Sinkhole risk in Laurens County, SC: 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: 1%
Buried under cover: 0%

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 10 of Laurens County's 713 square miles on soluble rock, 10 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 70,545 residents (99 per square mile), homes are spread across towns and farmland, and a mapped unit may or may not reach the developed parts. The figures come from 488 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.

Counties around Laurens County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Aiken County, SC, about 68 miles south. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Greenwood County, SC 24 mi south · 0% at surface
Union County, SC 26 mi northeast · 2% at surface
Newberry County, SC 27 mi southeast · 0% at surface
Spartanburg County, SC 31 mi north · 0% at surface
Abbeville County, SC 31 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Greenville County, SC 35 mi northwest · 0% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Biotite gneiss with interlayered marble, calcsilicate gneiss, sillimanite-muscovite schist, and garnet-quartz rock (biotite gneiss), undetermined in age, covering about 1% of the county.

Against the rest of South Carolina

Laurens County ranks 31 of 46 in South Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 56% of US counties on that measure.