Sinkhole risk in Wayne 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 Wayne 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 642 of Wayne County's 642 square miles on soluble rock. With about 32,132 residents (50 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 244 map points about 1.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Wayne County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Nassau County, FL, about 66 miles south. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Long County, GA 17 mi northeast · 0% at surface
Pierce County, GA 22 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Brantley County, GA 25 mi south · under 1% at surface
Appling County, GA 26 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Bacon County, GA 32 mi west · 0% at surface
McIntosh County, GA 32 mi east · 0% at surface

What Wayne County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Charlton Formation and Duplin Marl (limestone), Pliocene in age, covering about 69% of the county. Next is the "Hawthorn Formation" at 31%.

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

Wayne County ranks 156 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.