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water table - 6 dictionary results

water table

–noun
1. the planar, underground surface beneath which earth materials, as soil or rock, are saturated with water.
2. Architecture. a projecting stringcourse or similar structural member placed so as to divert rain water from a building.
Also, wa⋅ter⋅ta⋅ble.


Origin:
1400–50; late ME
water table  
n.  
  1. A projecting ledge, molding, or stringcourse along the side of a building, designed to throw off rainwater.
  2. The level below which the ground is completely saturated with water. Also called water level.

Water table

Water table\ (Hydraulic Engin.) The upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with water. The water table may be within a few inches of the surface or many feet below it.

Water table

Wa"ter ta"ble\ (Arch.) A molding, or other projection, in the wall of a building, to throw off the water, -- generally used in the United States for the first table above the surface of the ground (see Table, n., 9), that is, for the table at the top of the foundation and the beginning of the upper wall.

water table

The depth (measured from the surface of the Earth) at which underground water is first encountered.

water table  
The upper surface of an area filled with groundwater, separating the zone of aeration (the subsurface region of soil and rocks in which the pores are filled with air and usually some water) from the zone of saturation (the subsurface region in which the pores are filled only with water). Water tables rise and fall with seasonal moisture, water absorption by vegetation, and the withdrawal of groundwater from wells, among other factors. The water table is not flat but has peaks and valleys that generally conform to the overlying land surface. Compare potentiometric surface.
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