SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Deaf Smith County, TX: Not karst, but voids possible

Not karst, but voids possible

No soluble bedrock; some pseudokarst (piping or lava-tube ground).

On soluble rock
under 1%
At or near the surface
under 1%
Buried under cover
0%

The next step for one property

Not true karst, but soil piping or lava tubes can still open voids - mention it to an inspector.

That works out to roughly 7 of Deaf Smith County's 1,497 square miles on soluble rock, 7 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 18,495 residents (12 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 2.0 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Read next: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how ground with no limestone still opens up.

Counties around Deaf Smith County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Briscoe County, TX, about 85 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Dockum Group, undivided (fine-grained mixed clastic), Late Triassic in age, covering about under 1% of the county.

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

Deaf Smith County ranks 142 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 53% of US counties on that measure.