Sinkhole risk in Siskiyou County, CA: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock: 9%
At or near the surface: 9%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 565 of Siskiyou County's 6,279 square miles on soluble rock, 565 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 42,498 residents (7 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 310 map points about 4.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.

Counties around Siskiyou County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 647 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Jackson County, OR 57 mi north · 2% at surface
Shasta County, CA 63 mi southeast · 9% at surface
Trinity County, CA 72 mi southwest · 25% at surface
Del Norte County, CA 76 mi west · under 1% at surface
Josephine County, OR 77 mi northwest · 9% at surface
Klamath County, OR 88 mi northeast · 0% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Paleozoic marine rocks, undivided, unit 9 (Western Klamath Mountains) (argillite), Devonian to Jurassic in age, covering about 9% of the county.

Against the rest of California

Siskiyou County ranks 5 of 58 in California for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 67% of US counties on that measure.