A stagnogley soil is a typically non-

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...

, non-

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...

, loamy or

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

ey soil with a relatively impervious, subsurface horizon. Stagnogley soils are related to the

pseudogley A Stagnosol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is soil with strong mottling of the soil profile due to redox, redox processes caused by stagnating surface water. Stagnosols are periodically wet and Gley soil, mottled in the topso ...

s and are a type of gleyic soil. The name of this

hygroscopic Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption or adsorption from the surrounding environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water molecules become suspended among the substan ...

soil derives from its gley dynamics. The nutrient-poor, often heavily acidified soil is poorly aerated and is not suited to arable use on account of the poor growth performance of cultivated crops.Fritz Scheffer, Paul Schachtschabel: ''Lehrbuch der Bodenkunde.'' 15th edn., newly revised and expanded by Hans-Peter Blume. Spektrum, Heidelberg, etc., 2002, . As a shallow topsoil with a moderately stony subsoil, it is mainly used for woodland.''Stagnogley'' in: ''

Microsoft Encarta ''Microsoft Encarta'' is a discontinued digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, it was also available on the World Wide Web via an annual subscription, although later articles ...

'' Because of its shallow nature it is only suitable for species of trees that thrive well in these conditions, such as the

English Oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus ...

Formation

This type of soil, the topsoil of which becomes bleached as a result of continual waterlogging, is often formed on sand-rich material over dense, sandy-loamy to silty-clayey subsoil - also called ''Sandkerf'' in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

- in cool, moist climatic zones. As a result of frequent waterlogging throughout the seasons at low temperatures, minerals like

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

are released and deposited in sandy topsoils to the sides. Where the soil is saturated all-year round it turns into bog stagnogley and, eventually, into bog. Examples, known as ''

misse The Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) is a series of experiments mounted externally on the International Space Station (ISS) that investigates the effects of long-term exposure of materials to the harsh space environment. T ...

n'' occur in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

in Germany.

Extent

Stagnogley soils occur in perhumid climates and also on steep slopes. They are found, for example, in the central European

Central Upland The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...

ranges of the

, Ore Mountains and Eifel in waterlogged places, as well as on the Midvale Ridge in the UK. Due to the discharge of heavy metals, they occur with oxigleys.

References

{{Soil type Types of soil Pedology