Sinkhole risk in Marshall County, WV: 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: 4%
At or near the surface: 4%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Marshall County

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 11 of Marshall County's 305 square miles on soluble rock, 11 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 29,354 residents (96 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 312 map points about 1.0 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 Marshall County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Harrisonburg city, VA, about 137 miles southeast. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Ohio County, WV 17 mi north · 22% at surface
Wetzel County, WV 18 mi south · 0% at surface
Belmont County, OH 19 mi northwest · 20% at surface
Greene County, PA 24 mi east · 8% at surface
Monroe County, OH 24 mi west · 0% at surface
Tyler County, WV 29 mi south · 0% at surface

What Marshall County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Monongahela Group (sandstone), Pennsylvanian in age, covering about 4% of the county.

The county also lies over the Michigan Basin; Ohio Basin; Appalachian 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 West Virginia

Marshall County ranks 21 of 55 in West Virginia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 61% of US counties on that measure.