Soil landscape position is important in relation to the amount of stored and available water for the plants. The cohesive layer in the tableland soil of the Northeast of Brazil hinders the water flow in the profile. During rainy periods, the formation of transitory water tables above cohesive horizons is possible, due to the restriction of descending vertical flow caused by such horizons. Therefore, the occurrence of interflow (downhill lateral subsuperficial water flow) on the cohesive horizons in slope areas is possible. This hypothesis was evaluated in a toposequence with a length of 190 m and a medium slope of 0.097 m m-1, composed by cohesive argisolic Yellow Latosol-LAx (upper third), cohesive Yellow Argisol-PAx (middle third), transitional soil-PAx/PAC, and non-cohesive Gray Argisol-PAC (lower third). Soil water data estimated weekly during the year of 1996 (53 weeks), in ten points along the toposequence and at seven depths, allowed to prove the mentioned hypothesis; interflow, on the cohesive horizons, caused a larger and more continuous moisture contribution on the long term, in the order LAx → PAx → PAx/PAC → PAC.
interflow; cohesive soils; latosols; argisols