Gley soil sample from Sheffield

Gley soils have grey and yellow patches where the soil is waterlogged, the oxygen supply is reduced, and anaerobic micro-organisms flourish by extracting oxygen from chemical compounds. This is most often the case when the sesquioxide of iron, ferric oxide is reduced to ferrous oxide by the removal of oxygen. This process gives a greenish-blue-grey colour to the soil. Gley soils are sticky and hard to work. Soil is material capable of supporting plant life. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 15. ... Anaerobic is a technical word which literally means without air, as opposed to aerobic. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... Iron(III) oxide - also known as ferric oxide, red iron oxide, synthetic maghemite, rouge,or rust - is one of several oxide compounds of iron, and is most notable for its ferromagnetic properties. ... Iron(II) oxide, also called ferrous oxide, is a black-colored powder with the chemical formula FeO. It consists of the element iron in the oxidation state of 2 bonded to oxygen. ...

They develop where drainage is poor and the water table (phreatic surface) is high. A reducing environment exists in the saturated layers, which become mottled greyish-blue or brown because of the content of ferrous iron and organic matter. Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area. ... The water table is the upper limit of abundant groundwater. ...

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