Sinkhole risk in Chesterfield County, SC: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 63%
At or near the surface: 63%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

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

That works out to roughly 504 of Chesterfield County's 799 square miles on soluble rock, 504 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 44,488 residents (56 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 594 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Chesterfield County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Union County, NC, about 32 miles northwest. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Anson County, NC 24 mi north · 2% at surface
Darlington County, SC 24 mi southeast · 87% at surface
Marlboro County, SC 27 mi east · 64% at surface
Lancaster County, SC 31 mi west · 8% at surface
Kershaw County, SC 32 mi southwest · 57% at surface
Union County, NC 32 mi northwest · 0% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Peedee Formation /Black Creek Group, undivided (clay or mud), Cretaceous in age, covering about 61% of the county. Next is the Duplin Formation at 2%.

Against the rest of South Carolina

Chesterfield County ranks 13 of 46 in South Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 91% of US counties on that measure.