Sinkhole risk in Edgefield County, SC: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 24%
At or near the surface: 24%
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 121 of Edgefield County's 501 square miles on soluble rock, 121 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 29,455 residents (59 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 550 map points about 1.0 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 Edgefield County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Aiken County, SC, about 25 miles southeast, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. None of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so Edgefield County stands out from its surroundings.

Saluda County, SC 20 mi northeast · under 1% at surface
McCormick County, SC 22 mi west · 0% at surface
Columbia County, GA 23 mi southwest · 10% at surface
Aiken County, SC 25 mi southeast · 68% at surface
Greenwood County, SC 28 mi north · 0% at surface
Lincoln County, GA 28 mi west · 0% at surface

What Edgefield County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Huber/Lisbon/Barnwell Formations, undivided (sand), Eocene in age, covering about 24% of the county.

Against the rest of South Carolina

Edgefield County ranks 24 of 46 in South Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 77% of US counties on that measure.