Sinkhole risk in Fleming County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 58%
At or near the surface: 58%
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 202 of Fleming County's 349 square miles on soluble rock, 202 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 15,591 residents (45 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 518 map points about 0.8 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 Fleming County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Morgan County, KY, about 39 miles southeast. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Bath County, KY 15 mi south · 39% at surface
Mason County, KY 17 mi northwest · 76% at surface
Nicholas County, KY 18 mi west · 38% at surface
Rowan County, KY 19 mi southeast · 4% at surface
Lewis County, KY 21 mi northeast · 22% at surface
Robertson County, KY 22 mi northwest · 39% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Bull Fork Formation (limestone), Ordovician in age, covering about 19% of the county. Next is the Crab Orchard Formation and Brassfield Dolomite, undivided at 18%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Fleming County ranks 30 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 89% of US counties on that measure.