SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Newton County, MS: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock
21%
At or near the surface
21%
Buried under cover
0%

What to do about a house in Newton County

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 123 of Newton County's 578 square miles on soluble rock, 123 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 21,063 residents (36 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 404 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Read next: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Newton County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Noxubee County, MS, about 58 miles northeast. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Cook Mountain formation (sand), Eocene in age, covering about 21% of the county.

The county also lies over the Gulf Coast salt domes, 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 Mississippi

Newton County ranks 15 of 82 in Mississippi for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 75% of US counties on that measure.