Soil and Land Glossary

Soil Profile Attribute Data Environment (SPADE)

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Commonly Used Terms in Soil and Land Evaluation

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

G

gley — The grey or greenish-grey colouration found in soils. It is often produced under conditions of poor drainage, giving rise to chemical reduction of iron and other elements.

Gleyed Podzolic Soils — GSG classification — Poorly drained acid soils with strongly differentiated profiles, including a bleached A2 overlying greyish or yellowish B horizons.

gradual boundary — Boundary 50 - 100 mm wide.

granite — A granular igneous rock composed chiefly of felspar (orthoclase) and quartz, usually with one or more other minerals, as mica, hornblende, etc.

granodiorite — Plutonic rock consisting of potassium felspar, quartz, plagioclase, biotite and hornblende. Granodiorite is an intermediate between quartz, monzonite and quartz diorite.

gravel — The amount (visual abundance estimate) of gravel-sized (>2 mm) materials that occur on the surface and in the A1 horizon and include hard (when moist), coarse fragments and segregations of pedogenic origin.

gravelly — Over 60% of surface cover consists of gravel (2 - 60 mm).

Great Soil Groups — See GSG.

Grey, Brown and Red Clays — GSG classification — These form a broad group of soils whose common properties are determined by their high clay contents. Typically, they are moderately deep to very deep soils with uniform colour and texture profiles, weak horizonation mostly related to structure differentiation and some carbonates and/or gypsum in their subsoils. They crack deeply on drying.

Grey-brown and Red Calcareous Soils — GSG classification — Shallow, soft, powdery or weakly structured loams to light clays containing finely divided carbonates throughout the solum and showing little pedological differentiation. They are essentially sedentary soils formed from highly calcareous rocks which underlie them at various depths. Fragments of limestone are commonly present.

Grey-brown Podzolic Soils — GSG classification — Duplex soil with a clayey brownish blocky B horizon. A bleached A2 horizon may be present.

GSG — Great Soil Groups of Australia (as defined by Stace et al 1968), described in terms of morphology, genesis and land use.

gypsic horizon — One which contains more than 20% of visible gypsum that is apparently of pedogenic origin and has a minimum thickness of 0.2 m.

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CopyrightLast Modified 15/05/2004
© NSW Department of Natural Resources