Sinkhole risk in Dickson County, TN: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 79%
At or near the surface: 79%
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 385 of Dickson County's 490 square miles on soluble rock, 385 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 57,641 residents (118 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 330 map points about 1.2 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 Dickson County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Henry County, TN, about 54 miles west. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Cheatham County, TN 17 mi northeast · 39% at surface
Houston County, TN 21 mi northwest · 68% at surface
Hickman County, TN 24 mi south · 37% at surface
Montgomery County, TN 25 mi north · 94% at surface
Humphreys County, TN 25 mi west · 45% at surface
Williamson County, TN 31 mi southeast · 72% at surface

What Dickson County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the St. Louis Limestone and Warsaw Limestone (limestone), Mississippian in age, covering about 79% of the county.

Against the rest of Tennessee

Dickson County ranks 22 of 95 in Tennessee for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 94% of US counties on that measure.