Sinkhole risk in Lee County, VA: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 67%
At or near the surface: 67%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

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

That works out to roughly 292 of Lee County's 435 square miles on soluble rock, 292 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 21,780 residents (50 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 428 map points about 1.0 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 Lee County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Leslie County, KY, about 30 miles northwest. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Harlan County, KY 12 mi northwest · 4% at surface
Hancock County, TN 14 mi southwest · 65% at surface
Hawkins County, TN 20 mi southeast · 73% at surface
Scott County, VA 29 mi east · 72% at surface
Leslie County, KY 30 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Bell County, KY 31 mi west · 3% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Hardy Creek Limestone through Dot Limestone (limestone), Ordovician in age, covering about 20% of the county. Next is the Chepultepec and Copper Ridge Formations at 15%.

Against the rest of Virginia

Lee County ranks 13 of 133 in Virginia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 92% of US counties on that measure.