Sinkhole risk in Adams County, OH: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 71%
At or near the surface: 35%
Buried under cover: 35%

What to do about a house in Adams County

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

That works out to roughly 412 of Adams County's 584 square miles on soluble rock, 205 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 27,671 residents (47 per square mile), much of the land is open, and the mapped rock may sit far from where people actually live. The figures come from 305 map points about 1.4 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Adams County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Mason County, KY, about 25 miles southwest, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Lewis County, KY 21 mi south · 22% at surface
Brown County, OH 22 mi west · 9% at surface
Highland County, OH 25 mi north · 3% at surface
Mason County, KY 25 mi southwest · 76% at surface
Scioto County, OH 26 mi east · 0% at surface
Pike County, OH 28 mi northeast · under 1% at surface

What Adams County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Estill Shale (shale), Silurian in age, covering about 23% of the county. Next is the Preacherville Member of the Drakes Formation, Waynesville and Arnheim Formation, Undivided at 22%.

Against the rest of Ohio

Adams County ranks 1 of 88 in Ohio for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 82% of US counties on that measure.