Sinkhole risk in Cowley County, KS: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 74%
At or near the surface: 74%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Cowley 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 838 of Cowley County's 1,126 square miles on soluble rock, 838 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 34,186 residents (30 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 391 map points about 1.7 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Cowley County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Montgomery County, KS, about 60 miles east. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Chautauqua County, KS 33 mi east · 38% at surface
Kay County, OK 34 mi southwest · 26% at surface
Elk County, KS 36 mi northeast · 53% at surface
Sumner County, KS 36 mi west · 20% at surface
Butler County, KS 37 mi north · 93% at surface
Sedgwick County, KS 46 mi northwest · 16% at surface

What Cowley County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Chase Group (shale), Early Permian - Gearyan in age, covering about 49% of the county. Next is the Council Grove Group at 13%.

6% 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 Kansas

Cowley County ranks 10 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 93% of US counties on that measure.