| VADOSE FLOW | Water flowing in free-surface streams in caves. Speleology term. Ref JJ |
| VADOSE SEEPAGE | Refers to water moving downward through the vadose zone, either in narrow fissures, or on the walls of air-filled caves. Syn. percolation water. Speleology term. Ref JJ |
| VADOSE WATER | Water in the vadose zone. Speleology term. Ref JJ |
| VADOSE ZONE | That part of the cave environment that lies or once lay above the water table. Also refers to the erosional processes that act in that zone. See Unsaturated zone. Speleology term. Ref JJ |
| VAUCLUSIAN SPRING | A spring rising up a deep, steeply-inclined, water-filled passage from a deep aquifer, and under considerable pressure. The term derives from such a spring in France that rises about 250m and flows at about 25 cubic metres per second. Speleology term. Ref JJ |
| VENOM | From a variety of animals, and introduced to a victim by a variety of methods. Toxin types include, anticoagulant, haemolytic, haemorrhagic, myotoxin, neurotoxin, procoagulant. Bite sites may be infected by agents such as bacteria, carried by the animal. Miscellaneous terms. Ref MM |
| VERMICULATION | Pattern of thin, worm-shaped coatings of clay or silt on cave surfaces. Speleology term. Ref JJ |
| VERTICAL ANGLE | The angle in a vertical plane between a line of sight and the horizontal, positive above the horizontal and negative below. Survey & Mapping term. Ref JJ |
| VUG | A small cavity in rock, often lined with crystals. Cave - Erosional & Solutional Features. Ref WM |