Sinkhole risk in Cimarron County, OK: 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: 7%
At or near the surface: 7%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Cimarron County

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

That works out to roughly 127 of Cimarron County's 1,835 square miles on soluble rock, 127 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 2,133 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 392 map points about 2.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Cimarron County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Clark County, KS, about 153 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Dallam County, TX 32 mi south · 0% at surface
Baca County, CO 39 mi north · 6% at surface
Sherman County, TX 47 mi southeast · 0% at surface
Morton County, KS 49 mi northeast · under 1% at surface
Union County, NM 56 mi west · 14% at surface
Texas County, OK 57 mi east · 2% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Morrison Formation (sandstone), Late Jurassic in age, covering about 6% of the county. Next is the Colorado Group at under 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 Oklahoma

Cimarron County ranks 51 of 77 in Oklahoma for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 65% of US counties on that measure.