Sinkhole risk in Baker County, OR: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock: 14%
At or near the surface: 14%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Baker County

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 423 of Baker County's 3,068 square miles on soluble rock, 423 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 16,750 residents (5 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 254 map points about 3.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Baker County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 532 miles southeast. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Union County, OR 44 mi north · under 1% at surface
Washington County, ID 47 mi east · 0% at surface
Adams County, ID 62 mi east · under 1% at surface
Wallowa County, OR 66 mi north · 2% at surface
Grant County, OR 67 mi west · 4% at surface
Payette County, ID 67 mi southeast · 0% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Sedimentary rocks, partly metamorphosed (Triassic and Paleozoic) (argillite), Paleozoic to Triassic in age, covering about 10% of the county. Next is the Sedimentary rocks (Jurassic) at 1%.

Against the rest of Oregon

Baker County ranks 1 of 36 in Oregon for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 70% of US counties on that measure.