the _____ is the zone above the water table.
the capillary fringe is a saturated zone above the water table where water is affected by capillary forces. distribution of moisture in the vadose zone (Fig 8.1) grain sizes in soils (and thus pore sizes) vary over several orders of magnitude (Fig) look at sand gauges.
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.