Sinkhole risk in Pend Oreille County, WA: 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
- 2%
- At or near the surface
- 2%
- Buried under cover
- 0%
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 29 of Pend Oreille County's 1,400 square miles on soluble rock, 29 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 14,332 residents (10 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 326 map points about 2.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.
Read next: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.
Counties around Pend Oreille County
The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 734 miles southeast. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.
- Stevens County, WA 30 mi west · 3% at surface
- Bonner County, ID 32 mi southeast · 1% at surface
- Boundary County, ID 36 mi northeast · 0% at surface
- Ferry County, WA 60 mi west · under 1% at surface
- Spokane County, WA 64 mi south · 0% at surface
- Kootenai County, ID 65 mi southeast · 0% at surface
Which formation it is
The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Cambrian limestone and dolomite (limestone), Early Cambrian-Middle Ordovician in age, covering about 2% of the county.
Against the rest of Washington
Pend Oreille County ranks 3 of 39 in Washington for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 58% of US counties on that measure.
- San Juan County 4%
- Stevens County 3%
- Okanogan County under 1%
- Ferry County under 1%
- Skagit County under 1%