Sinkhole risk in Meade County, SD: 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
- 3%
- At or near the surface
- 3%
- Buried under cover
- 0%
The next step for one property
Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.
That works out to roughly 108 of Meade County's 3,471 square miles on soluble rock, 108 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 30,918 residents (9 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 288 map points about 3.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.
Read next: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.
Counties around Meade County
The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Fall River County, SD, about 104 miles southwest. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.
- Pennington County, SD 42 mi south · 13% at surface
- Butte County, SD 44 mi northwest · 6% at surface
- Lawrence County, SD 57 mi west · 42% at surface
- Ziebach County, SD 58 mi northeast · 0% at surface
- Perkins County, SD 62 mi north · 0% at surface
- Haakon County, SD 62 mi east · 0% at surface
The rock underneath
The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Belle Fourche Shale (shale), Late Cretaceous in age, covering about under 1% of the county. Next is the Madison Group at under 1%.
Against the rest of South Dakota
Meade County ranks 10 of 66 in South Dakota for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 60% of US counties on that measure.
- Lawrence County 42%
- Fall River County 37%
- Custer County 30%
- Gregory County 17%
- Pennington County 13%