Gley Soil

A type of soil which is saturated / waterlogged for long periods during the year. These soils will often have a high content of clay particles with poor aeration and drainage. Gley soils will often smell due to wet decaying organic matter and from anaerobic decomposition.

Gley soils are often a mottled colour being blue-grey to grey, with included orange mottling where iron is oxidised within the soil. Typically, the bluish colour is more related to longer or permanent periods of saturation, whilst the orange-brown mottling is more prevalent where saturation is more limited, primarily over the autumn and winter period, over the year.

With drainage being poor, these soils can be nutrient rich and have soil pH that is slightly acidic to neutral. These types of soil might be more suited to acting as environmental flood controls, being able to hold onto excess quantities of water, especially where organic matter has built up on the surface (for example peat bogs), as well as wetland areas for contributing to improved biodiversity.