Sinkhole risk in Summers County, WV: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 73%
At or near the surface: 73%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

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

That works out to roughly 262 of Summers County's 361 square miles on soluble rock, 262 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 11,544 residents (32 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 524 map points about 0.8 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 Summers County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Fayette County, WV, about 29 miles northwest. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Monroe County, WV 18 mi southeast · 69% at surface
Mercer County, WV 22 mi southwest · 39% at surface
Raleigh County, WV 24 mi west · 2% at surface
Giles County, VA 25 mi south · 65% at surface
Fayette County, WV 29 mi northwest · under 1% at surface
Greenbrier County, WV 29 mi northeast · 35% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Hinton Formation (shale), Mississippian in age, covering about 54% of the county. Next is the Bluefield Formation at 19%.

Against the rest of West Virginia

Summers County ranks 2 of 55 in West Virginia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 93% of US counties on that measure.