Definition
Soils with a bleached, temporarily water-saturated topsoil on a slowly permeable subsoil.

Distribution
Planosols are extensive in Brazil, northern Argentina, South Africa and eastern Australia. Smaller areas occur in southeast Asia from Bangladesh to Vietnam and in the eastern United States. There are 130 million hectares of Planosols, most of which occur in South America and Australia. Associated soils include Acrisols, Luvisols and Vertisols.