Gleyed layer (Figure 50).
Gleyed layer.—A soil layer that is predominantly gray, bluish, or greenish due to prolonged saturation with water. Color chroma is 2 or less, and value is commonly (but not always) neutral. The saturation leads to reducing conditions and the subsequent reduction of iron to its ferrous state. The iron has either been significantly removed from the layer by fluctuating water table levels over time or continuous waterlogging has kept the iron in a reduced state with little or no removal. Soil colors reflective of gleying are used as diagnostic criteria for redoximorphic features and in many taxa in Soil Taxonomy. Horizons and layers that are strongly gleyed are indicated in soil profile descriptions with the horizon suffix “g” (e.g., Bg, Cg). See aquic conditions and redoximorphic features.
Figure 50.—Soil profile and landscape of Duckston soil (siliceous, thermic Typic Psammaquents). The Duckston series consists of poorly drained sands near the coast. These soils are in shallow depressions between coastal dunes and on nearly level flats between the dunes and the marshes. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. They have very slow runoff and very rapid permeability above the water table. The water table fluctuates in relation to the tides and the surface is flooded following heavy rains or high storm tides. The native plant community consists of waxmyrtle, black willow, black highbush blueberry, marshhay cordgrass, and black needle rush.
Gleyed layer (Figure 50).
Gleyed layer.—A soil layer that is predominantly gray, bluish, or greenish due to prolonged saturation with water. Color chroma is 2 or less, and value is commonly (but not always) neutral. The saturation leads to reducing conditions and the subsequent reduction of iron to its ferrous state. The iron has either been significantly removed from the layer by fluctuating water table levels over time or continuous waterlogging has kept the iron in a reduced state with little or no removal. Soil colors reflective of gleying are used as diagnostic criteria for redoximorphic features and in many taxa in Soil Taxonomy. Horizons and layers that are strongly gleyed are indicated in soil profile descriptions with the horizon suffix “g” (e.g., Bg, Cg). See aquic conditions and redoximorphic features.
Figure 50.—Soil profile and landscape of Duckston soil (siliceous, thermic Typic Psammaquents). The Duckston series consists of poorly drained sands near the coast. These soils are in shallow depressions between coastal dunes and on nearly level flats between the dunes and the marshes. Slopes are 0 to 2 percent. They have very slow runoff and very rapid permeability above the water table. The water table fluctuates in relation to the tides and the surface is flooded following heavy rains or high storm tides. The native plant community consists of waxmyrtle, black willow, black highbush blueberry, marshhay cordgrass, and black needle rush.