Sinkhole risk in McDuffie County, GA: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 32%
At or near the surface: 22%
Buried under cover: 9%

The next step for one property

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

That works out to roughly 81 of McDuffie County's 257 square miles on soluble rock, 57 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 21,764 residents (85 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 564 map points about 0.7 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why the 9% under cover still counts, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around McDuffie County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Aiken County, SC, about 49 miles east. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Warren County, GA 12 mi southwest · 3% at surface
Columbia County, GA 14 mi east · 10% at surface
Glascock County, GA 19 mi southwest · 12% at surface
Lincoln County, GA 22 mi north · 0% at surface
Taliaferro County, GA 23 mi west · 0% at surface
Richmond County, GA 25 mi east · 31% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Lower Tertiary-Cretaceous undifferentiated (sand), Lower Tertiary-Cretaceous in age, covering about 32% of the county.

Against the rest of Georgia

McDuffie County ranks 35 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 76% of US counties on that measure.