Sinkhole risk in Jasper County, MS: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 21%
At or near the surface: 21%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

That works out to roughly 141 of Jasper County's 676 square miles on soluble rock, 141 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 15,799 residents (23 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 389 map points about 1.3 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Jasper County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Noxubee County, MS, about 82 miles northeast. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Smith County, MS 22 mi west · 13% at surface
Clarke County, MS 25 mi east · 14% at surface
Newton County, MS 27 mi north · 21% at surface
Jones County, MS 28 mi south · under 1% at surface
Scott County, MS 36 mi northwest · 7% at surface
Covington County, MS 37 mi southwest · 0% at surface

What Jasper County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Vicksburg group and Chickasawhay limestone (limestone), Oligocene in age, covering about 17% of the county. Next is the Cook Mountain formation at 4%.

The county also lies over the Gulf Coast salt domes, a deep salt or gypsum basin. Deep beds rarely cause surface collapse on their own, but wells and mining into them have.

Against the rest of Mississippi

Jasper County ranks 16 of 82 in Mississippi for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 75% of US counties on that measure.