  In stellarators, zonal flow activity depends sensitively on geometry of the
three dimensional magnetic field, via an interplay of mechanisms that is not
fully understood. In this work, we investigate this by studying three magnetic
configurations of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator. We find that variation in
linear zonal flow damping is accompanied by variation in nonlinear drive, and
identify key geometric features that control these effects. Understanding the
resulting balance is important for the development of reduced models of
turbulent transport.
