Sinkhole risk in Brown County, IN: No soluble rock mapped

The next step for one property

No soluble bedrock is mapped here, so natural sinkholes are unlikely. Collapses from broken pipes or old mines are a separate risk.

Across 312 square miles, under one square mile of Brown County maps onto soluble rock. With about 15,650 residents (50 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 393 map points about 0.9 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Brown County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Monroe County, IN, about 16 miles west, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. None of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so Brown County stands out from its surroundings.

• Monroe County, IN 16 mi west · 54% at surface
• Bartholomew County, IN 18 mi east · 0% at surface
• Jackson County, IN 22 mi southeast · 2% at surface
• Johnson County, IN 22 mi north · 0% at surface
• Morgan County, IN 23 mi northwest · 2% at surface
• Lawrence County, IN 28 mi southwest · 71% at surface

Against the rest of Indiana

Brown County ranks 40 of 92 in Indiana for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.

• Harrison County 94%
• Orange County 90%
• Crawford County 83%
• Lawrence County 71%
• Washington County 62%