Sinkhole risk in Bertie County, NC: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

Soluble rock at or near the surface across much of the county.

On soluble rock: 68%
At or near the surface: 68%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

Get a sinkhole or geotechnical inspection before buying, building or adding weight to a foundation.

That works out to roughly 478 of Bertie County's 699 square miles on soluble rock, 478 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 16,939 residents (24 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 243 map points about 1.7 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Bertie County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Pasquotank County, NC, about 42 miles east. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Martin County, NC 17 mi southwest · 84% at surface
Chowan County, NC 21 mi east · 15% at surface
Hertford County, NC 21 mi north · 75% at surface
Washington County, NC 26 mi southeast · 11% at surface
Gates County, NC 30 mi northeast · 46% at surface
Perquimans County, NC 32 mi east · 3% at surface

What Bertie County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Yorktown Formation and Duplin Formation, Undivided (clay or mud), Tertiary in age, covering about 68% of the county.

Against the rest of North Carolina

Bertie County ranks 17 of 100 in North Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 92% of US counties on that measure.