Reference soil Germany 05: Gleysol

DE005

Gleysols occur throughout the world where groundwater comes near to the surface, causing soils to become wet for a prolonged part of the year. They are particularly abundant in the low-lying river basins.

Characteristics

Soils having gleyic properties (properties associated with prolonged wetness) within 50 cm from the soil surface. They have no diagnostic horizons other than an anthraquic, histic, mollic, ochric, takyric, or umbric horizon at the surface, or an andic, calcic, cambic, gypsic, plinthic, salic, sulfuric, or vitric horizon within 100 cm from the soil surface.

Distribution of Gleysols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil DE005: Gleysols

A gleyic poorly drained soil with improved drainage due to artificial lowering of groundwater table 5 years ago. Therefore, the former vegetation (alder, oak, hornbeam forest) has been changed to poplars with groundcover of Enonymus europaeus, Viburnum opulus, Phalaris arundinacea and Iris pseudoacorus. The surface is covered by an O-layer of 2 cm (partly decomposed). Much organic matter can be found in both A horizons. There are iron mottles (10YR 4/8) throughout the profile. The Ahg2 horizon is coloured 10YR 3/2 and 2,5Y 5/2. In the Cg3 there are some pockets of sandy material. The parent material consists of silty fluviatile deposits, mainly derived from loess. (additional climatic data Aachen: insolation (hrs))

Classification

WRB 2006

WRB 1998

Fluvic- Gleysol (Eutric Siltic Drainic)

Eutric- Gleysol

-	gleyic colour pattern
-	reducing conditions

2-25 cm	ochric horizon
-	gleyic

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Silti-Eutric Gleysol

Eutric Gleysol

2-25 cm	ochric A horizon
-	gleyic

2-25 cm	ochric A horizon
-	hydromorphic

Local classification:	Nassgley

Other classification

USDA-SCS (1975)

More images

Physical characteristics

Particle size distribution

Depth (cm)	Gravel % v/v	very coarse sand % w/w	coarse sand % w/w	medium sand % w/w	fine sand % w/w	very fine sand % w/w	Total sand % w/w	coarse silt % w/w	fine silt % w/w	Total silt % w/w	Clay % w/w
0-10	-	-	-	-	-	-	3.8	37.8	26.1	63.9	32.3
25-40	-	-	-	-	-	-	2.5	48.7	26.4	75.1	22.4
40-65	-	-	-	-	-	-	6.9	50.9	29.8	80.7	12.4
70-90	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	61.5	25.2	86.7	5.3

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-10	-	-	-	-	32.3
25-40	-	-	-	-	22.4
40-65	-	-	-	-	12.4
70-90	-	-	-	-	5.3

Chemical data

Depth (cm)	pH H2O	pHKCl	EC 1: 2.5 dS/m	CaCO3 % w/w	C % w/w	N %	C / N	Exch. Acid cmol(c)/kg	Exch. Al cmol(c)/kg	Ca cmol(c)/kg	Mg cmol(c)/kg	K cmol(c)/kg	Na cmol(c)/kg	Sum Cations cmol(c)/kg
0-10	5.5	4.9	-	-	8.55	0.74	12	-	-	18.4	2.3	0.0	0.0	20.7
25-40	6.0	4.9	-	-	1.06	0.10	11	-	-	16.7	2.1	0.0	0.0	18.8
40-65	6.3	5.1	-	-	0.48	0.04	12	-	-	10.8	1.6	0.0	0.0	12.4
70-90	6.7	5.9	-	-	0.35	0.04	9	-	-	7.1	1.3	0.0	0.0	8.4

Depth (cm)	Base sat. %	CEC soil cmol(c)/kg	CEC clay cmol(c)/kg	CEC org cmol(c)/kg	ECEC cmol(c)/kg	Al sat. %	ESP %
0-10	47	44.4	137	29.9	-	-	0
25-40	70	26.8	120	3.7	-	-	0
40-65	92	13.5	109	1.7	-	-	0
70-90	78	10.8	204	1.2	-	-	0

Depth (cm)	pH NaF	P Retention %	ODOE	Al o % w/w	Si o % w/w	Fe d % w/w	Al d % w/w	Fe p % w/w	Al p % w/w	C p % w/w	Fe o % w/w
0-10	-	-	-	0.25	0.02	4.20	0.20	-	-	-	1.74
25-40	-	-	-	0.17	0.00	0.50	0.10	-	-	-	0.26
40-65	-	-	-	0.08	0.00	0.40	0.00	-	-	-	0.20
70-90	-	-	-	0.06	0.01	0.20	0.00	-	-	-	0.10

Elemental composition of the clay

Depth (cm)	SiO2 % w/w	Al2O3 % w/w	Fe2O3 % w/w	CaO % w/w	MgO % w/w	K2O % w/w	Na2O % w/w	TiO2 % w/w
0-10	42.4	20.3	18.4	0.56	1.40	1.69	0.34	0.87
25-40	49.9	22.5	10.0	0.15	1.81	2.33	0.33	0.83
40-65	52.1	22.1	10.5	0.10	2.16	3.10	0.30	0.88
70-90	53.3	22.8	9.2	0.15	2.51	3.60	0.24	0.88

Depth (cm)	MnO2 % w/w	P2O5 % w/w	Ign.Loss clay % w/w	Total Clay % w/w	SiO2/Al2O3 mol/mol	SiO2/Fe2O3 mol/mol	SiO2 / R mol/mol	Al2O3/Fe2O3 mol/mol
0-10	0.04	0.44	13.1	99.5	3.5	6.1	2.2	1.7
25-40	0.01	0.14	9.8	97.8	3.8	13.3	2.9	3.5
40-65	0.03	0.13	8.4	100.1	4.0	13.2	3.1	3.3
70-90	0.02	0.16	8.0	100.9	4.0	15.5	3.2	3.9

Elemental composition of the soil

Depth (cm)	Al2O3 % w/w	CaO % w/w	Fe2O3 % w/w	K2O % w/w	MgO % w/w	Na2O % w/w	SiO2 % w/w	TiO2 % w/w
0-10	9.0	1.32	8.1	1.49	0.60	0.60	58.2	0.61
25-40	10.4	0.87	3.4	2.10	0.77	0.73	77.5	0.67
40-65	9.5	0.70	3.0	2.23	0.77	0.68	80.2	0.62
70-90	9.2	0.67	2.5	2.03	0.85	0.96	81.0	0.67

Depth (cm)	Al2O3/Fe2O3 mol/mol	LOI % w/w	MnO2 % w/w	P2O5 % w/w	SiO2 / Al2O3 mol/mol	SiO2/Fe2O3 mol/mol	SiO2 / R mol/mol
0-10	1.7	20.0	0.04	0.19	11.0	19.1	7.0
25-40	4.8	4.5	0.01	0.05	12.6	60.7	10.5
40-65	5.0	2.9	0.02	0.07	14.3	71.2	11.9
70-90	5.8	2.5	0.01	0.10	14.9	86.3	12.7

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-10	medium to strong	weak	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	medium to strong	medium to strong	very strong	-
25-40	medium to strong	weak	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	medium to strong	strong	very strong	-
40-65	medium to strong	weak	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	medium to strong	strong	very strong	-
70-90	medium to strong	weak	-	-	-	-	strong	strong	medium to strong	strong	very strong	-

Profile description

Ahg1 0-13 cm	very dark greyish brown (10YR 3/2, moist)silty clay loam,strong medium crumb,friable,common medium mottles (10 YR 5/2),clear wavy boundary to,
Ahg2 13-23 cm	silt loamstrong medium subangular blocky and strong medium angular blocky,friable,common medium distinct mottles (5 YR 4/8),abrupt irregular boundary to,
Cg1 23-38 cm	light brownish grey (2.5Y 6/2, moist)silt loam,structureless,slightly sticky slightly plastic,common medium distinct mottles (5 YR 4/8),clear smooth boundary to,
Cg2 38-68 cm	greyish brown (2.5Y 5/2, moist)silt,structureless,slightly sticky slightly plastic,common distinct diffuse mottles (5 YR 4/8),clear wavy boundary to,
Cg3 68- cm	olive grey (5Y 5/2, moist)silt,structureless,slightly sticky slightly plastic,few distinct diffuse mottles (5 YR 4/8),

Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	sediment, unconsolidated
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	fluvial
Remarks on Parent Materials	fluviatile deposits derived from loess
Texture of parent material	silty
Weathering Resistance	poor
General characterization of the status of weathering of solid rock	slightly

Land improvements ; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	draining
Land use or vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the site	forestry
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	VEGETATION: Former vegetation (alder, oak, hornbeam) has been changed to poplars with groundcover of Enonymus europaeus, Viburnum opulus, Phalaris arundinacea and Iris pseudoacorus LANDUSE: Groundwater level has been artificially lowered several meters in 1962
Major vegetation type; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	deciduous forest

Altitude	90m
Physiographic Unit	valley bottom, elevated part
Physiographic position of the site	flat
Regional landform; McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F. et all, 1984; Australian soil and land survey Field Handbook, Inkata Press, Melbourne.	valley
Slope	0%
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	flat or almost flat

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	poor
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	0-25cm
Estimated permeability (class) of least permeable part of the profile	slow
Estimated run off (class)	very slow
Wet From To	25cm

Rock outcrop class (FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description)	none
Surface stoniness class (FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description)	none

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Reference soil Germany 05: Gleysol

Characteristics

Reference soil DE005: Gleysols

Classification