Sinkhole risk in Kenton County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 62%
At or near the surface: 59%
Buried under cover: 3%

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 99 of Kenton County's 160 square miles on soluble rock, 94 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 174,862 residents (1,090 per square mile), most of the county is built up, so a mapped unit is likely to sit under somebody's street. The figures come from 287 map points about 0.7 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Kenton County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Scioto County, OH, about 83 miles east. None of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so Kenton County stands out from its surroundings.

Campbell County, KY 8 mi east · 26% at surface
Boone County, KY 11 mi west · 16% at surface
Hamilton County, OH 18 mi north · 2% at surface
Pendleton County, KY 19 mi southeast · 9% at surface
Grant County, KY 20 mi south · 23% at surface
Gallatin County, KY 22 mi southwest · 22% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ashlock Formation, Grant Lake and Calloway Creek Limestones, and Fairview Formation, undivided (limestone), Ordovician in age, covering about 43% of the county. Next is the Bull Fork Formation at 17%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Kenton County ranks 28 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 90% of US counties on that measure.