Sinkhole risk in Gordon County, GA: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 61%
At or near the surface: 61%
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 217 of Gordon County's 356 square miles on soluble rock, 217 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 60,765 residents (170 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 333 map points about 1.0 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 Gordon County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Gilmer County, GA, about 27 miles northeast. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Bartow County, GA 19 mi south · 62% at surface
Whitfield County, GA 21 mi north · 74% at surface
Murray County, GA 21 mi north · 30% at surface
Pickens County, GA 22 mi east · 1% at surface
Floyd County, GA 26 mi southwest · 64% at surface
Gilmer County, GA 27 mi northeast · 0% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Conasauga Group; Upper unit; limestone and shale unit (shale), Cambrian in age, covering about 27% of the county. Next is the Knox Group undifferentiated at 12%.

Against the rest of Georgia

Gordon County ranks 16 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 90% of US counties on that measure.