Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

Water Table
3.4.1.4
Spring fed fen (Soligenous)
Water comes out of the saturated soil
or rock at one spot (spring) or
discrete zone (seepage)
Spring fed fen
Spring fed fen
Soil and rock saturated with water
Rain (and snow and fog)
Soligenous (purple) = discharge from saturated soil or deeper rock layers.
– Valley bottom fens. Sites are normally located on floodplains associated with
permanent or ephemeral watercourses. In the lower reaches of a catchment they
may include estuaries or coastal plains. Over-bank flow from a river, in the form
of ‘flash’ flood events in the upper/middle reaches of a catchment, or longer-term
floodplain inundation in the lower reaches, is normally an important water supply
mechanism.
3.4.1.5
Valley fen with soakway fen (Soligenous)
Separate fen habitat that occurs along a water tracks
WITHIN a larger fen (like a valley fen) or within a larger peatland.
Water comes from the soil.
Soil and rock saturated with water
Soakway fen
Larger fen or peatland
Soligenous (purple) = discharge from saturated soil or deeper rock layers.
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