Sinkhole risk in Borden County, TX: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 57%
At or near the surface: 57%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Borden 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 508 of Borden County's 897 square miles on soluble rock, 508 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 557 residents (1 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 396 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Borden County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Kent County, TX, about 50 miles northeast. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Dawson County, TX 30 mi west · 3% at surface
Howard County, TX 30 mi south · 25% at surface
Scurry County, TX 31 mi east · 41% at surface
Garza County, TX 32 mi north · 66% at surface
Lynn County, TX 38 mi northwest · 1% at surface
Mitchell County, TX 42 mi southeast · 70% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Dockum Group, undivided (fine-grained mixed clastic), Late Triassic in age, covering about 55% of the county. Next is the Edwards Limestone and Antlers Sand, undivided at 1%.

The county also lies over the Permian Basin, Anadarko Basin,Dalhart Basin, Palo Duro Basin, 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 Texas

Borden County ranks 38 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 89% of US counties on that measure.