Sinkhole risk in Bath County, VA: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 24%
At or near the surface: 24%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

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 128 of Bath County's 529 square miles on soluble rock, 128 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 4,071 residents (8 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 559 map points about 1.0 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Bath County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Rockbridge County, VA, about 23 miles southeast, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Highland County, VA 22 mi northeast · 36% at surface
Rockbridge County, VA 23 mi southeast · 57% at surface
Pocahontas County, WV 24 mi northwest · 30% at surface
Covington city, VA 24 mi southwest · 26% at surface
Alleghany County, VA 25 mi southwest · 18% at surface
Lexington city, VA 25 mi southeast · 100% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ridgeley Sandstone, Helderberg and Cayugan Groups (sandstone), Silurian-Devonian in age, covering about 23% of the county. Next is the Moccasin or Bays Formation through Blackford Formation at 1%.

Against the rest of Virginia

Bath County ranks 40 of 133 in Virginia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 77% of US counties on that measure.