Sinkhole risk in Christian County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 87%
At or near the surface: 87%
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 623 of Christian County's 718 square miles on soluble rock, 623 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 71,006 residents (99 per square mile), homes are spread across towns and farmland, and a mapped unit may or may not reach the developed parts. The figures come from 310 map points about 1.5 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 Christian County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Hopkins County, KY, about 29 miles north. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Todd County, KY 17 mi east · 91% at surface
Trigg County, KY 21 mi west · 75% at surface
Caldwell County, KY 27 mi northwest · 74% at surface
Montgomery County, TN 28 mi south · 94% at surface
Hopkins County, KY 29 mi north · 0% at surface
Muhlenberg County, KY 30 mi northeast · 4% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis Limestones, undivided (limestone), Mississippian in age, covering about 43% of the county. Next is the Rocks of Chesterian age, lower part at 29%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Christian County ranks 15 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 96% of US counties on that measure.