Sinkhole risk in Washington County, ME: No soluble rock mapped
No soluble rock mapped
No soluble bedrock mapped.
- On soluble rock
- under 1%
- At or near the surface
- 0%
- Buried under cover
- under 1%
What to do about a house in Washington County
No soluble bedrock is mapped here, so natural sinkholes are unlikely. Collapses from broken pipes or old mines are a separate risk.
That works out to roughly 13 of Washington County's 2,563 square miles on soluble rock. With about 31,383 residents (12 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 608 map points about 2.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.
Read next: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.
Counties around Washington County
The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Union County, PA, about 551 miles southwest. None of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so Washington County stands out from its surroundings.
- Hancock County, ME 47 mi southwest · 0% at surface
- Penobscot County, ME 60 mi northwest · 0% at surface
- Waldo County, ME 81 mi southwest · 0% at surface
- Knox County, ME 95 mi southwest · under 1% at surface
- Piscataquis County, ME 98 mi northwest · under 1% at surface
- Kennebec County, ME 113 mi west · 0% at surface
Which formation it is
The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Devonian - Ordovician Bucksport Formation (sandstone), Devonian - Ordovician in age, covering about under 1% of the county.
Against the rest of Maine
Washington County ranks 15 of 16 in Maine for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.
- Lincoln County 1%
- Knox County under 1%
- Piscataquis County under 1%
- Androscoggin County 0%
- Aroostook County 0%