Considering the importance of understanding the water status of pedological covers for studies of prevention and containment of erosive processes, this study was conducted on a slope with a pedological system composed of Red Latossol (Oxisol)/Red Argisol (Ultisol) derived from Caiuá sandstone, on an experimental farm of the Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Cidade Gaúcha, in Northwestern Paraná State. After a detailed morphologic description of the pedologic system, infiltration experiments were carried out in the main diagnostic horizons and the respective transitions of six soil profiles along the slope. The pattern of water dynamics in the latosolic cover is different in the surface and subsurface. Over the course of time, the surface horizons AP, AB and/or BA have alternating humidity conditions, sometimes more humid and sometimes drier, according to the rain distribution and intensity. In deeper layers of the Bw horizon the water conditions depend on the vertical and lateral water movement, and are therefore not directly related to the atmospheric variations, as occur on the surface. In the podzolic cover a vertical drainage blockage was observed in the top of Bt horizon, generating above it (horizon AE) a more constantly humid zone. In general, unlike in the Latosols, humidity and dryness do not alternate in the surface horizons of the Argisol. As a result the Argisols are constantly more humid than Latosols due to lateral water flow from upslope.
water flows; latosol; podzolic soil
