Sinkhole risk in Decatur 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: 19%
At or near the surface: 19%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Decatur 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 171 of Decatur County's 894 square miles on soluble rock, 171 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 2,716 residents (3 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 414 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Decatur County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Harlan County, NE, about 62 miles northeast. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Red Willow County, NE 27 mi north · 16% at surface
Norton County, KS 30 mi east · 22% at surface
Sheridan County, KS 30 mi south · 15% at surface
Rawlins County, KS 33 mi west · 24% at surface
Furnas County, NE 41 mi northeast · 32% at surface
Hitchcock County, NE 41 mi northwest · 20% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ogallala Formation (arkose), Miocene in age, covering about 19% of the county.

Against the rest of Kansas

Decatur County ranks 59 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 74% of US counties on that measure.