Sinkhole risk in Buena Vista city, VA: Sinkhole country

What to do about a house in Buena Vista city

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

That works out to roughly 5 of Buena Vista city's 6 square miles on soluble rock, 5 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 6,581 residents (1,022 per square mile), most of the county is built up, so a mapped unit is likely to sit under somebody's street. The figures come from 427 map points about 0.1 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 Buena Vista city

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Amherst County, VA, about 13 miles southeast. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

• Lexington city, VA 6 mi northwest · 100% at surface
• Rockbridge County, VA 8 mi northwest · 57% at surface
• Amherst County, VA 13 mi southeast · under 1% at surface
• Lynchburg city, VA 25 mi south · under 1% at surface
• Nelson County, VA 26 mi east · under 1% at surface
• Botetourt County, VA 27 mi southwest · 49% at surface

What Buena Vista city is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Waynesboro Formation (dolostone (dolomite)), Cambrian in age, covering about 42% of the county. Next is the Shady Dolomite at 24%.

Against the rest of Virginia

Buena Vista city ranks 9 of 133 in Virginia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 94% of US counties on that measure.

• Lexington city 100%
• Salem city 100%
• Roanoke city 98%
• Winchester city 90%
• Bristol city 89%