Sinkhole risk in Winston County, MS: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 18%
At or near the surface: 18%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Winston 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 112 of Winston County's 607 square miles on soluble rock, 112 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 17,418 residents (29 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 316 map points about 1.4 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 Winston County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Oktibbeha County, MS, about 26 miles north, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Choctaw County, MS 22 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Neshoba County, MS 23 mi south · 0% at surface
Oktibbeha County, MS 26 mi north · 94% at surface
Noxubee County, MS 27 mi east · 88% at surface
Attala County, MS 32 mi west · 0% at surface
Kemper County, MS 33 mi southeast · 36% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Porters Creek formation (clay or mud), Paleocene in age, covering about 18% of the county.

Against the rest of Mississippi

Winston County ranks 18 of 82 in Mississippi for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 74% of US counties on that measure.