Sinkhole risk in Cleveland County, NC: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock: 2%
At or near the surface: 2%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 11 of Cleveland County's 464 square miles on soluble rock, 11 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 102,194 residents (220 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 266 map points about 1.3 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Cleveland County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Washington County, TN, about 85 miles northwest. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Cherokee County, SC 20 mi south · 5% at surface
Rutherford County, NC 21 mi west · 0% at surface
Lincoln County, NC 21 mi northeast · 10% at surface
Gaston County, NC 22 mi east · 6% at surface
Burke County, NC 30 mi north · 1% at surface
Catawba County, NC 30 mi northeast · 5% at surface

What Cleveland County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Blacksburg Formation (schist), Cambrian/Late Proterozoic in age, covering about 2% of the county.

Against the rest of North Carolina

Cleveland County ranks 59 of 100 in North Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 58% of US counties on that measure.