Sinkhole risk in Saline County, AR: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 31%
At or near the surface: 31%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

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 226 of Saline County's 724 square miles on soluble rock, 226 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 131,252 residents (181 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 505 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Saline County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Izard County, AR, about 109 miles northeast. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Pulaski County, AR 22 mi east · 3% at surface
Perry County, AR 25 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Garland County, AR 27 mi west · 12% at surface
Hot Spring County, AR 28 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Grant County, AR 29 mi southeast · 23% at surface
Faulkner County, AR 39 mi northeast · 0% at surface

What Saline County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Womble Shale (Middle Ordovician) (shale), Middle Ordovician in age, covering about 31% of the county.

Against the rest of Arkansas

Saline County ranks 16 of 75 in Arkansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 80% of US counties on that measure.