The phrase "a thin layer of soil" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when describing a specific depth or consistency of soil in various contexts, such as gardening, agriculture, or geology.
Example: "The garden flourished after we added a thin layer of soil to improve drainage and nutrient retention."
Alternatives: "a light coating of earth" or "a shallow stratum of dirt."
We stuck close to shore, examining giant maples and pines rising up from a thin layer of soil covering slabs of rust- and brown-colored igneous rock.
Scratch open the soil under the rooted spots, cover those joints with a thin layer of soil or damp straw, and water well.
Eventually, we will hit the Canadian Shield" — a vast stretch of Precambrian rock covered by a thin layer of soil — "and that will be the end".
Today, however, the scientists involved said a thin layer of soil gave on to hard rock, leaving no space for anyone to dig a grave.
New York State has subsidies both for roofs with succulents spread out over a thin layer of soil and for edible plants covering a smaller area.
They occur as seasonally water-filled depressions with a thin layer of soil mainly inhabited by ephemerals and cryptogams.
Under a thin layer of dirt was a wooden box.
In a recent study, cyclic lateral load testing of identical full-scale column-foundation systems was conducted in summer and winter months, showing that freezing temperatures and a thin layer of frozen soil can significantly influence the soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) and thus the lateral load response of bridge columns supported by deep foundations.
Seeds were spread on moistened potting soil in plastic germination boxes and covered with a thin layer of potting soil.
The CMA is roughly divided by a steep slope of 15 25 m in height into an upper southwestern plateau, characterised by a thin layer of top soil (erosion area), and a lower northern and northeastern plateau with deeper soil (accumulation area).
The degradation of the nests created a hillock of eroded soil at the base of termite mounds in the vertisol while only a thin layer of eroded soil was observed in the ferralsol.
