# Interflow

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In [hydrology](/source/hydrology), '''interflow''' is the lateral movement of [water](/source/water) in the unsaturated zone, or [vadose zone](/source/vadose_zone), that returns to the surface or enters a stream.<ref name="Ward and Trimble, 2004">{{cite book|title=Environmental Hydrology|year=2004|publisher=CRC Press|location=Boca Raton|isbn=1566706165|page=122|author=Ward, A.|author2=Trimble, S.}}</ref> Interflow is sometimes used interchangeably with [throughflow](/source/throughflow);<ref name="Ward and Trimble, 2004"/> however, throughflow is specifically the subcomponent of interflow that returns to the surface, as overland flow, prior to entering a stream or becoming groundwater.<ref name="Fetter, 2009">{{cite book|last=Fetter|first=C.|title=Applied Hydrogeology|year=2001|publisher=Prentice-Hall|location=New Jersey|isbn=0130882399|page=41}}</ref> Interflow occurs when [water](/source/water) infiltrates (see [infiltration (hydrology)](/source/infiltration_(hydrology))) into the subsurface, hydraulic conductivity decreases with depth, and lateral flow proceeds downslope.<ref name="Ward and Trimble, 2004"/> As water accumulates in the subsurface, saturation may occur, and interflow may exfiltrate as return flows, becoming overland flow.<ref name="Ward and Trimble, 2004"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Hydrology
Category:Aquatic ecology
Category:Hydrogeology

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