SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Pasco County, FL: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock
98%
At or near the surface
18%
Buried under cover
80%

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.

Standard Florida homeowners policies cover only catastrophic ground cover collapse; full sinkhole coverage is a separately priced option insurers must offer.

That works out to roughly 729 of Pasco County's 747 square miles on soluble rock, 133 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 659,114 residents (883 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 303 map points about 1.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: what Florida insurers have to cover, and why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone.

Counties around Pasco County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Sumter County, FL, about 39 miles northeast, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Suwannee Limestone (limestone), Eocene in age, covering about 56% of the county. Next is the Hawthorn Group, Arcadia Formation, Tampa Member at 19%.

The county also lies over the Floridan shelf, 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 Florida

Pasco County ranks 50 of 67 in Florida for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 73% of US counties on that measure.