SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Clay County, TN: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock
39%
At or near the surface
39%
Buried under cover
0%

The next step for one property

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 93 of Clay County's 237 square miles on soluble rock, 93 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 7,857 residents (33 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 568 map points about 0.6 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 Clay County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Jackson County, TN, about 15 miles southwest, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the St. Louis Limestone and Warsaw Limestone (limestone), Mississippian in age, covering about 23% of the county. Next is the Ordovician [units] including Richmond Group (which includes Mannie Shale, Fernvale Limestone, Sequatchie Formation, and Arnheim Formation), the Maysville Group (which includes Leipers Formation), the Eden Group (which includes Inman Formation), and at 16%.

Against the rest of Tennessee

Clay County ranks 51 of 95 in Tennessee for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 84% of US counties on that measure.