| Abstract: | We investigated the changes of saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ksat , with depth of latosols developed on Precambrian basement rocks under primary rainforest, pasture and teak. In all cases, Ksat decreased with depth, with most of the decrease occurring between the surface and a depth of 30 cm. In conjunction with prevailing rainfall intensities and frequencies, this anisotropy supports a pronounced lateral component of hillslope flow paths, and also of overland flow under pasture. Our results are at variance with data from other latosols where Ksat tends to increase with depth, and hence suggest that considerable restraint is needed in generalization and extrapolation until results from a co‐ordinated effort at hydrology‐oriented data collection become available. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
