SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Otsego County, NY: 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
5%
At or near the surface
0%
Buried under cover
5%

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 45 of Otsego County's 1,002 square miles on soluble rock. With about 60,524 residents (60 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 247 map points about 2.0 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Otsego County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Union County, PA, about 155 miles southwest. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Onondaga Limestone (shale), Lower to Middle Devonian in age, covering about 2% of the county. Next is the Helderberg Group at 2%.

The county also lies over the Michigan Basin; Ohio Basin; Appalachian Basin, 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 New York

Otsego County ranks 41 of 62 in New York for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.