GC: n
CT: The capillary zone, or fringe zone, extends from the water table up to the limit of capillary rise. The thickness of the capillary fringe depends on the soil’s properties and on the homogeneity of the soil, mainly on the pore size distribution. Because of the irregularities in the size of the openings, capillary water does not rise to the same height above the water table; thus, it forms an irregular fringe. The thickness of the capillary fringe can range from 2.5 cm for fine gravel to more than 700 cm for silt.
S: ECHO – http://echo2.epfl.ch/VICAIRE/mod_3/chapt_2/main.htm (last access: 2 December 2014)
N: 1. capillary (adj): 1650s, “of or pertaining to the hair,” from Latin capillaris “of hair,” from capillus “hair” (of the head); perhaps related to caput “head” (but de Vaan finds this “difficult on the formal side” and “far from compelling, since capillus is a diminutive, and would mean ‘little head’, which hardly amounts to ‘hair'”). Borrowed earlier as capillar (14c.). Meaning “taking place in capillary vessels” is from 1809. Capillary attraction attested from 1813. As a noun, “capillary blood vessel,” from 1660s.
zone (n): late 14c., from Latin zona “geographical belt, celestial zone, “from Greek zone “a belt, the girdle worn by women at the hips,” related to zonnynai “to gird,” from PIE root yos- “to gird”. The 10c. Anglo-Saxon treatise on astronomy translates Latin quinque zonas as fyf gyrdlas.
Originally one of the five great divisions of the Earth’s surface (torrid, temperate, frigid; separated by tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and Arctic and Antarctic circles); meaning “any discrete region” is first recorded 1822.
2. Soil area above the water table where water can rise up slightly through the cohesive force of capillary action.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=capillary&searchmode=none (last access: 2 December 2014); http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=zone&searchmode=none (last access: 5 December 2014). 2. ED – http://www.ecologydictionary.org/RbQmP/Capillary_zone (last access: 2nd December 2014).
SYN: capillary fringe
S: ECHO – http://echo2.epfl.ch/VICAIRE/mod_3/chapt_2/main.htm (last access: 2 December 2014)
