Sinkhole risk in Pulaski County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

Soluble rock at or near the surface across much of the county.

On soluble rock: 60%
At or near the surface: 60%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Pulaski County

Get a sinkhole or geotechnical inspection before buying, building or adding weight to a foundation.

That works out to roughly 394 of Pulaski County's 658 square miles on soluble rock, 394 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 66,842 residents (102 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 604 map points about 1.0 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Pulaski County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Laurel County, KY, about 25 miles east. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Rockcastle County, KY 23 mi northeast · 39% at surface
Casey County, KY 24 mi northwest · 24% at surface
Lincoln County, KY 25 mi north · 42% at surface
Laurel County, KY 25 mi east · under 1% at surface
Wayne County, KY 25 mi southwest · 75% at surface
McCreary County, KY 26 mi south · 7% at surface

What Pulaski County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis Limestones, undivided (limestone), Mississippian in age, covering about 22% of the county. Next is the Salem, Warsaw, and Harrodsburg Limestones, undivided at 21%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Pulaski County ranks 26 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 90% of US counties on that measure.