Sinkhole risk in Livingston County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 57%
At or near the surface: 54%
Buried under cover: 3%

What to do about a house in Livingston County

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

That works out to roughly 177 of Livingston County's 313 square miles on soluble rock, 168 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 8,815 residents (28 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 255 map points about 1.1 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 the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Livingston County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is McCracken County, KY, about 22 miles southwest. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Pope County, IL 17 mi northwest · 19% at surface
Crittenden County, KY 18 mi northeast · 66% at surface
Massac County, IL 19 mi west · 7% at surface
Lyon County, KY 20 mi southeast · 58% at surface
Hardin County, IL 22 mi north · 61% at surface
McCracken County, KY 22 mi southwest · 0% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Rocks of Chesterian age, lower part (limestone), Upper Mississippian in age, covering about 28% of the county. Next is the Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis Limestones, undivided at 17%.

The county also lies over the Illinois Basin, a deep salt or gypsum basin. Deep beds rarely cause surface collapse on their own, but wells and mining into them have.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Livingston County ranks 37 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 88% of US counties on that measure.