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High water table restricts root depth
Root are restricted to the surface layers (see center photo) when the water table (see right photo) is close to the soil surface. Trees can fall over as they grow larger if all roots are close to the soil surface because there are few sinker roots. Sinker roots grow down in well aerated soil and serve to anchor the tree (see bottom illustration).
Trees growing with very shallow roots are
very sensitive to death and falling over when impacted by construction activities. See: more information on root depth. 
