SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Harlan County, KY: 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
4%
At or near the surface
4%
Buried under cover
0%

The next step for one property

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

That works out to roughly 17 of Harlan County's 466 square miles on soluble rock, 17 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 25,052 residents (54 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.

Two things to read before deciding: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.

Counties around Harlan County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Lee County, VA, about 12 miles southeast, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Pennington Formation, Newman Limestone, Fort Payne Chert, Grainger Formation, Sunbury Shale, Berea Sandstone, and Bedford Shale, undivided; Pennington Formation locally includes sandstone tongue of Lee Formation (limestone), Devonian to Pennsylvanian in age, covering about 3% of the county. Next is the Mississippian Formations Undivided at under 1%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Harlan County ranks 82 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 61% of US counties on that measure.