SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Iron County, MI: 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
1%
At or near the surface
0%
Buried under cover
1%

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 14 of Iron County's 1,166 square miles on soluble rock. With about 11,709 residents (10 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 340 map points about 1.9 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 Iron County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emmet County, MI, about 176 miles east. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Chocolay Group, undivided (quartzite), Early Proterozoic in age, covering about 1% of the county.

Against the rest of Michigan

Iron County ranks 44 of 83 in Michigan for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.