Sinkhole risk in Claiborne County, TN: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 75%
At or near the surface: 75%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

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

That works out to roughly 328 of Claiborne County's 435 square miles on soluble rock, 328 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 33,070 residents (76 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 276 map points about 1.3 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Claiborne County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Knox County, KY, about 29 miles north. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Bell County, KY 16 mi north · 3% at surface
Grainger County, TN 18 mi southeast · 79% at surface
Union County, TN 18 mi southwest · 89% at surface
Hancock County, TN 24 mi east · 65% at surface
Campbell County, TN 29 mi west · 28% at surface
Knox County, KY 29 mi north · 0% at surface

What Claiborne County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Copper Ridge Dolomite (dolostone (dolomite)), Cambrian in age, covering about 18% of the county. Next is the Longview Dolomite and Chepultepec Dolomite at 16%.

Against the rest of Tennessee

Claiborne County ranks 24 of 95 in Tennessee for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 94% of US counties on that measure.