A soil-forming process where waterlogged conditions create a gray or blue-gray layer in the soil due to lack of oxygen.
From Russian 'glei' (gluey mud), with the suffix '-ization' (a process). The Russian root describes the sticky, stagnant conditions that create this distinctive soil type.
Gleization is what happens under your feet in swamps and marshes—the waterlogged soil becomes gray-blue and smells terrible because bacteria are dying from lack of oxygen, literally suffocating the ground!
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