Sinkhole risk in Bulloch County, GA: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 100%
At or near the surface: 13%
Buried under cover: 87%

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 676 of Bulloch County's 676 square miles on soluble rock, 89 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 85,454 residents (126 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 586 map points about 1.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: why the 87% under cover still counts, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Bulloch County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Hampton County, SC, about 44 miles northeast. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Evans County, GA 19 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Candler County, GA 19 mi west · 0% at surface
Effingham County, GA 23 mi east · 18% at surface
Screven County, GA 25 mi north · 5% at surface
Tattnall County, GA 31 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Jenkins County, GA 31 mi northwest · 4% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the "Hawthorn Formation" (sand), Miocene in age, covering about 83% of the county. Next is the Pleistocene-Pliocene sands and gravels at 13%.

Against the rest of Georgia

Bulloch County ranks 42 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 70% of US counties on that measure.