Sinkhole risk in Wayne County, KY: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 75%
At or near the surface: 75%
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 342 of Wayne County's 458 square miles on soluble rock, 342 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 19,629 residents (43 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 268 map points about 1.3 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Wayne County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Scott County, TN, about 31 miles southeast. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Clinton County, KY 18 mi west · 75% at surface
Russell County, KY 18 mi northwest · 40% at surface
McCreary County, KY 19 mi east · 7% at surface
Pickett County, TN 22 mi southwest · 56% at surface
Pulaski County, KY 25 mi northeast · 60% at surface
Fentress County, TN 30 mi south · 15% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Pennington Formation (Paragon Formation), Bangor Limestone, Hartselle Formation, and Kidder Limestone Member of Monteagle Limestone, undivided (limestone), Mississippian in age, covering about 42% of the county. Next is the Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis Limestones, undivided at 25%.

Against the rest of Kentucky

Wayne County ranks 20 of 120 in Kentucky for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 93% of US counties on that measure.