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Location of Tiptonville and Reelfoot lake in Tennesse Map at Inspectapedia.com adapted from an excerpt form Google MapsTennessee Sinkholes & Subsidences

Sinkholes in Tennessee:

In the U.S. Tennessee is among the top five states with most-frequent occurrenc of sinkholes. Sinkhole occurrences are not uniformly distributed in Tennessee.

Watch out: rope off and keep people well away from sinkholes in Tennessee - falling in to a sinkhole can cause injury or worse.

This article describes the location & type of sinkholes occurring in Tennessee and answers a homeowner question about worrisome building settlement, subsidence, and possibly unsafe conditions at a sinking house in western Tennessee near Reelfoot Lake in Lake County.

This article series explains what sinkholes are and why they occur, describes their effects on buildings, and gives building and site inspection advice useful in identifying areas where there is an increased risk of sink holes at properties.

We provide a catalog of types of sink holes around the world including California, Canada, Quebec, Estonia, Guatemala, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas,Tennessee, Virginia and other states and provinces and countries. Explanation of causes of sinking buildings from events other than sinkholes.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Sinkholes in Tennessee

Map of Tennessee's deepsest sinkholes at InspectApedia.com original source: https://tnlandforms.us/landforms/sinks.phpReader Question: what do I do about settlement & movement in my house near Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee?

Sep 15, 2017

We live in Tiptonville tn, about an eight of a mile from Reelfoot lake. We have noticed that our front door is now dragging the floor when we start to shut it. the front porch is slumping, and our yard is slumping in some spots.

We don't know if this is from the small earthquakes that we have quit often, or if it may be a possible sinkhole

. I am really scared, I have three kids and my husband. I don't know what to do . can you give me some advice? anything will be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance - Anonymous by private email.

The map above shows the general area of Tennessee's deepest sinkholes, over 100 ft., retrieved 2017/09/17, original source: https://tnlandforms.us/landforms/sinks.php

[Click to enlarge any image]

Reply: where do the deepest sinkholes occur in Tennessee and what about fauxholes or man-made sinkholes or subsidences?

Location of Tiptonville and Reelfoot lake in Tennesse Map at Inspectapedia.com adapted from an excerpt form Google MapsThere are indeed reports of earthquakes around Tiptonville TN, just as you said and as I've read.

As you know, and is pointed out by other experts, Lake County's Reelfoot lake, Tennessee's largest natural lake, was created by the New Madrid earthquakes occurring in 1811 and 1812. - retrieved 2017/09/19, original source: Dunigan, Tom, "Tennessee Landforms", [website] retrieved 2017/09/15, cited below.

There are also reports of more than 54,000 sinkholes in Tennesse, and oiver 21,000 sinkholes that are 3 meters or more deep.

For other readers, this sinking- home in Tiptonville, is in Lake County Tennessee at the western edge of the state just east of I55, bordering the Mississippi river to the west and Reelfoot lake to the northeast. Lake County is one of about six counties in Tennessee that have reported no sinkholes "of distinction".

Watch out: Regardless, that doesn't mean your building could not be damaged by earthquakes or tremors, by subsidences that result from those events,

or by subsidences that occur for other reasons like a burst water main, collapsing soil over buried debris, or something else that geologists and geotechnical engineers refer to as "fauxholes"

- man-made subsidences that might be from quarry mining, gravel pits, clay pits, strip mine holding ponds, levees or road impoundments - according to Tennessee experts I cite herein.

A fauxhole or man-made subsidence can still cause substantial or even dangerous damage to a home.

If significant volumes of water are being pumped out of Reelfoot lake, OR if significant water is entering the lake that could affect local sinkhole formation and subsidences. Other factors can cause changes in an old area of sinkholes as Hart (2014) points out:

... sinkholes undergo fill and flush cycles at different timescales caused by changes in upland sediment supply and morphologic changes at swallet openings.

Lake County & Reelfoot Lake & Tiptonville Tennessee Map at InspectApedia.com adapted from Google Maps excerpt. at SINKHOLE DETECTION, WARNING SIGNS we discuss common warning signs that can help recognize the development of a sinkhole.

Even without true sinkholes (normally occurring either over certain limestone formations (Karst) or occurring where there has been mining), earthquakes, changes in underground water movement, or other forces can cause foundation damage and subsidences.

I am not a geotechnical engineer, but having studied this problem a bit, in my opinion I think these are some key questions:

1. Immediate risk to home:

Is there sufficient damage to your home in amount, or in rate of change or movement that there is risk of pulling apart framing connectors and thus risking collapsing foundation or floors, walls, etc.

A hairline crack is not urgent if it's not changing rapidly (daily, weekly would be rapid, even monthly would be a concern). But a crack that's a half inch or more and that's new means some significant movment is occurring.

2. Immediate life safety hazards on the property:

Is there a risk that someone walking near the home could fall into a hole and be injured or trapped.

Generally experts warn to rope off suspect areas, keep people away, and get some help from a local expert. In Tennesse around Tiptonville that might be your local building department or a geo-technical engineer.

But if you see holes opening rapidly around the home, if it were me, and sorry to say I know this is troublesome, I'd get people out of and away from the property before calling for help.

In that case you might call emergency services - like 911 for help.

I cannot bet your safety on an email guess at just what's going on at your home, and I urge you to consult an expert onsite.

Please keep me informed - as what you learn will no doubt help your neighbors too.

See SINKHOLES - IMMEDIATE SAFETY ACTIONS

"Sinkholes" that are not verified by a licensed professional geologist or geotechnical engineer to be a true sinkhole are also described in various publications as subsidence incidents.

Readers should see SINKHOLES - IMMEDIATE SAFETY ACTIONS, and also

see FOUNDATION CRACKS & DAMAGE GUIDE

and CESSPOOL SAFETY WARNINGS.

Additional septic system safety warnings are at SEPTIC & CESSPOOL SAFETY.

The bare minimum that a property owner needs to know about sinkholes or any other sudden subsidence of soils at a property is that these conditions might be very dangerous.

Someone falling into a sink hole or into a collapsing septic tank could be seriously injured or even die.

If a suspicious hole, subsidence, or depression appears at a property the owner should rope off and prevent access to the area to prevent anyone from falling into the opening, and then should seek prompt assistance from a qualified expert, geotechnical engineer, septic contractor, excavator, or the like.

Reader follow-up:

Reelfoot lake was created over a hundred years ago by an earthquake that made the Mississippi river flow backwards for 2 days. We are in lake county. I wonder if public works could check it out.

Maryland karst  - MGSReply:

The Tennessee sinkhole information at https://tnlandforms.us/landforms/sinks.php does not include Lake County among the sites of major sinkholes but that's not a complete assurance.

Still, you are right on the western edge of the state. The map of the main deep sinkholes seems to put them in a chain running up through the center of the state. I include shapshots here showing where you are located and where the main series of Tennessee sinkholes are found in that state. .

Your subsidence is obviously real and is a legitimate concern. But we can't make an accurate guess about cause nor remedy (repair work) until the cause is diagnosed.

Significant in my view were the questions I posed before - amount and rate of movement.

Do your neighbors also have similar conditions?

That would be diagnostic too.

Tennessee Sinkhole Resources

Reporting Sinkholes in Tennessee

Contact your local building department to ask for help and advice with a local sinkhole, and contact a geo-techinical engineer for help evaluating the safety of sinkholes that you observe.

Occurrences of Sinkholes in Tennessee

Map of sinkhole counties in Tennessee  at InspectApedia.com adapted from tnlandforms.us cited in this article

You will see from the Tennessee sinkhole map that while there are scattered areas of sinkholes in eastern Tennessee, most sinkholes occur on a roughly north-south line that bisects the state. This map is adapted from Tennessee sinkholes, Tom Dunigan, retrieved 2018/05/10, original source https://tnlandforms.us/landforms/sinks.php

[Click to enlarge any image]

Most Tennessee sink holes are 10 feet or less in depth, though over 10,000 sinkholes are 30 feet or more in depth, and about 45 sinkholes are reported as 100 feet or deeper!

Principal Tennessee counties reporting deep sinkholes include Blount, Campbell, Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Cumberland, Franklin, Grundy, Hancock, Marion, Overton, Putnam, Van Buren, Warren, and White counties.

Tennessee sinkholes have also been reported in Anderson, Bedford, Bledsoe, Bradley, Cannon, Carroll, Cheatham, Chester, Clay, Coffee, Davidson, Decatur, DeKalb, Dickson, Fentriss, Giles, Grainger, Greene, Hambien, Hardeman, Hardin, Hawkins, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lake, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Loudon, Macon, Madison, Marshall, Jaury, McMinn, McNairy, Meigs, Monroe, Montgomery, Moore, Morgan, Obion, Perry, Pickett, Polk, Rhea, Roane, Robertson, Rutherford, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Shelby, Smith, Stewart, Sullivan, Sumner, Tipton, Trousdale, Unicol, Washington, Wayne, Weakley, Williamson, and Wilson county.

Amont these the counties with the greatest number of sinkholes in Tennessee include Montgomery County (3,025 sinkholes), White County (2,970), Jefferson County (2,364), and Marshall County (2,312)

No sinkholes have been reported for these Tennessee counties: Crockett, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Obion, Tipton

Insurance for Sinkhole Damage in Tennessee

In Tennessee via TN Senate Bill 880 (Tracy) [PDF] in 2014 the state legislature amended T.C.A. § 56-7-130. This is state law that required insurance carriers to offer homeowner's insurance in Tennessee. The amendment requires insurers to make sinkhole damage coverage available to their customers. The new statute clarified that in Tennessee, sinkhole insurance coverage is optional, provided by the company on request.

Excerpts from TCA 56-7-130 Sinkhole losses

5) “Sinkhole loss” means actual physical damage to a building or property within, arising out of, or caused by sudden settlement or collapse of the earth supporting the building, and only when the sudden settlement or collapse results directly from subterranean voids created by the action of water on limestone or similar rock formation. Contents coverage shall apply only if there is structural damage to the building caused by sinkhole activity.

(b) Every insurer offering homeowner property insurance in this state shall make available coverage for insurable sinkhole losses on any dwelling, including contents of personal property contained in the dwelling, to the extent provided in the policy to which the sinkhole coverage attaches

Watch out: don't assume that your Tennessee home is insured against sinkhole loss or damage. Check with your insurance company.

Research on Tennessee Sinkholes

 




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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2020-12-03 by (mod) - How to report a sinkhole in Nashville TN

Linda

How to report a sinkhole in Nashville TN

Nashville Tennessee sinkhole reporting for Nashville is through Nashville city government

At this page you can start a new sinkhole report

https://hub.nashville.gov/s/request-type/a0ut0000000ULleAAG/sinkhole?language=en_US

Or you can contact hubNashville

hubNashville provides non-emergency services. If you are experiencing an emergency, call 911 immediately.

hubNashville can be reached via phone at 311 or (615) 862-5000, Monday-Friday 8AM - 5PM

For more information about Metro Government, visit Nashville.gov

WATCH OUT: see the emergency advice given above on this page; if you suspect a sinkhole is developing you should keep people away and mark or rope off the area as well as notifying city officials. In an actual emergency call emergency services - dial 911

On 2020-12-02 by linda

who inspects sink holes in nashville?

On 2020-07-20 by Jennifer

Has there ever been a sink hole issue in Murfreesboro, TN? Has a house ever been swallowed up by a sink hole in this area?

On 2019-10-27 - by (mod) -

You may need to find a local geotechnical engineer

On 2019-10-25 by Vicky edwards

who do you talk to in order to get proof your sitting on top of a sinkhole i'm having problems with the insurance

On 2018-05-24 - by (mod) -

You might start with your local building department, or a local geotechnical engineering firm who can tell you if sinkholes have been common in your immediate area.

On 2018-05-24 by Lynn

can you get sinkhole coverage on a road for future road repairs. The builder is not putting in sidewalks or curbs and Johnson City approved him doing this so now we are responsible for this road.

my home owner association found out we are responsible for my road because the builder refuses to finish this road with sidewalks and curbs. Now the city, Johnson City is refusing to make it a public road. The homeowners are afraid the road could get a sinkhole.

What are the chances of getting a sinkhole on this road. I live on this road at 35 Poinciana Place, Johnson CIty, Tn Also the city is saying the road will last about 20 years but it's already pretty damaged from the builder bringing all his trucks on it for the last 6 months.

The city allowed the builder to get away with sticking us homeowners with this exorbitant expense of maintaining my road. Also I am paying city taxes and they won't even plow my road in the winter. How can I find out if we could get a sinkhole. Should I call a sinkhole company?

On 2018-05-10 by anonymous

Posting comment from an anonymous reader

My mother owns her home on cedar Grove Rd in Lebanon TN Wilson county 37087. There is a very large sink hole right across the street from our house. We moved there over 20 years ago and it was there then and has only gotten bigger.

It's fenced off now because the landfill bought the property across the street but it's if I'm correct almost an acre of land big at ground level and about 30 to 40 feet deep, people have been trying to fill it in with junk and all kinds of stuff over the years.

But I'm concerned because this sink hole is not listed and I'm just now discovering that TN is high risk for sink holes and has one of the top five states in the us for a karsed landscape. Please advise who I can contact to have our particular sinkhole investigated!


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