Sinkhole risk in Monterey County, CA: No soluble rock mapped

No soluble rock mapped

No soluble bedrock mapped.

On soluble rock: under 1%
At or near the surface: under 1%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

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

That works out to roughly 7 of Monterey County's 3,282 square miles on soluble rock, 7 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 436,251 residents (133 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 447 map points about 2.7 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.

Counties around Monterey County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 610 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

San Benito County, CA 29 mi northeast · 0% at surface
Santa Cruz County, CA 66 mi northwest · 3% at surface
Santa Clara County, CA 71 mi north · 4% at surface
Merced County, CA 74 mi northeast · 0% at surface
San Luis Obispo County, CA 76 mi southeast · under 1% at surface
Kings County, CA 84 mi east · 0% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Oligocene nonmarine rocks, unit 2 (Central and Southern California) (sandstone), middle Eocene to early Miocene in age, covering about under 1% of the county.

Against the rest of California

Monterey County ranks 26 of 58 in California for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 50% of US counties on that measure.