How does water accumulate beneath the ground surface?
Incidental rainfall may run-off (to surface water courses/ drains etc) or be lost by evaporation/ transpiration (consumed by vegetation), or may infiltrate the ground surface through seepage via pores (e.g. sand), solution cavities (e.g. limestone) or fractures (e.g. basalt). Water seepage passes through the unsaturated (vadose) zone to reach the water table (saturated zone) as recharge water, which may develop within an aquifer formation. A surface area which conveys water to an aquifer is called a recharge zone.
