Sinkhole risk in Pennington County, MN: No soluble rock mapped

No soluble rock mapped

No soluble bedrock mapped.

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

What to do about a house in Pennington County

No soluble bedrock is mapped here, so natural sinkholes are unlikely. Collapses from broken pipes or old mines are a separate risk.

Across 617 square miles, under one square mile of Pennington County maps onto soluble rock. With about 13,652 residents (22 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 355 map points about 1.3 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.

Counties around Pennington County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Boyd County, NE, about 381 miles south. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Red Lake County, MN 14 mi south · 0% at surface
Marshall County, MN 25 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Polk County, MN 26 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Clearwater County, MN 46 mi southeast · 0% at surface
Roseau County, MN 49 mi north · 0% at surface
Beltrami County, MN 50 mi east · 0% at surface

Against the rest of Minnesota

Pennington County ranks 60 of 87 in Minnesota for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.