Sinkhole risk in Hertford County, NC: Sinkhole country
Sinkhole country
Soluble rock at or near the surface across much of the county.
- On soluble rock
- 75%
- At or near the surface
- 75%
- 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 266 of Hertford County's 353 square miles on soluble rock, 266 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 19,169 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 242 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.
Read next: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.
Counties around Hertford County
The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Franklin city, VA, about 22 miles north. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.
- Gates County, NC 16 mi east · 46% at surface
- Bertie County, NC 21 mi south · 68% at surface
- Franklin city, VA 22 mi north · 0% at surface
- Northampton County, NC 24 mi west · 34% at surface
- Southampton County, VA 26 mi north · 21% at surface
- Chowan County, NC 27 mi southeast · 15% at surface
The rock underneath
The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Yorktown Formation and Duplin Formation, Undivided (clay or mud), Tertiary in age, covering about 75% of the county.
Against the rest of North Carolina
Hertford County ranks 14 of 100 in North Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 94% of US counties on that measure.
- Duplin County 93%
- Jones County 92%
- Scotland County 91%
- Pender County 89%
- Robeson County 89%