Sinkhole risk in Gates County, NC: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 46%
At or near the surface: 46%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Gates County

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 157 of Gates County's 341 square miles on soluble rock, 157 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 10,299 residents (30 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 272 map points about 1.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Gates County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Hertford County, NC, about 16 miles west, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Hertford County, NC 16 mi west · 75% at surface
Suffolk city, VA 18 mi north · 4% at surface
Franklin city, VA 21 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Chowan County, NC 22 mi south · 15% at surface
Perquimans County, NC 25 mi southeast · 3% at surface
Pasquotank County, NC 27 mi southeast · 0% at surface

What Gates County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Yorktown Formation and Duplin Formation, Undivided (clay or mud), Tertiary in age, covering about 46% of the county.

Against the rest of North Carolina

Gates County ranks 22 of 100 in North Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 86% of US counties on that measure.