Sinkhole risk in Lee County, MS: 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: 62%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Lee County

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

That works out to roughly 279 of Lee County's 450 square miles on soluble rock, 279 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 83,012 residents (184 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 374 map points about 1.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Lee County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Marion County, AL, about 47 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Itawamba County, MS 18 mi east · 4% at surface
Pontotoc County, MS 21 mi west · 82% at surface
Union County, MS 23 mi northwest · 75% at surface
Prentiss County, MS 24 mi north · 24% at surface
Chickasaw County, MS 29 mi southwest · 93% at surface
Monroe County, MS 30 mi south · 31% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Demopolis chalk (carbonate), Upper Cretaceous in age, covering about 47% of the county. Next is the Mooreville chalk at 15%.

Against the rest of Mississippi

Lee County ranks 7 of 82 in Mississippi for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 90% of US counties on that measure.