Definition of "gley" [gley]

• A sticky, bluish-gray subsurface layer of clay found in some waterlogged soils. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In coves and depressions, strongly-acid gley soils with indurated horizons occur."
• "On steep ridges, soils derived from basalt or diabase are often unstable; they tend to creep downslope, creating shallow, ledgy soils on upper slopes, and deeper, wetter gley soils on lower slopes near the bases of ridges."
• "Other features are eroded accumulations of volcanic ash, foothills, piedmont plains and coastal lowlands, Below the ash-covered slopes, soils are tundra gley, forest-tundra and brown forest types, podzols and peat."