Sinkhole risk in Hancock County, GA: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock: 9%
At or near the surface: under 1%
Buried under cover: 9%

What to do about a house in Hancock County

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 43 of Hancock County's 471 square miles on soluble rock, 2 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 8,683 residents (18 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 572 map points about 0.9 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Hancock County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Houston County, GA, about 68 miles southwest. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Baldwin County, GA 21 mi southwest · 21% at surface
Warren County, GA 21 mi northeast · 3% at surface
Taliaferro County, GA 21 mi north · 0% at surface
Putnam County, GA 22 mi west · 0% at surface
Glascock County, GA 23 mi east · 12% at surface
Greene County, GA 23 mi northwest · 0% at surface

What Hancock County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Lower Tertiary-Cretaceous undifferentiated (sand), Lower Tertiary-Cretaceous in age, covering about 9% of the county.

Against the rest of Georgia

Hancock County ranks 68 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 53% of US counties on that measure.