Sinkhole risk in Douglas County, NV: 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: 13%
At or near the surface: 13%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

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

That works out to roughly 89 of Douglas County's 711 square miles on soluble rock, 89 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 49,564 residents (70 per square mile), homes are spread across towns and farmland, and a mapped unit may or may not reach the developed parts. The figures come from 512 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Douglas County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 477 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Carson City, NV 19 mi northwest · 2% at surface
Alpine County, CA 22 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Lyon County, NV 24 mi east · 9% at surface
Storey County, NV 37 mi north · 7% at surface
El Dorado County, CA 50 mi west · 0% at surface
Placer County, CA 61 mi west · 0% at surface

What Douglas County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Tuffaceous sedimentary rocks (sandstone), Late Eocene to Late Miocene in age, covering about 13% of the county.

Against the rest of Nevada

Douglas County ranks 8 of 17 in Nevada for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 70% of US counties on that measure.