Sinkhole risk in Floyd County, GA: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 64%
At or near the surface: 64%
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 325 of Floyd County's 510 square miles on soluble rock, 325 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 101,390 residents (199 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 576 map points about 0.9 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 Floyd County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Paulding County, GA, about 31 miles southeast. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Chattooga County, GA 16 mi northwest · 59% at surface
Polk County, GA 19 mi south · 66% at surface
Bartow County, GA 22 mi east · 62% at surface
Gordon County, GA 26 mi northeast · 61% at surface
Cherokee County, AL 29 mi southwest · 57% at surface
Paulding County, GA 31 mi southeast · under 1% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Knox Group undifferentiated (dolostone (dolomite)), Ordovician-Cambrian in age, covering about 26% of the county. Next is the Conasauga Group; Upper unit; limestone and shale unit at 16%.

Against the rest of Georgia

Floyd County ranks 13 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 91% of US counties on that measure.