Sinkhole risk in Stewart County, TN: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 71%
At or near the surface: 71%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Stewart County

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

That works out to roughly 326 of Stewart County's 460 square miles on soluble rock, 326 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 14,365 residents (31 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 307 map points about 1.2 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 Stewart County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Henry County, TN, about 29 miles west. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Houston County, TN 13 mi southeast · 68% at surface
Montgomery County, TN 24 mi east · 94% at surface
Trigg County, KY 25 mi north · 75% at surface
Humphreys County, TN 28 mi south · 45% at surface
Calloway County, KY 29 mi northwest · 3% at surface
Henry County, TN 29 mi west · under 1% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the St. Louis Limestone and Warsaw Limestone (limestone), Mississippian in age, covering about 65% of the county. Next is the St. Genevieve Limestone at 6%.

Against the rest of Tennessee

Stewart County ranks 31 of 95 in Tennessee for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 93% of US counties on that measure.