Sinkhole risk in Scott County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 57%
At or near the surface: 57%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Scott County

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

That works out to roughly 162 of Scott County's 282 square miles on soluble rock, 162 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 61,700 residents (219 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 609 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 Scott County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Wolfe County, KY, about 70 miles southeast. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Franklin County, KY 16 mi west · 47% at surface
Harrison County, KY 17 mi northeast · 44% at surface
Fayette County, KY 18 mi south · 95% at surface
Woodford County, KY 19 mi southwest · 99% at surface
Owen County, KY 21 mi northwest · 33% at surface
Bourbon County, KY 21 mi east · 89% at surface

What Scott County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Lexington Limestone (limestone), Ordovician in age, covering about 57% of the county.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Scott County ranks 33 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 89% of US counties on that measure.