Sinkhole risk in Chickasaw County, MS: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 93%
At or near the surface: 93%
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 466 of Chickasaw County's 502 square miles on soluble rock, 466 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 16,774 residents (33 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 323 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Chickasaw County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Yalobusha County, MS, about 44 miles west. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Pontotoc County, MS 21 mi north · 82% at surface
Clay County, MS 21 mi southeast · 94% at surface
Calhoun County, MS 22 mi west · 6% at surface
Monroe County, MS 27 mi east · 31% at surface
Lee County, MS 29 mi northeast · 62% at surface
Webster County, MS 29 mi southwest · 7% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Demopolis chalk (carbonate), Upper Cretaceous in age, covering about 37% of the county. Next is the Porters Creek formation at 17%.

Against the rest of Mississippi

Chickasaw County ranks 3 of 82 in Mississippi for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 97% of US counties on that measure.