Definition
Soils with permanent or temporary wetness near the surface.

Distribution
With a total area of 720 million hectares, about half of the Gleysols of the world occur in sub-arctic areas of northern Russia, Siberia, Canada and Alaska. The remaining areas occur mainly in humid temperate and low-land inter-tropical regions. Associated soils are Cryosols, Podzols, Hystosols, Fluvisols, Calcisols, Gypsisols, Acrisols, Lixisols, Alisols and Nitisols.