Sinkhole risk in Fayette County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 95%
At or near the surface: 95%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Fayette County

Get a sinkhole or geotechnical inspection before buying, building or adding weight to a foundation.

That works out to roughly 270 of Fayette County's 284 square miles on soluble rock, 270 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 329,437 residents (1,161 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 580 map points about 0.7 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Fayette County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Wolfe County, KY, about 56 miles east. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Jessamine County, KY 13 mi southwest · 93% at surface
Woodford County, KY 16 mi west · 99% at surface
Bourbon County, KY 18 mi northeast · 89% at surface
Clark County, KY 18 mi east · 64% at surface
Scott County, KY 18 mi north · 57% at surface
Madison County, KY 24 mi southeast · 46% at surface

What Fayette County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Lexington Limestone (limestone), Ordovician in age, covering about 93% of the county. Next is the High Bridge Group at 2%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Fayette County ranks 3 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 98% of US counties on that measure.