The steady distribution of moisture beneath a two-dimensional strip source is analyzed by applying the quasi-linear approximation. The source is described by specifying either the moisture content or the infiltration rate. A water table is specified at some depth D below the surface, the depth varying from shallow to semi-infinite. Numerical solutions are determined, via the boundary integral equation method, as a function of the material inverse sorptive length a, the width of the strip source 2L, and the depth to the water table. The moisture introduced at the source is broadly spread below the surface when aL << 1, for which absorption by capillary forces is dominant over gravity-induced flow. Conversely, the distribution becomes fingerlike along the vertical when aL >> 1, where gravity is dominant over absorption. For a source described by specifying the moisture content, the presence of a water table at finite depth influences the infiltration through the source when aD is less than about 4; infiltration rates obtained assuming the water table depth is semi-infinite are of sufficient accuracy for greater values of aD. When the source is described by a specified infiltration flux, the maximum allowable value of this flux for which the material beneath the source remains unsaturated is determined as a function of nondimensional sorptive number and depth to the water table.specification for hydraulic conductivity the Kirchhoff transformation renders a linear field equation for a potential, which is equivalent to the relative permeability. This approach is referred to as a quasi-linear analysis after Philip [1968], who has vigorously pursued this approximation (see, for example, Philip [1969, 1984a, 1989a], Waechter and Philip [1985], and Philip et al. [1989a, b] and references therein). Some further discussion of this approximation for hydraulic conductivity in general and for representation of volcanic tuffs can be found in the paper by Martinez and McTigue [1991].Our purpose here is to investigate the steady distribution of moisture beneath a strip source as a function of the material inverse sorptive length a, a term coined by Waechter and Philip [ 1985], and the depth to the water table, D. Localized surface sources arise due to topographic relief or from shallow ponds [Wooding, 1968;Weir, 1986]. The distribution of moisture introduced from natural ponds and gullies, which collect and retain moisture, is of concern for subsurface waste disposal. The current problem is prototypical of such problems involving steady surface infiltration and reveals the subsurface redistribution of the moisture as a function of the type of porous material. The problem is also relevant to the redistribution of surface moisture introduced Paper number 9 ! WR00437. 0043-1397/91/91WR-00437505.00 for irrigation (e.g., drip systems) or for dust control (e.g., road watering) in arid regions. For all the aforementioned applications the steady problem will define the maximum extent of wetting about the surface source, with the applied ...