Sinkhole risk in Ware County, GA: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 100%
At or near the surface: 0%
Buried under cover: 100%

What to do about a house in Ware County

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

That works out to roughly 899 of Ware County's 899 square miles on soluble rock. With about 36,222 residents (40 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 445 map points about 1.4 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and why the 100% under cover still counts.

Counties around Ware County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Hamilton County, FL, about 49 miles southwest. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Clinch County, GA 19 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Pierce County, GA 24 mi northeast · 0% at surface
Charlton County, GA 25 mi southeast · 1% at surface
Brantley County, GA 28 mi east · under 1% at surface
Atkinson County, GA 32 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Bacon County, GA 35 mi north · 0% at surface

What Ware County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the "Hawthorn Formation" (sand), Miocene in age, covering about 90% of the county. Next is the Charlton Formation and Duplin Marl at 10%.

The county also lies over the Floridan shelf, a deep salt or gypsum basin. Deep beds rarely cause surface collapse on their own, but wells and mining into them have.

Against the rest of Georgia

Ware County ranks 155 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.