Sinkhole risk in Buffalo County, WI: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 32%
At or near the surface: 31%
Buried under cover: 1%

The next step for one property

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 219 of Buffalo County's 676 square miles on soluble rock, 212 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 13,464 residents (20 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 262 map points about 1.6 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 Buffalo County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Vernon County, WI, about 72 miles southeast. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Pepin County, WI 17 mi north · 23% at surface
Trempealeau County, WI 21 mi east · 5% at surface
Wabasha County, MN 24 mi west · 21% at surface
Winona County, MN 28 mi south · 27% at surface
Eau Claire County, WI 33 mi northeast · 0% at surface
Dunn County, WI 39 mi north · 2% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Prairie du Chien Group (shale), Lower Ordovician in age, covering about 32% of the county.

Against the rest of Wisconsin

Buffalo County ranks 9 of 72 in Wisconsin for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 80% of US counties on that measure.