Sinkhole risk in Cocke County, TN: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 50%
At or near the surface: 50%
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 219 of Cocke County's 436 square miles on soluble rock, 219 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 37,596 residents (86 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 596 map points about 0.9 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Cocke County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Haywood County, NC, about 26 miles south. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Jefferson County, TN 20 mi northwest · 100% at surface
Hamblen County, TN 22 mi north · 99% at surface
Madison County, NC 23 mi east · 3% at surface
Greene County, TN 24 mi northeast · 88% at surface
Sevier County, TN 24 mi west · 36% at surface
Haywood County, NC 26 mi south · under 1% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Sevier Shale (shale), Ordovician in age, covering about 28% of the county. Next is the Knox Group at 17%.

Against the rest of Tennessee

Cocke County ranks 47 of 95 in Tennessee for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 87% of US counties on that measure.