SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Culberson 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
53%
At or near the surface
53%
Buried under cover
0%

The next step for one property

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 2,028 of Culberson County's 3,812 square miles on soluble rock, 2,028 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 2,254 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 308 map points about 3.5 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 the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Culberson County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Loving County, TX, about 63 miles northeast. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Salado and Castile Formations, undivided (evaporite), Permian; Ochoa Series in age, covering about 18% of the county. Next is the Bell Canyon Formation at 8%.

24% of the county sits on gypsum or salt, which dissolves in years rather than millennia. That share matters more than its size suggests.

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

Culberson County ranks 47 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 88% of US counties on that measure.