Sinkhole risk in Green County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 88%
At or near the surface: 88%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Green County

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

That works out to roughly 252 of Green County's 286 square miles on soluble rock, 252 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 11,552 residents (40 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 242 map points about 1.1 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 Green County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Laurel County, KY, about 79 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Taylor County, KY 13 mi northeast · 49% at surface
Adair County, KY 18 mi southeast · 39% at surface
Hart County, KY 19 mi west · 89% at surface
Larue County, KY 20 mi northwest · 78% at surface
Metcalfe County, KY 20 mi south · 57% at surface
Marion County, KY 24 mi northeast · 45% at surface

What Green County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis Limestones, undivided (limestone), Mississippian in age, covering about 48% of the county. Next is the Salem, Warsaw, and Harrodsburg Limestones, undivided at 26%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Green County ranks 13 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 96% of US counties on that measure.