Sinkhole risk in Wayne County, NC: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 84%
At or near the surface: 84%
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 466 of Wayne County's 554 square miles on soluble rock, 466 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 120,338 residents (217 per square mile), homes are spread across towns and farmland, and a mapped unit may or may not reach the developed parts. The figures come from 259 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Wayne County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Franklin County, NC, about 53 miles north. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Greene County, NC 20 mi northeast · 82% at surface
Lenoir County, NC 22 mi east · 71% at surface
Johnston County, NC 23 mi northwest · 38% at surface
Wilson County, NC 24 mi north · 68% at surface
Duplin County, NC 29 mi south · 93% at surface
Sampson County, NC 32 mi southwest · 77% at surface

What Wayne County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Black Creek Formation (clay or mud), Cretaceous in age, covering about 46% of the county. Next is the Yorktown Formation and Duplin Formation, Undivided at 39%.

Against the rest of North Carolina

Wayne County ranks 8 of 100 in North Carolina for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 95% of US counties on that measure.