Sinkhole risk in Montgomery County, KY: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 40%
At or near the surface: 40%
Buried under cover: 0%

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 79 of Montgomery County's 197 square miles on soluble rock, 79 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 28,771 residents (146 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 568 map points about 0.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Montgomery County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Clark County, KY, about 14 miles west, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Bath County, KY 12 mi northeast · 39% at surface
Clark County, KY 14 mi west · 64% at surface
Powell County, KY 16 mi south · 10% at surface
Menifee County, KY 19 mi east · 1% at surface
Bourbon County, KY 20 mi northwest · 89% at surface
Nicholas County, KY 22 mi north · 38% at surface

What Montgomery County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ashlock Formation, Grant Lake and Calloway Creek Limestones, and Fairview Formation, undivided (limestone), Ordovician in age, covering about 34% of the county. Next is the Crab Orchard Formation and Brassfield Dolomite, undivided at 6%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Montgomery County ranks 52 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 84% of US counties on that measure.