Sinkhole risk in Jones County, NC: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

Soluble rock at or near the surface across much of the county.

On soluble rock: 92%
At or near the surface: 92%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

Get a sinkhole or geotechnical inspection before buying, building or adding weight to a foundation.

That works out to roughly 434 of Jones County's 471 square miles on soluble rock, 434 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 9,462 residents (20 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 419 map points about 1.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Jones County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Hyde County, NC, about 73 miles east. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Craven County, NC 17 mi east · 69% at surface
Onslow County, NC 20 mi southwest · 65% at surface
Lenoir County, NC 21 mi northwest · 71% at surface
Duplin County, NC 33 mi west · 93% at surface
Greene County, NC 36 mi northwest · 82% at surface
Pitt County, NC 39 mi north · 86% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Castle Hayne Formation; Comfort Member and New Hanover Member, undivided (limestone), Tertiary in age, covering about 26% of the county. Next is the River Bend Formation at 21%.

Against the rest of North Carolina

Jones County ranks 2 of 100 in North Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 97% of US counties on that measure.