Sinkhole risk in Buffalo County, NE: 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: 4%
At or near the surface: 4%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

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

That works out to roughly 37 of Buffalo County's 968 square miles on soluble rock, 37 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 51,156 residents (53 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 398 map points about 1.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Buffalo County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Kearney County, NE, about 25 miles south, 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.

Kearney County, NE 25 mi south · 47% at surface
Sherman County, NE 26 mi north · 0% at surface
Phelps County, NE 29 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Hall County, NE 30 mi east · 33% at surface
Adams County, NE 38 mi southeast · 79% at surface
Howard County, NE 38 mi northeast · 11% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Pierre Shale (shale), Late Cretaceous in age, covering about 4% of the county.

4% of the county sits on gypsum or salt, which dissolves in years rather than millennia. That share matters more than its size suggests.

Against the rest of Nebraska

Buffalo County ranks 27 of 93 in Nebraska for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 61% of US counties on that measure.