Capillary fringe

Pores at the base of the capillary fringe are filled with water due to tension saturation.

Alternately, when the pore size is large, the saturated portion will extend only a few inches above the water table.

Some workers restrict their definition of the capillary fringe only to the tension-saturated base portion and exclude it wholly from the vadose zone.

[1][2] This is more common among workers addressing solute transport and water flow.

It is not uncommon to see the capillary fringe treated as a boundary condition separating the water table from the unsaturated zone, without defining it as a significant part of either.