form The water table may vary due to seasonal changes such as precipitation and evapotranspiration. In undeveloped regions with permeable soils that receive sufficient amounts of precipitation, the water table typically slopes toward rivers that act to drain the groundwater away and release the pressure in the aquifer. Springs, rivers, lakes and oases occur when the water table reaches the surface. Springs commonly form on hillsides, where the Earth 's slanting surface may `` intersect '' with the water table. Groundwater entering rivers and lakes accounts for the base - flow water levels in water bodies. Surface topography Within an aquifer, the water table is rarely horizontal, but reflects the surface relief due to the capillary effect ( capillary fringe ) in soils, sediments and other porous media. In the aquifer, groundwater flows from points of higher pressure to points of lower pressure, and the direction of groundwater flow typically has both a horizontal and a vertical component. The slope of the water table is known as the hydraulic gradient, which depends on the rate at which water is added to and removed from the aquifer and the permeability of the material. The water table does not always mimic the topography due to variations in the underlying geological structure ( e.g., folded, faulted, fractured bedrock ) Perched water tables A perched water table ( or perched aquifer ) is an aquifer that occurs above the regional water table, in the vadose zone. This occurs when there is an impermeable layer of rock or sediment ( aquiclude ) or relatively impermeable layer ( aquitard ) above the main water table / aquifer but below the surface of the land. If a perched aquifer 's flow intersects the Earth 's dry surface, at a valley wall, for example, the water is discharged as a spring. Fluctuations Seasonal fluctuations in the water table - during the dry season, river beds may dry up. Tidal fluctuations On low - lying oceanic islands with porous soil, freshwater tends to collect in lenticular pools on top of the denser seawater intruding from the sides of the islands. Such an island 's freshwater lens, and thus the water table, rises and falls with the tides. Seasonal fluctuations In some regions, for example, Great Britain or California, winter precipitation is often higher than summer precipitation and so the groundwater storage is not fully recharged in summer. Consequently, the water table is lower during the summer. This disparity between the level of the winter and summer water table is known as the `` zone of intermittent saturation '', wherein the water table will fluctuate in response to climatic conditions. Long - term fluctuations Fossil water is groundwater that has remained in an aquifer for several millennia and occurs mainly in deserts. It is non-renewable by present - day rainfall due to its depth below the surface, and any extraction causes a permanent change in the water table in such regions. Effects on sea level Aquifer drawdown or overdrafting and the pumping of fossil water may be a contributing factor to sea - level rise. Effects on crop yield Yield of sugarcane versus depth of the water table, Australia. The critical depth is 0.6 m. Most crops need a water table at a minimum depth because at shallower depths the crop suffers a yield decline. For some important food and fiber crops a classification was made : Crop and location DWT tolerance Classification Explanation Wheat, Nile Delta, Egypt 45 Very tolerant Resists shallow water tables Sugar cane, Australia 60 Tolerant The water table should be deeper than 60 cm Banana, Surinam 70 Slightly sensitive Yield declines at water tables < than 70 cm deep Cotton, Nile Delta 90 Sensitive Cotton needs dry feet, water table should be deep ( Where DWT = depth to water table in centimetres ) See also Aquifer Artesian aquifer Groundwater Groundwater recharge Hydrogeology Origin of water on Earth Phreatic zone Salinity Salinity in Australia Watertable control References Jump up ^ `` What is the Water Table ? ''. imnh.isu.edu. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 25. ^ Jump up to : Freeze, R. Allan ; Cherry, John A. ( 1979 ). Groundwater. Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice - Hall. OCLC 252025686. Jump up ^ `` Rising sea levels attributed to global groundwater extraction ''. University of Utrecht. Retrieved February 8, 2011. Jump up ^ Rudd, A.V. and C.W Chardon 1977. The effects of drainage on cane yields as measured by water table height in the Machnade Mill area. In : Proceedings of the 44th Conference of the Queensland Society of Sugar Cane Technology, Australia. Jump up ^ Software for partial regression with horizontal segment Jump up ^ K.J. Lenselink et al. Crop tolerance to shallow water tables. Online : ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Nijland, H.J. and S. El Guindy 1984. Crop yields, soil salinity and water table depth in the Nile Delta. In : ILRI Annual Report 1983, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 19 -- 29. Online : ( 2 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Water_table&oldid=815954610 '' Categories : Aquifers Geotechnical engineering Hydrology Hydrogeology Irrigation Water supply Water and the environment Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2012 Articles needing additional references from December 2008 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español Kreyòl ayisyen Norsk Polski Português தமிழ் Edit links This page was last edited on 18 December 2017, at 08 : 33. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: below the soil surface what is the top of the zone of saturation called
Answer: water table