Sinkhole risk in Dooly County, GA: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 92%
At or near the surface: 88%
Buried under cover: 4%

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 360 of Dooly County's 393 square miles on soluble rock, 346 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 11,186 residents (28 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 349 map points about 1.1 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 Dooly County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Schley County, GA, about 31 miles west. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Crisp County, GA 16 mi south · 50% at surface
Pulaski County, GA 20 mi east · 67% at surface
Macon County, GA 20 mi northwest · 32% at surface
Houston County, GA 23 mi north · 61% at surface
Sumter County, GA 24 mi west · 8% at surface
Wilcox County, GA 25 mi southeast · 28% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Suwannee Limestone and its residuum (limestone), Oligocene in age, covering about 61% of the county. Next is the Ocala Limestone at 28%.

Against the rest of Georgia

Dooly County ranks 4 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 96% of US counties on that measure.