Sinkhole risk in Haywood County, NC: No soluble rock mapped

No soluble rock mapped

No soluble bedrock mapped.

On soluble rock: under 1%
At or near the surface: under 1%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

No soluble bedrock is mapped here, so natural sinkholes are unlikely. Collapses from broken pipes or old mines are a separate risk.

That works out to roughly 1 of Haywood County's 554 square miles on soluble rock, 1 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 63,048 residents (114 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 549 map points about 1.0 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.

Counties around Haywood County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Cocke County, TN, about 26 miles north, 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.

Jackson County, NC 21 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Buncombe County, NC 26 mi east · 3% at surface
Transylvania County, NC 26 mi south · 5% at surface
Cocke County, TN 26 mi north · 50% at surface
Madison County, NC 26 mi northeast · 3% at surface
Swain County, NC 27 mi west · 2% at surface

What Haywood County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ocoee Supergroup, Snowbird Group; Pigeon Siltstone (siltstone), Late Proterozoic in age, covering about under 1% of the county.

Against the rest of North Carolina

Haywood County ranks 63 of 100 in North Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 50% of US counties on that measure.