Sinkhole risk in Wilcox County, AL: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 27%
At or near the surface: 27%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Wilcox 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 242 of Wilcox County's 888 square miles on soluble rock, 242 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 9,865 residents (11 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 245 map points about 1.9 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Wilcox County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Noxubee County, MS, about 107 miles northwest. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Dallas County, AL 26 mi northeast · 27% at surface
Monroe County, AL 29 mi south · 12% at surface
Marengo County, AL 34 mi northwest · 33% at surface
Clarke County, AL 37 mi southwest · 15% at surface
Lowndes County, AL 40 mi east · 49% at surface
Butler County, AL 40 mi southeast · 25% at surface

What Wilcox County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Midway Group; Clayton Formation (silt), Paleocene in age, covering about 14% of the county. Next is the Midway Group; Porters Creek Formation at 12%.

The county also lies over the Gulf Coast salt domes, 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 Alabama

Wilcox County ranks 26 of 67 in Alabama for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 78% of US counties on that measure.