Sinkhole risk in Whitfield County, GA: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 74%
At or near the surface: 74%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

Get a sinkhole or geotechnical inspection before buying, building or adding weight to a foundation.

That works out to roughly 214 of Whitfield County's 290 square miles on soluble rock, 214 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 105,070 residents (362 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 572 map points about 0.7 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 Whitfield County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Gilmer County, GA, about 30 miles east. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Catoosa County, GA 12 mi northwest · 63% at surface
Murray County, GA 13 mi east · 30% at surface
Walker County, GA 20 mi west · 66% at surface
Gordon County, GA 21 mi south · 61% at surface
Bradley County, TN 25 mi north · 89% at surface
Hamilton County, TN 28 mi northwest · 70% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Conasauga Group; Upper unit; limestone and shale unit (shale), Cambrian in age, covering about 31% of the county. Next is the Knox Group undifferentiated at 23%.

Against the rest of Georgia

Whitfield County ranks 8 of 159 in Georgia for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 93% of US counties on that measure.