Sinkhole risk in Saluda County, SC: No soluble rock mapped

No soluble rock mapped

No soluble bedrock mapped.

On soluble rock: under 1%
At or near the surface: under 1%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Saluda County

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

That works out to roughly 4 of Saluda County's 453 square miles on soluble rock, 4 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 19,452 residents (43 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 594 map points about 0.9 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.

Counties around Saluda County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Aiken County, SC, about 32 miles south, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Edgefield County, SC 20 mi southwest · 24% at surface
Newberry County, SC 21 mi north · 0% at surface
Greenwood County, SC 25 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Lexington County, SC 27 mi east · 15% at surface
Aiken County, SC 32 mi south · 68% at surface
McCormick County, SC 35 mi west · 0% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Huber/Lisbon/Barnwell Formations, undivided (sand), Eocene in age, covering about under 1% of the county.

Against the rest of South Carolina

Saluda County ranks 32 of 46 in South Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 54% of US counties on that measure.