Definition
Very shallow soils over hard rock or in unconsolidated  very gravelly material.

Distribution
With a total area of 1655 million hectares, Leptosols are most common in mountainous areas (545 million hectares) and deserts (420 million hectares). They are associated with Regosols and Cambisols in the former regions, and with Arenosols, Calcisols and Gypsisols in the deserts.