Sinkhole risk in Lewis County, WV: No soluble rock mapped

No soluble rock mapped

No soluble bedrock mapped.

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

What to do about a house in Lewis County

No soluble bedrock is mapped here, so natural sinkholes are unlikely. Collapses from broken pipes or old mines are a separate risk.

Across 387 square miles, under one square mile of Lewis County maps onto soluble rock. With about 16,477 residents (43 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 574 map points about 0.8 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Lewis County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Summers County, WV, about 94 miles south. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Upshur County, WV 15 mi southeast · 0% at surface
Gilmer County, WV 20 mi west · 0% at surface
Harrison County, WV 21 mi north · 7% at surface
Doddridge County, WV 22 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Braxton County, WV 24 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Barbour County, WV 29 mi east · 0% at surface

Against the rest of West Virginia

Lewis County ranks 37 of 55 in West Virginia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.