Sinkhole risk in Pepin County, WI: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 24%
At or near the surface: 23%
Buried under cover: under 1%

What to do about a house in Pepin 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 55 of Pepin County's 232 square miles on soluble rock, 54 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 7,555 residents (33 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 420 map points about 0.7 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Pepin County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Vernon County, WI, about 87 miles southeast. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Buffalo County, WI 17 mi south · 31% at surface
Dunn County, WI 22 mi north · 2% at surface
Eau Claire County, WI 28 mi east · 0% at surface
Pierce County, WI 30 mi west · 35% at surface
Wabasha County, MN 31 mi southwest · 21% at surface
Trempealeau County, WI 32 mi southeast · 5% at surface

What Pepin County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Prairie du Chien Group (shale), Lower Ordovician in age, covering about 24% of the county.

Against the rest of Wisconsin

Pepin County ranks 10 of 72 in Wisconsin for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 76% of US counties on that measure.